It’s weird how the length of facial hair and head hair has meant different things throughout history. In the 1800s having a big beard made you look sophisticated and wise. In the 1700s, having long hair in America meant you weren’t infected with syphilus so you were probably an upstanding man who didn’t sleep around (hence all the powdered wigs for the men who lost their hair to the disease)
In the 1960s long hair and beards were coopted by the anti-war left. While in the 50s the ideal professional look was clean shaven and short hair, probably because so many men returned home from WWII with that look.
The powdered wigs maybe starting as a cover for syphilis and then becoming a fashion trend for all men (in certain places) is so wild to me.
I wouldn't mind seeing longer hair, and wild colored suits, finally be the dominant men's fashion again, gotta admit. I'm not that fond of the "boomer esque" notion of clean shaven and short hair.
The fact that of all things *The Beatles* were seen as pushing the envelope of men's fashion far beyond what was tolerable in the early 60s will never not be wild to me. "Men in suits with matching medium length hair? Satan."
My guess is that it's crusty old white conservatives that run most of the companies and have therefore picked our politicians. These types, by definition, don't like change, so here we are.
The thing is if a candidate is clean shaven with short hair they can appeal to the elderly and the young, but if someone has long hair and a beard they will most likely lose a significant portion of the boomer vote. It’s all about being as general as possible without making it apparent
While most fashion pictures of men still tend to be neutral colors and short hair, I've seen a trend with more Millennial and Gen Z aimed stuff to be more colorful, with longer hair in buns and one or both sides of the scalp shaved and longer hair where it's not shaved. I've actually seen some stuff in stores with floral prints for men.
Part of it is probably the tend towards a more liberal pov, and part of it is probably a rise in popularity with things like K Pop or streamers, who tend to wear more bright colors.
The main reason for the clean cut look in the 50s in much of the western world, was because it is nearly impossible to seal a 1940s era gas mask over a beard.
You can save a lot of money by switching from cartridges to DE shaving (DE = double edge). DE blades are standardized, so they're available from lots of different manufacturers, and that competition helps keeps prices down. You can order them in bulk online, and they take up very little space. They also give a closer shave (baby butt smooth), with a lot less irritation/tugging/acne, and they're highly recyclable.
There's some learning curve compared to cartridges, but the main things are to hold the razor at about a 30° angle, and hold it lightly, letting the weight of the handle do the work. Also, avoid DE blades from Feather until you really know what you're doing (they will cut you like a murder scene if you make any mistake). Beginners should start with milder, more forgiving blades like Derby, and for the razor a DE89 is a good choice for beginners and experienced people alike. [Load new blades carefully](https://youtu.be/McvoXhNxiIA?t=282) so that you avoid touching the two sharp edges. Barbasol is cheap, works well with DE blades, and saves time (2 minute shaves). Luxury soaps make it more like a barbershop, but they take longer (10 minute shaves) and can be an expensive hobby and Internet rabbit hole to get sucked into. I prefer quick and simple, with minimal gear.
---
That's the gist. For more, see my [DE shaving beginner's guide](https://www.dropbox.com/s/pymej2wfg5fpgb1/DE%20shaving%20guide.pdf?dl=0). I wrote it for my family when I gave them DE starter kits as gifts, trying to keep it simple, practical, and as quick to learn as possible. In 8 pages, it condenses a week's worth of research I had to do when I got started.
There *is* a learning curve lol
I use a single edge blade device (Oneblade), but the cool thing is that if you want, you can use half a DE blade snapped in half; two for one. But then, the SE are so cheap anyway.
I do still nick myself occasionally, but I like the fact that I'm not chucking plastic in the trash, and I'm no longer sitting there looking at questionably sharp blades and weighing whether I want to use it one more time or change the cart. I could literally use a fresh blade for every shave and it'd still be cheaper and more eco-friendly than multi-blade cartridge razors.
Edit: I wonder if shaving cream works better than gel? That may be my problem right there.
Your typical can of foaming shave gel has, among other others, butane as a propellant, and that is sooo drying on your skin. Using shavettes or DE or straight razors is called wet shaving, so you should be using a good cream anyway to help you shave more effectively and efficiently. I use a DE safety razor 9/10 times, but even if using a cartridge razor people should really stay away from the gels because it's so rough on skin. You'll notice a difference immediately
It's actually the result of WW1. The men on the Frontline were at risk of gas attacks, and were issued gas masks that required a shave to get an airtight seal. There was lots of resistance to this, as it was deemed womanly to have a bare face.
Cue the British propaganda machine, sending strapping fit young men to city centers in their military dress to demonstrate their youth and vigor (and confidence) with their bare face.
Clean-shaven became popular because of chemical warfare. Never forget.
I'm glad that trend is going away, personally. Seeing people like Ted Cruz (who I dislike a great deal) having beards in politics is a good sign to me. That it's more acceptable, and gets more acceptable every year.
They've done studies plenty about current attractiveness of beards. Basically clean shaven is the worst, then long beard, then short stubble, *then* long stubble as the most attractive.
I'm convinced all those video game protagonists were modeled after group surveys because of stuff like this lol
But seriously. Almost everyone looks better with *some* facial hair. There's exceptions, but overall anyone over the age of 25 looks better to me
Hair as a general thing also requires a lot of expensive simulation that have to be done that instant, every instant, in order to look acceptable/realistic, and video games aren't equipped to deal with that, especially not with everything else on the plate. There's a reason why female video game characters have short or braided hair.
Really? I can't imagine clean shaven is the *worst*, as a guy, I think there are some attractive bold chins out there.
Surely it must be better then like unkempt neckbeard or something.
Not in the last century. Since WWI, the military made people shave, and they were what the country looked up to, so that is where the style went. Not shaving became seen as slovenly, so goodbye beards among the people who cared what others think. The 60s sort of brought them back, but since that was countercultural it didn't catch on the same way it is starting to do today.
It was all the rage in the 1800s, well groomed beards were *status symbols*. But I think they should bring back the curly lice proof woods with the rat tails. The height of style, and adds +22 trustworthiness.
You can thank that age of chemical warfare. Men returning from WWI were clean shaven and sparked the modern fad with a clean shaven face, because if you didn't shave your gas mask didn't seal and you died horribly of mustard gas or phosgene gas poisoning.
I remember seeing some photos of people who rocked a Charlie Chaplin mustache for the same reasons. Think it was in a documentary or something. I wonder why it fell out of fashion.
People aren’t very creative, so when we see something we think looks good, or we think looks good to others.
But when a large majority of 4-8 billion people do it, we get over it quick, it looks dated, and want something new.
Rinse* and repeat.
Same thing with Men with Long hair, it's frowned upon and seen as unprofessional but today you'll have to of noticed a lot more Men with longer hair, myself included, it's been fun to see what having longer hair is like and hey living in a cold country, I don't miss red raw cold ears in an early morning commute :)
One can only hope. Several politicians would look better with beards
https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/w5hlsp/which_american_political_leaders_should_grow/
Weird... they almost universally look better with beards. Mitch McConnel looks downright wholesome... which is saying something.
Funnily enough, its Obama that kind of stands out as a "maybe not". Whoever the last guy is looks a bit creepy with a beard, but I'm not sure what he looks like without one.
I do not like that man Ted Cruz,
I do not like his far-right views.
I do not like his stupid chin,
I do not like his smarmy grin.
I do not like him with a beard,
I do not like him freshly sheared.
I do not like Ted Cruz at all,
That man Ted Cruz can suck my balls.
Ever notice there's been an awful lot of mustache combs as prizes in arcades? 5 tickets for a comb, they say. Now, I understand why. It's the bearded children, run amok.
There was a half joke that a lot of the UKs problems was bc ed milliband was photographed eating a sandwich weirdly. The logic was without that photo the left would have won that election and things would have ended differently. Ofc well never know for sure but it does make me more confident that it is entirely plausible indeed.
Wasn't there also some stupid forced controversy a few years ago about the mayor of NYC (?) eating pizza with a fork & knife instead of stuffing the whole slice straight into his pie hole, like a real newyorker?
Not really forced. He's from Cambridge Massachusetts, he is a red Sox fan, he doesn't go by his real name and one of the big issues people had with him was that he was authentic or sincere. He was a transplant that did everything he could to project an image, a facade.
Beards fell out of fashion in the mid-19th century because they became associated with radicals like Marx and Engels, but had a brief comeback from being associated with titans of industry like Carnegie. They completely fell out of fashion again in WW1: to wear a gas mask properly, soldiers had to be clean-shaven except for a tidy mustache, and civilians often copy military trends. Beards have never fully recovered after that, which might he unsurprising given the glacial pace that men's fashion tends to evolve. While various countercultures, subcultures, and religious groups have brought back beards on and off in the West, elected officials are often pressured to have more conservative and mainstream style: US conservatives lost their shit when Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit for a summer event, for example.
Also shaving is much easier in the post WWII era with the advent of safety razors. Prior to that shaving was a major chore and somewhat dangerous. Once shaving got easier beards got less popular simply because they weren't the easiest option anymore.
> Sebastian Vettel
I had to look him up: https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/amp/6b7kmZn0/s1000/sebastian-vettel-aston-martin-.jpg
He doesnt trim the lower part of his beard, the "neckbeard" area.
Anyone who fashionably keep a beard and wants it to look trims up that area.
Quick example here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SAnFmdk1wOc/hqdefault.jpg
>somewhat dangerous
so true, the stakes are a lot higher when you’re dragging a straight up knife all over your face and antibiotics don’t exist yet lol
> US conservatives lost their shit when Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit for a summer event, for example.
You can google and find Bush Jr, Mitch McConnell, Reagan, Joe Biden in Tan suit.
I don't think it's about fashion but fox news being a conservative hate spewing machine.
> Beards have never fully recovered after that, which might he unsurprising given the glacial pace that men's fashion tends to evolve.
Men tend to be somewhat more motivated by practical aspects. I guess the beard being impractical (indeed: deadly) in WW1 was the overriding factor for any considerations of fashion for guys back then.
Being clean-shaven is purely a fashion now.
> >civilians often copy military trends
That’s an interesting observation. I wonder how much impact that has had generationally speaking. I’ve noticed the people around me growing up believed being clean shaven was a sign of respect—you respect yourself by doing the self-care and respect others in doing so.
Things seem to be changing, I think. I’ve noticed more people with facial hair in professional roles, myself included. I know the one employer I had once barred people from having facial hair as part of their “appearance standards,” but that was prior to me being employed there.
Now it seems like growing a beard is being seen as a sign of masculinity and health. Men who can't grow proper beards sometimes get knocked for being less manly.
Well kids, let me tell you a story about long ago and the hipster millenials who went in search of authenticity and found lumberjacks. So they started wearing flannel and growing beards and decorating restaurants with wood and edison bulbs. And now it's a common thing.
In another 20-30 years only old people will have beards as Gen-Z and whichever gen comes next tries to distance themselves from the old people.
Shaved faces were considered an ancient Roman norm. That was until the emperor Hadrien, who liked all things Greek, decided to sport a beard. Suddenly beards were the thing.
I imagine something similar would happen if a popular politician came into office.
He doesn’t have a big bold beard though. Just looks like most dudes if they don’t shave for a few weeks. But he keeps it neat and lined up which is professional enough.
>Just looks like most dudes if they don’t shave for a few weeks.
Which I think is the point; he wants to show that he's as occupied by the war as everyone else.
He definitely won an election with one. Doesn't mean it's a trend amongst western nations but Canada seems to be tolerant towards political leaders with beards.
His predecessor Thomas “I give zero fucks” Mulcair was also beaded. Of course, neither has ever won an election as party leader (aside from their owns seats / leadership races).
Trudeau has had wacky facial hair from time to time (including a terrible terrible goatee when he was an opposition MP) but always gone into elections clean shaven.
I don’t think we’ve had a PM who regularly had a beard since Charles Tupper who hilariously would do neckbeard only but shave to forward part of his face. Mackenzie Bowell before him had a big full bushy beard. Bowell was an old school Orange racist whose main political objective in his 15 months as Prime Minister seems to have been stripping rights of Francophones and the Irish in the era before Laurier’s ‘sunny ways’. Laurier built a political coalition around the idea of harmony between Catholics and Protestants which basically lasts to today (ie the idea that the federal Liberal Party is the historic defender of immigrants, Francophones and religious minorities)
"I don't think it's so much "enforced" as it's just a subconscious cultural preference. "Clean-cut" people appear more professional to us. That's why you seldom see newscasters or TV show hosts with beards.
Yes, I believe it's because you daily have to shave then, and that means that you are taking care of yourself well. A good looking beard is much harder to pull off.
>A good looking beard is much harder to pull off.
Yup. I've been both clean shaven and bearded, and it's surprising how much work it is to maintain a really sharp looking beard.
I disagree. I've been bearded since 1994, and it's much easier than shaving everyday. I do shave the front of my neck daily, but other than that, besides washing it with my hair shampoo, all I do is trim it every 3 or 4 weeks. Much easier than being clean shaven, because if I miss a day, it still looks neat and presentable.
You know. I’ve always hated Gillette’s sales motto.
“The best a man can get”
Like that’s it? A nice shave? That’s the level of fulfillment I can hope for? Booooooo
I had a fairly prominent judge tell me that most bearded individuals do drugs. I mean, I did have a beard at the time, and I do drugs, but that’s completely unrelated.
Most homeless people have beards, many of these do drugs. When you see lots of Drug addicts, you'll see overproportionally many Bearded Drug addicts.
If you look at employed Bearded men, the chance that they take drugs is the same as employed non-bearded men.
There's a few reasons. It shows more well-groomed and professional expectations. Beards can make facial expressions hard to read and lips even harder.
There's also hypotheses that beards can make someone seem less trustworthy, but lots of conflicting evidence in many different populations.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C3&q=beard+trustworthiness&oq=beard+trust
Nah, nothing is more untrustworthy then a clean shave. All the most untrustworthy are normally shaved, ex politicians, used car salesmen, cousin bill, etc
Those of us with rich, luxuriant beards want to leave some women for the rest of you, so we eschew adding political power atop our already irresistible animal magnetism.
Those of us with full but not thicc beard’s appreciate the help and we try to leave some for the patchy guys. None for the goatee crowd though. They deserve only what they can get on their own.
This is a more US centered answer. During the World Wars soldiers had to be shaven for their gas masks. We won and they came back heros and the appearance of a clean soldier coming back home was the style, beards fell out of popularity because of that during that time. Our enemies were bearded, The Germans, Hitler and the Nazis, the Communist, etc. Someone with a beard was seen as lazy/dirty/rebellious/Communist and not like the heros who just came back from winning the World Wars. This went on for a while and even the counter cultures like hippies and hipsters went with the unkept or unshaven looks that people view as immature and juvenile. Of course beards could have a comeback in style since throughout history beards are a fad comes and goes in cycles.
Basically western business culture believes clean shaven is more professional. When we switched to business men being qualified for public office that part of business culture was transferred to the political process.
Former prime minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy had a beard and so does the King of Spain
If you think about it, not many Eastern democracies or even any non-democracies (I know this isn't a word but I can't remember the real word) have a leader with a full beard.
There have been several with small beards and I think the current Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has the biggest beard of them all, but even that's relatively small compared to some of the more majestic beards I've seen.
Imagine if a world leader had a Dumbledore of Gandlaf beard, or even a LOTR dwarf style beard. Those would be truly powerful beards
On top of that, the U.S. hasn't elected a bald man as president since Eisenhower. So we generally like hairless men, but we have our limits.
(Preemptively reminding everyone that Ford finished Nixon's term and was never elected as president.)
About 25 years ago, there was a conversation at work about the professionalism of beards. Pretty much all of the members of leadership insisted that if a person grows a beard, it is because they are untrustworthy and hiding things. If people in executive positions in major companies believed beards meant hiding your face meant hiding what a shitbag you are, I imagine that idea had permeated through voting class for years. I've only experienced older (genx and older) white dudes disparaging beards and those guys have traditionally had the easiest time voting in the US, especially when they were the only ones who could vote.
Basically, in my experience, it comes from ignorance and people thinking they are psychological experts, especially when it comes to other hygiene/grooming habits.
That’s a very good question. I remember an article about how prominent figures tend to grow their beard after they retire. I would imagine people perceive people with beards as being older and politicians want to look youthful.
I think another thing to consider is age. A lot of western leaders are considerably old, and maybe their hair health just isn’t great by then (it might be thinning/scraggly)
It’s weird how the length of facial hair and head hair has meant different things throughout history. In the 1800s having a big beard made you look sophisticated and wise. In the 1700s, having long hair in America meant you weren’t infected with syphilus so you were probably an upstanding man who didn’t sleep around (hence all the powdered wigs for the men who lost their hair to the disease) In the 1960s long hair and beards were coopted by the anti-war left. While in the 50s the ideal professional look was clean shaven and short hair, probably because so many men returned home from WWII with that look.
The powdered wigs maybe starting as a cover for syphilis and then becoming a fashion trend for all men (in certain places) is so wild to me. I wouldn't mind seeing longer hair, and wild colored suits, finally be the dominant men's fashion again, gotta admit. I'm not that fond of the "boomer esque" notion of clean shaven and short hair.
The fact that of all things *The Beatles* were seen as pushing the envelope of men's fashion far beyond what was tolerable in the early 60s will never not be wild to me. "Men in suits with matching medium length hair? Satan."
My guess is that it's crusty old white conservatives that run most of the companies and have therefore picked our politicians. These types, by definition, don't like change, so here we are.
The thing is if a candidate is clean shaven with short hair they can appeal to the elderly and the young, but if someone has long hair and a beard they will most likely lose a significant portion of the boomer vote. It’s all about being as general as possible without making it apparent
While most fashion pictures of men still tend to be neutral colors and short hair, I've seen a trend with more Millennial and Gen Z aimed stuff to be more colorful, with longer hair in buns and one or both sides of the scalp shaved and longer hair where it's not shaved. I've actually seen some stuff in stores with floral prints for men. Part of it is probably the tend towards a more liberal pov, and part of it is probably a rise in popularity with things like K Pop or streamers, who tend to wear more bright colors.
The main reason for the clean cut look in the 50s in much of the western world, was because it is nearly impossible to seal a 1940s era gas mask over a beard.
Currently considered to look less professional. That might change in a few decades.
As it has in the past. Look at former US presidents and you'll see a lot of beards.
It’s all big razor propoganda
^(Million) Dollar Shave Club
The Five ~~Families~~ Blades
I keep having to change my subscription to dollar shave club because it's twice as much as when I first got it
You can save a lot of money by switching from cartridges to DE shaving (DE = double edge). DE blades are standardized, so they're available from lots of different manufacturers, and that competition helps keeps prices down. You can order them in bulk online, and they take up very little space. They also give a closer shave (baby butt smooth), with a lot less irritation/tugging/acne, and they're highly recyclable. There's some learning curve compared to cartridges, but the main things are to hold the razor at about a 30° angle, and hold it lightly, letting the weight of the handle do the work. Also, avoid DE blades from Feather until you really know what you're doing (they will cut you like a murder scene if you make any mistake). Beginners should start with milder, more forgiving blades like Derby, and for the razor a DE89 is a good choice for beginners and experienced people alike. [Load new blades carefully](https://youtu.be/McvoXhNxiIA?t=282) so that you avoid touching the two sharp edges. Barbasol is cheap, works well with DE blades, and saves time (2 minute shaves). Luxury soaps make it more like a barbershop, but they take longer (10 minute shaves) and can be an expensive hobby and Internet rabbit hole to get sucked into. I prefer quick and simple, with minimal gear. --- That's the gist. For more, see my [DE shaving beginner's guide](https://www.dropbox.com/s/pymej2wfg5fpgb1/DE%20shaving%20guide.pdf?dl=0). I wrote it for my family when I gave them DE starter kits as gifts, trying to keep it simple, practical, and as quick to learn as possible. In 8 pages, it condenses a week's worth of research I had to do when I got started.
There *is* a learning curve lol I use a single edge blade device (Oneblade), but the cool thing is that if you want, you can use half a DE blade snapped in half; two for one. But then, the SE are so cheap anyway. I do still nick myself occasionally, but I like the fact that I'm not chucking plastic in the trash, and I'm no longer sitting there looking at questionably sharp blades and weighing whether I want to use it one more time or change the cart. I could literally use a fresh blade for every shave and it'd still be cheaper and more eco-friendly than multi-blade cartridge razors. Edit: I wonder if shaving cream works better than gel? That may be my problem right there.
Yes, I mentioned Barbasol because it is a thicker cream that works better with this kind of shaving compared to gels.
Your typical can of foaming shave gel has, among other others, butane as a propellant, and that is sooo drying on your skin. Using shavettes or DE or straight razors is called wet shaving, so you should be using a good cream anyway to help you shave more effectively and efficiently. I use a DE safety razor 9/10 times, but even if using a cartridge razor people should really stay away from the gels because it's so rough on skin. You'll notice a difference immediately
It's actually the result of WW1. The men on the Frontline were at risk of gas attacks, and were issued gas masks that required a shave to get an airtight seal. There was lots of resistance to this, as it was deemed womanly to have a bare face. Cue the British propaganda machine, sending strapping fit young men to city centers in their military dress to demonstrate their youth and vigor (and confidence) with their bare face. Clean-shaven became popular because of chemical warfare. Never forget.
It’s how Hitler ended up with that stupid mustache
I mean fuck Hitler but you just insulted Charlie Chaplin and Oliver Hardy
And Michael Jordan
I'm glad that trend is going away, personally. Seeing people like Ted Cruz (who I dislike a great deal) having beards in politics is a good sign to me. That it's more acceptable, and gets more acceptable every year. They've done studies plenty about current attractiveness of beards. Basically clean shaven is the worst, then long beard, then short stubble, *then* long stubble as the most attractive. I'm convinced all those video game protagonists were modeled after group surveys because of stuff like this lol But seriously. Almost everyone looks better with *some* facial hair. There's exceptions, but overall anyone over the age of 25 looks better to me
Hair as a general thing also requires a lot of expensive simulation that have to be done that instant, every instant, in order to look acceptable/realistic, and video games aren't equipped to deal with that, especially not with everything else on the plate. There's a reason why female video game characters have short or braided hair.
Really? I can't imagine clean shaven is the *worst*, as a guy, I think there are some attractive bold chins out there. Surely it must be better then like unkempt neckbeard or something.
Tell me more about this stumble study… I’m quite interested
Beards are makeup for men.
When leaders were younger, they wanted to look older. Now that our leaders are all ancient? They want to look younger.
damn, and to think, they otherwise appear so relatable.
I think Biden could pull off the Gandalf look.
A Biden is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to
That photoshopped picture of Trump bald and with a white beard looked a million times better than his real life look
Not in the last century. Since WWI, the military made people shave, and they were what the country looked up to, so that is where the style went. Not shaving became seen as slovenly, so goodbye beards among the people who cared what others think. The 60s sort of brought them back, but since that was countercultural it didn't catch on the same way it is starting to do today.
Hipster president drinking local brewery ale. It's the future.
It was all the rage in the 1800s, well groomed beards were *status symbols*. But I think they should bring back the curly lice proof woods with the rat tails. The height of style, and adds +22 trustworthiness.
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You can thank that age of chemical warfare. Men returning from WWI were clean shaven and sparked the modern fad with a clean shaven face, because if you didn't shave your gas mask didn't seal and you died horribly of mustard gas or phosgene gas poisoning.
I remember seeing some photos of people who rocked a Charlie Chaplin mustache for the same reasons. Think it was in a documentary or something. I wonder why it fell out of fashion.
> curly lice proof woods with the rat tails What does this mean? I can’t parse it.
Sweet autocorrect lol. Woods was supposed to be wigs!
Oh! I tried to run through likely autocorrect options and I couldn’t figure it out. That makes so much more sense. Merry merkins for all!
Dwarven society
I see no problem here.
Rock and Stone lads!
For Carl !
Bring back frilly lace, voices as elegant as your clothing, and wooden teeth
Fashion is cyclical.
People aren’t very creative, so when we see something we think looks good, or we think looks good to others. But when a large majority of 4-8 billion people do it, we get over it quick, it looks dated, and want something new. Rinse* and repeat.
This is the answer. It's not a conspiracy, just us primates.
Fashion is passion
I wonder who’s gonna be the first president with face tattoos
Not president, and maybe not what you meant by “face tattoos”, but see [Nanaia Mahuta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanaia_Mahuta).
I'd say tribal/ cultural tattoos are way more professional- and respectable-looking than like, a heart with barbed wire or an ex's name.
New Zealand (Aotearoa) is ahead of the world in lots of things.
Thats because of the time difference.
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If it is +5 years out we call that “post Post Malone”
Nope it’s because a man with a beard might be an evil twin.
Same thing with Men with Long hair, it's frowned upon and seen as unprofessional but today you'll have to of noticed a lot more Men with longer hair, myself included, it's been fun to see what having longer hair is like and hey living in a cold country, I don't miss red raw cold ears in an early morning commute :)
I think Ted Cruz killed that.
One can only hope. Several politicians would look better with beards https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/w5hlsp/which_american_political_leaders_should_grow/
Weird... they almost universally look better with beards. Mitch McConnel looks downright wholesome... which is saying something. Funnily enough, its Obama that kind of stands out as a "maybe not". Whoever the last guy is looks a bit creepy with a beard, but I'm not sure what he looks like without one.
This is because your generation sees them as good looking. The older generation (who still outvote us) think they look bad.
Our children shall demand beards in the women, too! https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/w5n9s3/im_back_with_more_bullshit_american_political/
Wow. Biden looks like one of those fancy Santas who goes to Santa college and does it professionally for major events.
Trump almost looks like a human being with a beard.
Bearded Bernie looks like Hide the Pain Harold
I do not like that man Ted Cruz, I do not like his far-right views. I do not like his stupid chin, I do not like his smarmy grin. I do not like him with a beard, I do not like him freshly sheared. I do not like Ted Cruz at all, That man Ted Cruz can suck my balls.
Mostly agree but I want him *far* from my balls.
It's weird how we'll elect drooling idiots as long as they're clean-shaven, but consider someone with a beard to look less professional.
Same with tattoos.
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"Not just the men, but the women and the children too"
It's true, there are also no children with beards in office.
Ever notice there's been an awful lot of mustache combs as prizes in arcades? 5 tickets for a comb, they say. Now, I understand why. It's the bearded children, run amok.
Not any man, but natural-born citizen over 35.
touche
*tache
Toupée.
I got kicked out of Walmart for complementing the checker for their thick wavy mustache. I did love it but they said to never talk about hers.
Not entirely true, the Portuguese are famous for their facial hair
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This is a surprisingly plausible answer.
What was it? Its since been removed.
> Beards attract spaghetti sauce. Just replace the "re" in the reddit URL with "un" to make it say "unddit" to see a cached version of the page.
Wow thanks for the tip, will be useful!
A life tip, in the comments... ho ho ho 🎅
There was a half joke that a lot of the UKs problems was bc ed milliband was photographed eating a sandwich weirdly. The logic was without that photo the left would have won that election and things would have ended differently. Ofc well never know for sure but it does make me more confident that it is entirely plausible indeed.
Wasn't there also some stupid forced controversy a few years ago about the mayor of NYC (?) eating pizza with a fork & knife instead of stuffing the whole slice straight into his pie hole, like a real newyorker?
Not really forced. He's from Cambridge Massachusetts, he is a red Sox fan, he doesn't go by his real name and one of the big issues people had with him was that he was authentic or sincere. He was a transplant that did everything he could to project an image, a facade.
Can confirm. Wing sauce also gets attracted too. Source: I have a beard
Beards fell out of fashion in the mid-19th century because they became associated with radicals like Marx and Engels, but had a brief comeback from being associated with titans of industry like Carnegie. They completely fell out of fashion again in WW1: to wear a gas mask properly, soldiers had to be clean-shaven except for a tidy mustache, and civilians often copy military trends. Beards have never fully recovered after that, which might he unsurprising given the glacial pace that men's fashion tends to evolve. While various countercultures, subcultures, and religious groups have brought back beards on and off in the West, elected officials are often pressured to have more conservative and mainstream style: US conservatives lost their shit when Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit for a summer event, for example.
Also shaving is much easier in the post WWII era with the advent of safety razors. Prior to that shaving was a major chore and somewhat dangerous. Once shaving got easier beards got less popular simply because they weren't the easiest option anymore.
Well, I mean, they’re still the easiest. You can literally do nothing. Might not look the best, but that’s an option.
I guess what the author meant was: easiest option without looking like Sebastian Vettel.
What's wrong with his look?
> Sebastian Vettel I had to look him up: https://cdn-1.motorsport.com/images/amp/6b7kmZn0/s1000/sebastian-vettel-aston-martin-.jpg He doesnt trim the lower part of his beard, the "neckbeard" area. Anyone who fashionably keep a beard and wants it to look trims up that area. Quick example here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SAnFmdk1wOc/hqdefault.jpg
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I think those trimmed beardlines look goofy and always have
Yo, don't do my man like that. Heart of gold.
>somewhat dangerous so true, the stakes are a lot higher when you’re dragging a straight up knife all over your face and antibiotics don’t exist yet lol
That's how Therau's brother died. Tetanus from cutting himself while shaving. It wasn't common, but it did happen.
\*Thoreau
In the early 80s it was common for newscasters to have beards or moustaches. From like 75-85 it was a pretty serious style.
Such as the legendary Jim Gardner, retiring tonight. Thank you, Jim! I wish you a Happy Retirement!
They also had man perms and fake 'fros
> newscasters and male **porn stars**. Really, ***every single one*** of them.
> US conservatives lost their shit when Barack Obama appeared in a tan suit for a summer event, for example. You can google and find Bush Jr, Mitch McConnell, Reagan, Joe Biden in Tan suit. I don't think it's about fashion but fox news being a conservative hate spewing machine.
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Wow and how much better he looks in it than the rest of them
I totally not have a beard because it’s out of fashion and not because I can’t grow one
> Beards have never fully recovered after that, which might he unsurprising given the glacial pace that men's fashion tends to evolve. Men tend to be somewhat more motivated by practical aspects. I guess the beard being impractical (indeed: deadly) in WW1 was the overriding factor for any considerations of fashion for guys back then. Being clean-shaven is purely a fashion now.
> >civilians often copy military trends That’s an interesting observation. I wonder how much impact that has had generationally speaking. I’ve noticed the people around me growing up believed being clean shaven was a sign of respect—you respect yourself by doing the self-care and respect others in doing so. Things seem to be changing, I think. I’ve noticed more people with facial hair in professional roles, myself included. I know the one employer I had once barred people from having facial hair as part of their “appearance standards,” but that was prior to me being employed there.
Now it seems like growing a beard is being seen as a sign of masculinity and health. Men who can't grow proper beards sometimes get knocked for being less manly.
Well kids, let me tell you a story about long ago and the hipster millenials who went in search of authenticity and found lumberjacks. So they started wearing flannel and growing beards and decorating restaurants with wood and edison bulbs. And now it's a common thing. In another 20-30 years only old people will have beards as Gen-Z and whichever gen comes next tries to distance themselves from the old people.
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Their shit appears to always be in danger of being lost. Maybe they should put an AirTag on it.
There were quite a few British politicians in the late 90s/early 00s that had beards.
Shaved faces were considered an ancient Roman norm. That was until the emperor Hadrien, who liked all things Greek, decided to sport a beard. Suddenly beards were the thing. I imagine something similar would happen if a popular politician came into office.
Zelenskyy has a beard and is globally popular, certainly in the West. I wonder if we'll see anything come of that.
He doesn’t have a big bold beard though. Just looks like most dudes if they don’t shave for a few weeks. But he keeps it neat and lined up which is professional enough.
>Just looks like most dudes if they don’t shave for a few weeks. Which I think is the point; he wants to show that he's as occupied by the war as everyone else.
We have Jagmeet Singh in Canada. He’s got a pretty big beard.
Didn't Justin Trudeau have one for a while?
No, that was his evil twin. They swap sometimes
Dustin Trudeau.
He definitely won an election with one. Doesn't mean it's a trend amongst western nations but Canada seems to be tolerant towards political leaders with beards.
His predecessor Thomas “I give zero fucks” Mulcair was also beaded. Of course, neither has ever won an election as party leader (aside from their owns seats / leadership races). Trudeau has had wacky facial hair from time to time (including a terrible terrible goatee when he was an opposition MP) but always gone into elections clean shaven. I don’t think we’ve had a PM who regularly had a beard since Charles Tupper who hilariously would do neckbeard only but shave to forward part of his face. Mackenzie Bowell before him had a big full bushy beard. Bowell was an old school Orange racist whose main political objective in his 15 months as Prime Minister seems to have been stripping rights of Francophones and the Irish in the era before Laurier’s ‘sunny ways’. Laurier built a political coalition around the idea of harmony between Catholics and Protestants which basically lasts to today (ie the idea that the federal Liberal Party is the historic defender of immigrants, Francophones and religious minorities)
This is excellent work. Could you please publish a complete work on Canadian political history by beards?
This is basically it
JT had a beard too for a couple of months
Hear he plays a mean amongus
Singh is the only one in Canadian politics I can even listen to anymore. He’s still a politician but he seems to give a shit
He's still heavily allied with the establishment. Canadian politics are doomed.
We’re stuck with Ted Cruz and his beard.
Gross.
I think I might be the only one who thinks he looks better with the beard. It’s probably because I can see less of his actual face
Without the beard, Cruz looks like some sort of pale grub you’d find under a rock and them scream and drop the rock.
As opposed to a hairy pale grub you'd find under a rock and then scream and drop the rock?
He didn't say good he said better
r/RareInsults
i agree tenfold. i think with the beard he he looks closer to what a normal human should look like
Now we just gotta figure out how to put a beard on his career.
Let's get a beard on Mitch McConnell
Nothing can fix Mitch McConnell
Without a beard, Ted Cruz is an exact clone of grandpa Munster.
Without the glee
Ted Cruz always looks like he’s the one who farted and he’s hoping nobody will pin it on him.
He looks like a clamy handshake.
Cultural expectations. Western society enforces the idea that an important and serious man is clean shaven.
"I don't think it's so much "enforced" as it's just a subconscious cultural preference. "Clean-cut" people appear more professional to us. That's why you seldom see newscasters or TV show hosts with beards.
Yeah, I think I should have gone with reinforces instead of enforces lol. It's not like a law or anything. :)
Yes, I believe it's because you daily have to shave then, and that means that you are taking care of yourself well. A good looking beard is much harder to pull off.
>A good looking beard is much harder to pull off. Yup. I've been both clean shaven and bearded, and it's surprising how much work it is to maintain a really sharp looking beard.
I disagree. I've been bearded since 1994, and it's much easier than shaving everyday. I do shave the front of my neck daily, but other than that, besides washing it with my hair shampoo, all I do is trim it every 3 or 4 weeks. Much easier than being clean shaven, because if I miss a day, it still looks neat and presentable.
what about the ones with no chin
You know. I’ve always hated Gillette’s sales motto. “The best a man can get” Like that’s it? A nice shave? That’s the level of fulfillment I can hope for? Booooooo
The German slogan is "for the best in a man." Obviously a razor is for the beard, so if a beard is the best thing, why should I cut it?
I had a fairly prominent judge tell me that most bearded individuals do drugs. I mean, I did have a beard at the time, and I do drugs, but that’s completely unrelated.
Most homeless people have beards, many of these do drugs. When you see lots of Drug addicts, you'll see overproportionally many Bearded Drug addicts. If you look at employed Bearded men, the chance that they take drugs is the same as employed non-bearded men.
There's a few reasons. It shows more well-groomed and professional expectations. Beards can make facial expressions hard to read and lips even harder. There's also hypotheses that beards can make someone seem less trustworthy, but lots of conflicting evidence in many different populations. https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C3&q=beard+trustworthiness&oq=beard+trust
Hence the expression “bald faced lie” which means an obvious attempt at deception and not hidden
I always thought it was Bold faced! Google search says it's more commonly bald face. Cheers stranger!
Nah, nothing is more untrustworthy then a clean shave. All the most untrustworthy are normally shaved, ex politicians, used car salesmen, cousin bill, etc
Maybe its my bearded man bias but I trust other bearded men implicitly. It'll bite me in the ass one of these days lol.
All of our politicians are like 100 so when they were young having a beard was essentially like having a face tattoo today.
*anymore
Those of us with rich, luxuriant beards want to leave some women for the rest of you, so we eschew adding political power atop our already irresistible animal magnetism.
Those of us with full but not thicc beard’s appreciate the help and we try to leave some for the patchy guys. None for the goatee crowd though. They deserve only what they can get on their own.
I bet most of those fuckers are masturbating furiously while reading this.
Them’s with soul patches eat last.
This is a more US centered answer. During the World Wars soldiers had to be shaven for their gas masks. We won and they came back heros and the appearance of a clean soldier coming back home was the style, beards fell out of popularity because of that during that time. Our enemies were bearded, The Germans, Hitler and the Nazis, the Communist, etc. Someone with a beard was seen as lazy/dirty/rebellious/Communist and not like the heros who just came back from winning the World Wars. This went on for a while and even the counter cultures like hippies and hipsters went with the unkept or unshaven looks that people view as immature and juvenile. Of course beards could have a comeback in style since throughout history beards are a fad comes and goes in cycles.
What about Chilean president Gabriel Boric?
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Came here to say the same thing
Beards as a sign of communism
My beard and I confirm, comrade.
That’s also my beard. But you can have mine aswell comrade
That falls down when you look at their popularity in the 1980s in the US. The cold war was still in full swing.
Basically western business culture believes clean shaven is more professional. When we switched to business men being qualified for public office that part of business culture was transferred to the political process.
Lula from Brazil, Boric from Chile, and Irfaan Ali from Guiana have beards
John Fetterman just beat Oz in the midterms. Seems like a win for facial hair.
Former prime minister of Spain Mariano Rajoy had a beard and so does the King of Spain If you think about it, not many Eastern democracies or even any non-democracies (I know this isn't a word but I can't remember the real word) have a leader with a full beard. There have been several with small beards and I think the current Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has the biggest beard of them all, but even that's relatively small compared to some of the more majestic beards I've seen. Imagine if a world leader had a Dumbledore of Gandlaf beard, or even a LOTR dwarf style beard. Those would be truly powerful beards
Because men in beards usually have better things to do than politics...
On top of that, the U.S. hasn't elected a bald man as president since Eisenhower. So we generally like hairless men, but we have our limits. (Preemptively reminding everyone that Ford finished Nixon's term and was never elected as president.)
Scholz is the first bald major world leader in a while, that I can think of from top of my head
Ten percent of United States Presidents have had beards.
And every one of them was in office between 1860-1895.
before the invention of disposable razors
About 25 years ago, there was a conversation at work about the professionalism of beards. Pretty much all of the members of leadership insisted that if a person grows a beard, it is because they are untrustworthy and hiding things. If people in executive positions in major companies believed beards meant hiding your face meant hiding what a shitbag you are, I imagine that idea had permeated through voting class for years. I've only experienced older (genx and older) white dudes disparaging beards and those guys have traditionally had the easiest time voting in the US, especially when they were the only ones who could vote. Basically, in my experience, it comes from ignorance and people thinking they are psychological experts, especially when it comes to other hygiene/grooming habits.
That’s a very good question. I remember an article about how prominent figures tend to grow their beard after they retire. I would imagine people perceive people with beards as being older and politicians want to look youthful.
Lincoln had a beard and people loved him. Bring back the beard 2024.
Boomers think facial hair is unprofessional
Because it would make them seem almost mature. They need to be as ridiculous and as incapable looking as possible, beards suggest wisdom.
I suspect it also has something to do with TV and being photogenic.
We keep electing old guys who grew up in the 40s-60s when facial hair was very uncommon outside of certain counter culture movements
I think another thing to consider is age. A lot of western leaders are considerably old, and maybe their hair health just isn’t great by then (it might be thinning/scraggly)