I have to start this thread, sincerely by stating that I do intend to offend or trigger anyone or just be a 'pot stirrer'. I'm attempting a serious discussion here. In a culture with an increasing number of young males many of whom vagely categorized as 'Beta' types; It appears that more and more males are opting to grow beards and consciously or not , it seems like this is to attract woman. Quoted from an online journal called 'The Present' January 22, 2020. "A new study found that women perceive men with facial hair to be more attractive as well as physically and socially dominant. Women tend to associate more masculine faces with physical strength, social assertiveness and formidability." Several studies reveal the ever increasing trend toward beards and it looks like the trend will continue to increase. But just a look around show so many males of all ages eschewing the clean shaven look and half the shelf space for shaving products in stores seem to have been repurposed for carrying the huge variety of beard care products. A few years ago I thought that beards were on the way out. I now realize I was wrong and that appealing to clean face shaver's with products of any type may become a niche market. Several questions come to mind: 1) which of the assertions do you agree or disagree with here? 2) What other factors have caused an increase in the popularity of beards? 3) Neck Shavers: With minimal shaving, obviously you're in this group so there's a level of enjoyment or hobby, but is it diminished with shaving only small areas? 4) Any thoughts on where the 'shaving market' is headed? 5) Any other comments welcome please.
Women & Beards, Elephant in the room.
- Thread starter sternej
- Start date
How is calling people “‘Beta’ types” not stirring the pot?
LOTH here prefers me clean shaven. Case closed!!! (At least for me). 
The strong prevailing view among women I know is that they may like, or learn to like partial beards, but they dislike and distrust men with full beards. They view a full beard as creepy, sinister, and dirty.
My wife physically cannot watch Noel Edmonds or Jeremy Corbyn on TV. She thinks they must be deviants because of their beards. They are, of course, but it probably has nothing to do with their facial hair.
Maybe this is changing with younger women, but if so I suspect it may simply be because the fashion is for more trimmed beards - not much different from what we used to call ‘designer stubble’.
My wife physically cannot watch Noel Edmonds or Jeremy Corbyn on TV. She thinks they must be deviants because of their beards. They are, of course, but it probably has nothing to do with their facial hair.
Maybe this is changing with younger women, but if so I suspect it may simply be because the fashion is for more trimmed beards - not much different from what we used to call ‘designer stubble’.
Before Covid, one out of 12 colleagues at work had a beard. During Covid, this number increased to the point where at this moment, 10 out of 12 have a beard. The other colleague which is shaving cannot grow a beard, there is almost nothing growing on his face.
I think this was driven by the casual life we lived during the time we worked from home and it seems right now it is trendy to have a beard.
I think this was driven by the casual life we lived during the time we worked from home and it seems right now it is trendy to have a beard.
Shakespeare, 1HenryIV, 1597.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
The term 'beta male' has no negative connotations to me, in fact I would view 'alpha male' less positively as a character type but perhaps it means different things to different people.
I have thought about the increasing popularity of beards, and other male fashions, and I wonder if men, especially young men, increasingly feel that they lack ways to express their masculinity. There are fewer traditional families with the man nominally as the head of the household, and increasingly the traditionally masculine qualities of men are less valued by society. There are fewer opportunities for young men to engage in physical occupations and in the military, and there is increasing exposure to unrealistic body imagery. For many there are fewer job opportunities, little hope, and a society that seems not to care. I have seen in my local community increasing numbers of young men choosing to bulk up at the gym to unnatural size, steroid use is rapidly increasing along with the health and anger problems that can bring. More and more young men turn to drugs, alcohol, and online pornography which is damaging both to them, to their relationships, and to society. Never before have young men taken more care of their appearance yet been so unhappy with it. Of course, I am not a sociologist, these are just my uneducated thoughts that I have expressed in other threads and they are probably a load of old nonsense. Anyway, my wife is a Filipina and she does not like facial hair on a man, I believe most South Asian ladies share her opinion.
I have thought about the increasing popularity of beards, and other male fashions, and I wonder if men, especially young men, increasingly feel that they lack ways to express their masculinity. There are fewer traditional families with the man nominally as the head of the household, and increasingly the traditionally masculine qualities of men are less valued by society. There are fewer opportunities for young men to engage in physical occupations and in the military, and there is increasing exposure to unrealistic body imagery. For many there are fewer job opportunities, little hope, and a society that seems not to care. I have seen in my local community increasing numbers of young men choosing to bulk up at the gym to unnatural size, steroid use is rapidly increasing along with the health and anger problems that can bring. More and more young men turn to drugs, alcohol, and online pornography which is damaging both to them, to their relationships, and to society. Never before have young men taken more care of their appearance yet been so unhappy with it. Of course, I am not a sociologist, these are just my uneducated thoughts that I have expressed in other threads and they are probably a load of old nonsense. Anyway, my wife is a Filipina and she does not like facial hair on a man, I believe most South Asian ladies share her opinion.
For the last two decades, there has been a growing assault on the idea of traditional masculinity in the West from some extremist quarters. Sadly the messaging of that assault has increasing become mainstreamed and normalised, in academia, MSM and the like.
The messaging appears to attempt to picture all masculine instincts and behaviours, however benign, as somehow "toxic". Thankfully, that rather sinister tendency is being increasingly questioned and criticised, both from men, and more interestingly a very significant proportion of women, perhaps a majority, including first wave Feminists.
I suspect these hapless young males, caught in a terrible position of educational indoctrination at a young age, told that their most basic and benign instincts are somehow "wrong" are desperately thrashing around to find some "non threatening" aspect of masculinity. So they grow, or attempt to grow a beard.
These young lads will learn in time that it takes more than a beard to be a man, it is a total state of mind and behaviour. Courage, gentleness, chivalry, generousity, independence of mind are just some of those attributes, which can take decades to acquire, and often with great difficulty. A fellow can quite easily achieve these happy qualities clean shaved BTW.
Hopefully our societies will once again learn to cherish those rather precious aspects of a certain type of man.
The messaging appears to attempt to picture all masculine instincts and behaviours, however benign, as somehow "toxic". Thankfully, that rather sinister tendency is being increasingly questioned and criticised, both from men, and more interestingly a very significant proportion of women, perhaps a majority, including first wave Feminists.
I suspect these hapless young males, caught in a terrible position of educational indoctrination at a young age, told that their most basic and benign instincts are somehow "wrong" are desperately thrashing around to find some "non threatening" aspect of masculinity. So they grow, or attempt to grow a beard.
These young lads will learn in time that it takes more than a beard to be a man, it is a total state of mind and behaviour. Courage, gentleness, chivalry, generousity, independence of mind are just some of those attributes, which can take decades to acquire, and often with great difficulty. A fellow can quite easily achieve these happy qualities clean shaved BTW.
Hopefully our societies will once again learn to cherish those rather precious aspects of a certain type of man.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #9
No nonsense in your reply whatsoever. Very cogent and thoughtful insights and what I was hoping I'd see. Thank you so much.
- Thread starter
- #10
Alum. Spot on
Bunk.
If I grow a beard it will cover my chiseled, square chin and jaw, which has melted hearts and attracted the fairer sex for years.
Besides that, neither me or my wife (or any woman prior) prefers me with facial hair.
Obviously times change, and trends come and go, so I suppose it depends on the person and what they are trying to hide or enhance, or the self image a person is trying to project.
To actually conduct a meaningful study I would suggest showing pictures of the same man with and without a beard. I would suspect that there would be no trend, as it would ultimately depend on the man's individual facial features as to whether the women found him more or less attractive.
Edit: Besides, didn't Gillette tell us that to be a "real" man we had to use their products for clean, smooth face?
Last edited:
Sorry beta males, I don’t need a beard to attract ladies. My scent of Arko mixed with Tabac is more than enough
I wear a beard every hunting season, for warmth and reduce the glare from my face. In 50 years on earth and 37 years of shaving I never realized I was a beta male.
Oh, and one more thing, I am at the point in my life I don’t care what a women likes.
Oh, and one more thing, I am at the point in my life I don’t care what a women likes.
Last edited by a moderator:
Don't forget the Veg afterwards
The thread title had me doing a "double take"...I was wondering if someone was going to say that women wanting to grow their own beards was becoming a trend...
There are probably some women that really would grow beards, I guess...
I don't have much useful to offer other than to say I think my friend @Alum Ladd speaks the truth and is spot on...
There are probably some women that really would grow beards, I guess...
I don't have much useful to offer other than to say I think my friend @Alum Ladd speaks the truth and is spot on...
Beards come and go like any other fashion, and have for thousands of years, although some of that is cultural. But the Romans shifted from bearded to clean shaven...One need only look at portraits of US presidents to see the progression from clean shaven to bearded to clean shaven over just a couple of hundred years. While the 20th century style was largely for clean shaven, or perhaps just a mustache, the 70s saw an uptick in beards, as did the 2010s. I wouldn't read into it too deeply from a sociological perpective any more than I would by the breadth of our pants cuffs or width of our lapels.
As far as the ladies, my first wife was quite averse to facial hair. My second prefers me with a beard as do all 3 of my daughters. I like shaving, though, so I generally wear just a mustache and sometimes a goatee.
As far as the ladies, my first wife was quite averse to facial hair. My second prefers me with a beard as do all 3 of my daughters. I like shaving, though, so I generally wear just a mustache and sometimes a goatee.
yes ive heard/read politicians of a particular ilk use the term "toxic masculinity".
I probably ought to add, when I met my first wife, I had a goatee and kept it for the first couple years we were married. When I met the second Mrs. Scandalous I was clean shaven. So they both had ample opportunity to decide their preferences.
If we want to talk about the elephant in the room, I'd say it's not the young men growing full beards; it's the middle aged fellows with tiny, close-cropped goatees (sometimes called a "circle beard" or another term that I won't repeat here). That one always feels like they want facial hair but are afraid to commit to it.
If we want to talk about the elephant in the room, I'd say it's not the young men growing full beards; it's the middle aged fellows with tiny, close-cropped goatees (sometimes called a "circle beard" or another term that I won't repeat here). That one always feels like they want facial hair but are afraid to commit to it.
My first marriage was brief, and I don’t really remember what she liked. I think I was mostly clean shaven then.
I was with my second/late wife many years. She never once saw me without a circle beard. My cheeks are kind of scraggly, so a full beard doesn’t look great.
I married again a few years ago. My third wife likes the rustic look of stubble or a camping beard, but she doesn’t like the scratchy feel. As a nearly 59 y/o widower married to a woman 9 years younger, I care about that.
I was with my second/late wife many years. She never once saw me without a circle beard. My cheeks are kind of scraggly, so a full beard doesn’t look great.
I married again a few years ago. My third wife likes the rustic look of stubble or a camping beard, but she doesn’t like the scratchy feel. As a nearly 59 y/o widower married to a woman 9 years younger, I care about that.
