Beard vs No Beard Experiment

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When one's friends give stupid dating advice:

https://www.boredpanda.com/tinder-beard ... gn=organic

Apparently I’d look better with beard but it wouldn’t change anything for dating I’d still be poor.

I like shaving jave over $1000 in shaving stuff. Also beards are itchy

Most men with beards do still shave. Just rather than shaving the whole face, they shave in lines at the neck and cheeks to make their beards look more tidy and polished, and to avoid the "neckbeard" look. It's the difference between someone whose beard is intentional and someone who's just neglected to shave. I suppose if you like shaving though, you'd probably prefer to shave your full face.

I've had facial hair of some kind for the majority of my life since I've been physically capable of growing it, and I've never really had an issue with itchiness, but I know some guys do. Many bearded men use beard oil, which softens the beard, and nourishes the beard and the skin underneath. Beards tend to only be itchy in the beginning phases of beard growth, or if the skin underneath is dry and flakey, and using beard oil in either case will help alleviate the itchiness.

It's an interesting study, but I wouldn't interpret it as conclusive evidence that bearded men do better on tinder all of the time. Some guys suit the bearded look more than others. Some guys have thicker beards and some guys have thinner and patchier beards. Some beards are more well-groomed than others. Whether a specific individual does better or worse with a beard on tinder probably encompasses more factors than have been covered here in this study. I'm sure there are guys who would do better on tinder without a beard than with one as well.

What I found most interesting is how sometimes others' advice cause the total opposite effect.

These days I quite like a well managed beard, used to hate them. I think they suit some men and not others.

I went full-on, mountain-man BEARD last November and now my wife never wants me to shave again. It does change how people perceive you. My middle school and high school kids defo are more compliant than they used to be. I’ve also found it’s much easier to “throw my weight around” and demand what I want from co-workers and even superiors. I haven’t changed my behavior and I’m not doing anything that doesn’t go with the job. I don’t like the idea of getting my way only because people are scared of me. I just tell myself to accept it and be happy! lol

The big, bushy look is intimidating, especially if you dress respectably. I haven’t shown up for work in red flannel yet, but that’s next on my list when it cools down.

I’m also contemplating handlebars. Like, NOBODY does handlebars, and that makes it hard for people to forget about you. Gonna try to order some wax this weekend...

I want a scruffy mou tain man beard! HAHA! I am a mountain goat after all!

be who you are
as long as you are clean and hygienic
i think that is really what counts

i think social status
being able to talk to woman
being able to lie (i am not good at that one in particular)
and other factors

are in some cases more important
than whether you have or do not have a beard

I use moustache wax anyway because my moustache is at terminal length, and I like to keep the hairs horizontal, but I like the idea of reserving the handlebars for dressing up and special occasions. If I went to a wedding or a fancy dress dinner or something like that, I'd handlebar my mo.

Well a lot of the time people have conflicting advice about style, because they have different preferences. It's fine to take input from other people but at the end of the day you want to be happy with your own style.

Did that change in preference for beards coincide with their rise in popularity? And if so, do you think there is a correlation to be drawn there?

I'll bet if this experiment had been undertaken 10 years ago, the results would favour the clean-shaven profile. It seems that with the "beard trend", women have become more accepting of facial hair.

I don’t personally see what’s wrong with the neckbeard. I think it’s kinda lame. For the first month I just didn’t shave at all. I did clean it up afterwards. I wasn’t crazy about how closely I resembled a Central/South American communist dictator. But neither did I have anyone really give me a hard time about it.

What I meant, though wasn't clear, was I like the style of beard George Michael used to have, say in that music video Faith. Anything bigger and bushy I still absolutely hate. I mean, I really can't stand them.

If I've ever followed a trend, it's usually because I liked it personally, not because everyone else did. For instance, especially 2 or more years ago, lots of young men around here grew bushy beards and I hated it. I remember one man eyeing me up and I thought, "Yeh, keep walking, keep away from me with that ugly thing on your face". I turned down a man on OKCupid because he had one. It's like a real prejudice I have against them lol.

It's like a man ages himself by about 50 years.

Hah, I actually have one of those big beards you hate. Guess I must look 73 then.

I didn't misinterpret you. I thought you were referring to shorter beards when you said you'd grown to like them. Even though it's the big beards that are associated with hipsters and that sort of thing, beards in general have still gotten a lot more popular with the trend.

I get what you're saying about not following trends but sometimes what you're into anyway happens to be trendy. Ever since I was a child, I knew that as an adult I'd have a big beard. I had facial hair before it was trendy, I have it now that it is trendy, and I'll have it long after the trend is over, and more than likely keep it long. I'm the kind of guy who would grow a beard championship-length beard if I could pull it off. Unfortunately at this stage, my beard forks in the middle and looks wispy at the bottom when it gets too long, but I'm hopeful that it will improve with age to where I can grow it down to like my belly button without the forking in the middle or wispiness at the bottom being too much of an issue.

Anyway, I wasn't insinuating that you started liking short beards because you were deciding to follow a trend. What I was getting at was that because beards are more popular now, and more guys have them, women who stand their ground and don't like them will have fewer options for romantic partners, so some women who previously didn't much care for beards may at least subconsciously grow tolerant to them, because they're everywhere now. Just like if 80% of women decided not to shave their body hair, men would probably adapt to tolerate body hair rather than decide not to pursue women.

i tried to sport a maynard g. krebs look, but due to my asian genes, could only muster a fu manchu look.