For the last 5 years or so it'd become increasingly almost mandatory for a guy of the Millenial age to have a beard. It's become so mainstream that even TED CRUZ wears one. The "look" for your average Millenial men seems to be short cropped hair and a beard. Either way, no matter what hairstyle, the beard is almost mandatory. I barely see any bare faced people in my age group. I wear one, even though I utterly hate beards, simply because they're just that "in." It'd be like being in the 1970s and wearing short sideburns; you could, but you'd be marking yourself as different.

That said, do you ever see a time when a backlash to beards will come, the same way there was a backlash to beards and facial hair around the early 1900s/WWI era? Or the way that after the 1980s there was a decline to mustaches, which were just as popular in the 1960s-1980s as beards are now? Or for example, a guy wouldn't be caught dead with ear length sideburns in 1988; he'd be Leisure Suit Larry, a cultural dinosaur, clinging on to the Disco era past.

Will there come such a time again, when beards are seen as more of a fringe than, not mandatory to get a date, when they are relegated back to being a choice rather than being IT.

Beards like these:

https://i2.wp.com/beardstyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Karl_Marx.png?w=600&ssl=1
Karl Marx

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7Mpcy37yXpQ9AszGTJUY7-970-80.jpg.webp
ZZ Top

I once had a beard like Karl's, later just a mustache, and now a short beard, but all as a matter of personal choice regardless of current fashion.  But I haven't seen lots of beards around here

When shielding and staying in your building,
When going outdoors is feared.
You're not bothered to favour the shaver,
No one will see your lockdown beard.

Beards like these:

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7Mpcy37yXpQ9AszGTJUY7-970-80.jpg.webp
ZZ Top


Frank Beard, the only member with no beard.

Frank Beard, the only member with no beard.
O0

A quirk of nature and irony?

"Hey, Frank! You should get a beard."
"I already have a Beard."
;D

For the longest time I had been wanting long hair (think any 70s rock star), but my grandmother, who raised me, strictly forbade it. Once she died, I was free to grow it however long I liked. Then the beard just kind of happened. I stopped shaving for a while after we moved, kind of to celebrate my newfound freedom from years of abuse and control, only to feel forced to shave again whenever I had to visit her and Grandpa. But after she died, I had no control freak Scroprios to please anymore. I'm that much closer to who I've always wanted to be. And I feel the beard makes me look older.

For the most part, I like it, but my hair can get unruly and I try to keep my whiskers away from my mouth, especially when eating. Little hair strands tend to overgrow  and go down to my chest or even stomach; if it gets that bad I'll trim the excess hair until it's something I can live with, keeping it nice and rock-star long.

My beard is short and bushy. I'd probably be the first person you'd cast in a play about Jesus.  ;D

Frank Beard, the only member with no beard.

He should've called himself Frank Mustache.

So, no one going to actually answer the question?

If you don't want to have one then don't. Societal standards be damned.

I think it will. But maybe not for a while. I have more time in isolation to shave, so for the most part, I don't let myself slip as much in the late '10s when I obviously had stubble on my cheeks, but I would imagine shaving is less frequent right now due to time constraints, because people still grasping as much as they can to starting their career may not know when they're able to take care of themselves, because the economy's in the toilet.

So, no one going to actually answer the question?


It’s a bit of a trend, saying it is almost mandatory is putting it a bit strongly I feel.

It’ll stop being a trend at some point, but there will be people who prefer beards so they will never go away completely

Beards like these:

https://i2.wp.com/beardstyle.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Karl_Marx.png?w=600&ssl=1
Karl Marx




"I wish Karl had written less about capital and made more of it"

--Mrs Marx

"I wish Karl had written less about capital and made more of it"

--Mrs Marx

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Frank Beard, the only member with no beard.

Lmao true :D

I definitely feel like it’s a trend. Will it ever faze? Most trends do eventually. You know some people that have worn a big beard for years shave it and look completely different😮, random thought lol.

I definitely feel like it’s a trend. Will it ever faze? Most trends do eventually. You know some people that have worn a big beard for years shave it and look completely different😮, random thought lol.

I used to sport a mustache many years ago but then I shaved it off in 2004.

I used to sport a mustache many years ago but then I shaved it off in 2004.
Was it like this?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Tom_Selleck_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg/440px-Tom_Selleck_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg

Was it like this?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/18/Tom_Selleck_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg/440px-Tom_Selleck_at_PaleyFest_2014.jpg


This picture was taken was in 2002.

This picture was taken was in 2002.


Wow Howard you remind me of a guy I used to work with around 2002. Except his name was Wayne.

This picture was taken was in 2002.

Excellent!

..and you remind me of someone too, possibly a movie star.

Wow Howard you remind me of a guy I used to work with around 2002. Except his name was Wayne.

That picture of me was taken when I was attending a vocational program in Manhattan, I kept the mustache on for another year then I decided to just shave it all off in 2004.

Excellent!

..and you remind me of someone too, possibly a movie star.

Who could that be?

Who could that be?
I think I now know, but please give me time to locate a good online image.

I am told by younger relatives (Zoomers) it is actually dying and their generation considers beards gross. So that's a delightful sign.
I got rid of mine about a week ago, I now just have roughly eye length sideburns, which I've always enjoyed.

I am told by younger relatives (Zoomers) it is actually dying and their generation considers beards gross. So that's a delightful sign.
I got rid of mine about a week ago, I now just have roughly eye length sideburns, which I've always enjoyed.


I'm confused. You say you think it's delightful that there are signs the beard trend is ending (I agree, by the way), yet, you say you had one until a week ago. If you think it's "delightful" that the trend is ending that leads me to believe you didn't like the trend. So why did you have one? Confusing.

I'm confused. You say you think it's delightful that there are signs the beard trend is ending (I agree, by the way), yet, you say you had one until a week ago. If you think it's "delightful" that the trend is ending that leads me to believe you didn't like the trend. So why did you have one? Confusing.


I said in my original post I hate them, but felt obliged to wear one as we live in an utterly conformist age. I tend to be ahead of the curve with fashions. I had a mullet back in 2018, now those are back in style (of course, I cut mine back in 2018). I was wearing pea coats in 2014 before they came back around the late 2010s for men. I wore an undercut on and off from 2001 through 2008 and then they became the haircut of the 2010s.

I had a beard in 2010 for the first time, then again in 2011, then again in 2015, then mostly I had one from 2018 until last week with some exceptions. Now, the new look for the first half of this decade for me will be cleanshaven will be sideburns reaching between just above the end of the earlobe, to just under the earlobe, with thick longish hair.

I said in my original post I hate them, but felt obliged to wear one as we live in an utterly conformist age. I tend to be ahead of the curve with fashions. I had a mullet back in 2018, now those are back in style (of course, I cut mine back in 2018). I was wearing pea coats in 2014 before they came back around the late 2010s for men. I wore an undercut on and off from 2001 through 2008 and then they became the haircut of the 2010s.

I had a beard in 2010 for the first time, then again in 2011, then again in 2015, then mostly I had one from 2018 until last week with some exceptions. Now, the new look for the first half of this decade for me will be cleanshaven will be sideburns reaching between just above the end of the earlobe, to just under the earlobe, with thick longish hair.


That sounds like a self imposed rule to me. I'm not sure society or culture can be blamed for that. You were absolutely free to not have a beard, and, to be honest, I don't think the many people would have cared. I don't think you would have been turned down for a job for not having a beard, I don't think you would have been refused admittance to anyplace. I do not think you would have been discriminated against for not having a beard. So I'm not sure where the "we live in an utterly conformist age" comes in.  ???

That sounds like a self imposed rule to me. I'm not sure society or culture can be blamed for that. You were absolutely free to not have a beard, and, to be honest, I don't think the many people would have cared. I don't think you would have been turned down for a job for not having a beard, I don't think you would have been refused admittance to anyplace. I do not think you would have been discriminated against for not having a beard. So I'm not sure where the "we live in an utterly conformist age" comes in.  ???
I have had a beard for 40 years, and suffer no prejudice for it, I have several different jobs, if of anything, I have been commended for it.

That sounds like a self imposed rule to me. I'm not sure society or culture can be blamed for that. You were absolutely free to not have a beard, and, to be honest, I don't think the many people would have cared. I don't think you would have been turned down for a job for not having a beard, I don't think you would have been refused admittance to anyplace. I do not think you would have been discriminated against for not having a beard. So I'm not sure where the "we live in an utterly conformist age" comes in.  ???


Social conformity, not job conformity. Women deem men currently more attractive with one. Perhaps you've not met many of my generation but we tend to all be clones of each other in aesthetics. Having one says you're a dominant f-kboy, for now.

Wow Howard you remind me of a guy I used to work with around 2002. Except his name was Wayne.


OMG!!!! That does look like Howard!  :o :o :o


Cat

This picture was taken was in 2002.

Howard, you remind me of a young Donald Sutherland, as in "The Day of the Locust" 1975.

https://i.redd.it/pfc3a4tffl4z.jpg

I am told by younger relatives (Zoomers) it is actually dying and their generation considers beards gross. So that's a delightful sign.
I got rid of mine about a week ago, I now just have roughly eye length sideburns, which I've always enjoyed.

Beards get too itchy, men probably want the babyface look.

OMG!!!! That does look like Howard!  :o :o :o


Cat


It is me, it was hard to keep the mustache and after 2003 which was the last time I had one just decided in March Of 2004 in the bathroom to just shave it all off just to see what I'd look like without facial hair and after that, My friends and family said I looked quite handsome.

Social conformity, not job conformity. Women deem men currently more attractive with one.


Oh, so you were doing it for SEX. Why didn't you say so in the first place.


Perhaps you've not met many of my generation but we tend to all be clones of each other in aesthetics.  Having one says you're a dominant f-kboy, for now.


You honestly think it's ever been any different? You think hippie chicks in the 60s were getting it on with "straights"? ("Straight" meant something different than heterosexual back then). Still, the decision to break away from societal constraints is ultimately yours. Like a saying from those very 60s goes "if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem."

It is me, it was hard to keep the mustache and after 2003 which was the last time I had one just decided in March Of 2004 in the bathroom to just shave it all off just to see what I'd look like without facial hair and after that, My friends and family said I looked quite handsome.


This is you.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=62879.0;attach=33552;image



This is not.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=62879.0;attach=33555;image

But it does look like you.


Cat

This is you.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=62879.0;attach=33552;image



This is not.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=62879.0;attach=33555;image

But it does look like you.


Cat

The guy in the second picture has hair but I in the first picture was starting to lose mine.

Oh, so you were doing it for SEX. Why didn't you say so in the first place.

You honestly think it's ever been any different? You think hippie chicks in the 60s were getting it on with "straights"? ("Straight" meant something different than heterosexual back then). Still, the decision to break away from societal constraints is ultimately yours. Like a saying from those very 60s goes "if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem."


Of course, why does anyone engage in the aesthetics?

I think in any era, a lady would take a well dressed man over, well, what hippie guys were. You're the voice of the part of the 1970s that was all earthy and had remnants of the 1960s sense of spirituality and antimaterialism and such. For me, it's about decadence. If you are rock, or singer/songwriter music, I'm Disco.

I think in any era, a lady would take a well dressed man over, well, what hippie guys were.


Absolutely untrue. A  hippie girl, or even a wannabe (what the Beatles called "Day Trippers") wouldn't have been caught dead with a "straight". It was part of the aesthetic and the rebellion of the youth culture at the time. That's not too hard to understand. A "well dressed man" would have been considered "square".



You're the voice of the part of the 1970s that was all earthy and had remnants of the 1960s sense of spirituality and antimaterialism and such. For me, it's about decadence. If you are rock, or singer/songwriter music, I'm Disco.


You understand me!!  ;D  ;D  ;D

Absolutely untrue. A  hippie girl, or even a wannabe (what the Beatles called "Day Trippers") wouldn't have been caught dead with a "straight". It was part of the aesthetic and the rebellion of the youth culture at the time. That's not too hard to understand. A "well dressed man" would have been considered "square".


You understand me!!  ;D  ;D  ;D


My mom was born in 1954. She started dating my sister's father in 1970. My mother was a "Day tripper", but was enough of a flower child to be a high school dropout at 16 and pregnant by 18 and had the lyrics to White Rabbit written in her drawer at 13. She had the Rosemary's Baby haircut in 1968. My sister's father wore his hair cropped short, wore a dress shirt and dress pants and that's how she liked it, she had two children with him in 1972 and 1973. Only ever saw a picture of him with a white t-shirt on in the house, and only had mutton chops briefly in 1972 which she told me he shaved because he thought he looked silly. They were together from 1970, ran off with him to San Fran and Tijuana for six months in 1970, broke up in November 1973 and had a very Hippie aesthetic to their house. My mother's favorite music was CSNY, Donovan and Simon & Garfunkel and he loved listening "The Nightbird" on the radio.

So I'd say "straight" fellas got chicks too, even Hippie-esque ones.

My mom was born in 1954. She started dating my sister's father in 1970. My mother was a "Day tripper", but was enough of a flower child to be a high school dropout at 16 and pregnant by 18 and had the lyrics to White Rabbit written in her drawer at 13. She had the Rosemary's Baby haircut in 1968. My sister's father wore his hair cropped short, wore a dress shirt and dress pants and that's how she liked it, she had two children with him in 1972 and 1973. Only ever saw a picture of him with a white t-shirt on in the house, and only had mutton chops briefly in 1972 which she told me he shaved because he thought he looked silly. They were together from 1970, ran off with him to San Fran and Tijuana for six months in 1970, broke up in November 1973 and had a very Hippie aesthetic to their house. My mother's favorite music was CSNY, Donovan and Simon & Garfunkel and he loved listening "The Nightbird" on the radio.

So I'd say "straight" fellas got chicks too, even Hippie-esque ones.


Well, that's certainly a colorful tale. And your mother has excellent musical taste too.

With the prospect of an extended lockdown, I a, preserving my beard to let it grow.

With the prospect of an extended lockdown, I a, preserving my beard to let it grow.

I used to have a goatee, would that count as a beard?  ???

I used to have a goatee, would that count as a beard?  ???
A goatee is a style of facial hair incorporating hair on a man's chin but not his cheeks.

Yes!!!