Why are beards trendy

The workplace has changed dramatically, the idea that masculine jobs are suited with physicality has disappeared. Men somehow feel that they need to survive, be strong and capable, and use their bodies. When you look around in the U. The return to the hairy man after the carefully coiffured hair and fake tan trends was an inevitable change in fashion.

There is a fascinating ambivalence towards hair in culture. Some people fear it when it grows in armpits, some find it disgusting, yet some men can grow an epic amount of it on their faces and that can be acceptable.

At the same time some people have huge abundances of fake hair on their heads. The cycle of fashion may eventually push beards out of popularity again. Fashion has been extremely gendered up until now — women have had long hair, short skirts and high heels, whilst men have had big beards, working clothes and boots.

But rather than disappearing completely, the trend then changed to moustaches. So are we soon going to see the return of the moustache or perhaps some elaborately shaped whiskers? Watch this face This chap is ready for any eventuality in his work boots, denim, plaid shirt and beard. Jonathan Freedland heads down to the beard barbers to discuss why every beard isn't treated in the same way. Jonathan asks what drove the passion for beards at points in history and what fuels it now.

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A comprehensive list of open plan office annoyances. Clean-shaved gentlemen ranked the lowest on the sexy scale. So have we reached peak beard? Some argue that beards are here to stay. Just like jeans, facial hair will always be fashionable, but the styles will shift.

Jeggings and Grizzly Adams are out, and faded jeans and beards are in. Guys are hanging on to their beards for that simple reason. Learn more here. Note: all men interviewed for this article have beards. World Canada Local. Full Menu Search Menu. Close Local your local region National. Search Submit search Quick Search. Video link. Scholars of the beard have also drawn attention to facial-hair trends throughout history.

As ancient Rome grew in power and influence, for example, so its citizens, and especially its leaders, shaved or plucked out their facial hair with a mania never before witnessed in human history.

From Scipio Africanus until Emperor Hadrian, smooth-skinned men presided over the Republic, and then the Empire, for nearly years. As Republic subsided toward Empire, Julius Caesar employed slaves to pluck out his facial and body hair.

Neither beauty nor world domination came without pain. Most explanations for this lengthy period of fastidious Roman depilation suggest it had something to do with improved iron razors, and a snobbishness about their hairy Italian neighbors and enemies.

Yet this hardly explains why most of the next 43 emperors over nearly two centuries wore beards, or why the clean-shaven Constantine the Great put Rome back on a largely hair-free path again.

In the 20th century, vast improvements in razor safety and effectiveness certainly made shaving easier. But why did men want to shave in the first place? One strong contender is the state of the mating market. Analyses of British facial hair and mating market trends between and show that facial hair is more popular when the number of marriageable men exceeds the number of women, and that men take up their razors again when outnumbered by women. A male surplus amplifies competition among men for status, respect, and wealth.

The signs of amped-up competition appear in rising theft, violence , risk-taking , and even in the probability of war. While evidence suggests beards have equivocal, weak effects on attractiveness, studies unite on the point that bearded men look more masculine and more mature than men who shave.

It is no coincidence that the playoff beard finds the most enthusiasts in hockey—that most aggressive of North American professional sports. The hipster beard fashion , which began about 10 years ago, coinciding with the global financial crisis, is still going strong. The tanking economy at the time may well have intensified competition among men.