
Why C.E.O.s Are Growing Beards - sethbannon
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/30/opinion/sunday/why-ceos-are-growing-beards.html?_r=0
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pliny
>A Prussian spy later sent to keep tabs on him reported with a mixture of awe
and anxiety: “His hair and beard are quite black. The latter he does not
shave.”

How does the statement convey either awe or anxiety? How else would you
describe a black haired man with a beard?

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contingencies
Fair point, but perhaps that wasn't the whole report ;)

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Swizec
From wikipedia:

"Other cultures (while not officially mandating it), view a beard as central
to a man's virility, exemplifying such virtues as wisdom, strength, sexual
prowess and high social status. However, in cultures where facial hair is
uncommon (or currently out of fashion), beards may be associated with poor
hygiene or a "savage," uncivilized, or even dangerous demeanor."[1]

Basically, beards are coming back in fashion.

More interestingly, it might be because of sexual selection. When facial hair
is rare, people rate facial hair as more attractive. When it is common, then
clean shaven is more attractive.

"When shown men's faces, men and women study participants consistently rated
the faces with beards or stubble as more attractive than clean-shaven faces.
But beards were most alluring when facial hair was rare, whereas clean-shaven
faces gained in popularity when hairy faces were the norm."[2]

If this is true, then beards, when unhindered by religious beliefs, will
follow a sort of sinusoid function. As they become more prevalent, they will
fall out of fashion because clean-shaven will look sexier. When they're less
prevalent, they will start growing in popularity again because they're sexy.
As soon as majority is reached, the pattern changes.

[1] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard)

[2] [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/women-prefer-men-with-facial-
hai...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/women-prefer-men-with-facial-hair-
according-to-study/)

~~~
impostervt
I actually feel like they've been "in" for awhile. Perhaps we've already
reached Peak Beard.

~~~
tluyben2
I see more than before but it is not _that_ common, here in north EU at least,
yet. I went to two clubs last week and I was 1 of 2-3 bearded guys which
indeed aided in attracting female attention (as it always has in my
experience). I do not mind if this is the peak ;)

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001sky
_" Historically, beards in the boardroom have been a barometer of the relative
vitality of capitalism and its critics."_

Either that or,... hipsters.

~~~
hawkice
Not totally unrelated. For instance, interest in car ownership has gone down
as a product of... maybe both, or some intersection.

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mullingitover
I can't speak for everyone, but whenever my facial hair gets long enough it's
just a burlap sack on my face, full of itching and regret. It actually seems
weird to me to do this to yourself just to be fashionable.

~~~
sisk
That's a stage early in the growth of your beard. The itchiness can be
"treated" (conditioning goes a long way) and, regardless, goes away relatively
quickly—for me it's around the fourth week.

In your case, if you ever do grow a beard again, I recommend keeping your
mustache trimmed. An untrimmed mustache is a substantially greater exercise in
patience. You have to train the hairs to not creep into your mouth and, even
then, there is a months-long period of time when the hairs aren't long enough
to stay out of the way and eating anything wider than your mouth ends with you
playing the "am I chewing on food or whiskers" game.

As for me, I grow a beard because 1) I can (thanks, genes plus work
environment!) and 2) it keeps my face warm during northeast winters.

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contingencies
Graph of facial hair popularity in English 1800-2008.

[https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=moustache%2Cbe...](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=moustache%2Cbeard&year_start=1800&year_end=2015&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cmoustache%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cbeard%3B%2Cc0)

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pulakm
The Wikipedia page on Presidents of the US shows a timeline that matches the
one in this article nicely:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_Unite...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States#List_of_presidents)

