Beards

Friends, today I’d love to hear your thoughts on beards. Ben Blair is sporting a very handsome, very red one(!) right this minute. And do you know what? It’s his very first beard ever!

Probably because my dad almost always wore a beard (and I have fond memories of watching him with his beard trimmer), I’ve never thought beards were unusual, and in fact, have always found them handsome. But I know many women (and men!) can’t stand them.

Last night I told Ben Blair that I was quite fascinated that he could so completely change his appearance in just a few weeks. If someone met him for the first time last month, they would have a very different first impression than if they met him today, because beards seem to make such a statement. Isn’t that interesting?

Where do you fall on facial hair? Has your husband or boyfriend ever grown a beard? Do you prefer a man clean shaven? Or maybe with some rugged five o’clock shadow? Have you ever kissed someone with a beard?

P.S. — I also have to say that your comments on the beauty post are amazing. I keep re-reading them!

139 thoughts on “Beards”

  1. My husband has a goatee and he keeps it very well-trimmed. When I first met him, he was clean-shaven, but two or three years into our marriage, we went on a week-long hiking trip to Havsupai Falls in the Grand Canyon. He didn’t shave at all during that trip, and when we got back, he tried a goatee. He’s stuck with it ever since, and I love it. However, I loved him just as much when he was clean-shaven as well.

    My mom, on the other hand, hates beards. She hates the scratchiness of the shadow and trying to kiss my dad while he’s got any sort of facial hair. Still, she’s a good sport; my dad has grown a beard for my little sister’s dance company for several years in a row now; he plays Herr Drosslemeyer in their yearly production of The Nutcracker.

    My little brother loves experimenting with facial hair and his wife thinks the beard is hot. Every time I see him, he’s sporting a new look. My husband’s cousin is the same way in his experimentation and constant change–his wife only asks that his change in appearance be gradual. You know, that he not shave everything off all at once if he wants to, but rather do it in steps.

    I have to admit that I’m jealous. I wish I could experiment that drastically with the way I look; part of me wonders what slightly longer sideburns would look like on my slender face. Maybe that’s why I have past-my-waist hair; it’s extremely dramatic.

  2. I also love a man with a beard. My husband has had one ever since we met (almost 9 years ago) and I’ve never seen him without one. But what I don’t care for is when men grow them long and bushy… then it starts to look like they’re mountain men. No thanks.

    Ben Blair looks quite handsome with his beard.

  3. I never thought I would be the beard loving type of girl but when I was dating my husband he grew his facial hair out and after that there was no looking back. I dislike it when he shaves because his beard makes him look more mature, in the handsome sort of way.

  4. Pamela Balabuszko-Reay

    BenBlair looks adorable!

    I like an assortment of hair do’s and even a few hair don’ts. Maybe a combo of handsome and a little silly. The combinations are endless for those boys.

    Not so sure about the smooching. My hubby can’t really grow proper facial hair so I probably won’t find out. ;)

  5. I used to despise beards. My godfather was the only man I was close to who had one, and I hated when his prickly face tried to give me a kiss on the cheek. However, I have grown to appreciate them. My husband would sometimes sport one when we were dating, but would go back to clean shaven soon after. In June, just before our son was born, he decided it would help him look older (like, the age he actually is…we both look very young for our ages). He’s had one now for about five months, and I can’t remember what he looked like without one, unless I look at our wedding photos. :)

  6. My husband grows hair on his chin but not a full beard. I like it, but I don’t like it when it’s first growing in because its really pokey. When it’s longer it doesn’t poke me as much. I feel like he doesn’t get a choice in my hair style so I don’t say how he should style his hair.

  7. My husband grows a beard every year. I don’t know sometimes I like it and sometimes I don’t. If he keeps it trimmed it’s fine but if it gets prickly then eww. I like it most of the time. :) He says it’s a guy thing to grow a beard when it gets cold.

  8. My husband grew one when we went on a two week trip to Peru in 2005 (didn’t bother packing a razor on a hiking trip!) and we both like it. Now that we have 2 kids who have never known him without it, I think he will have it for awhile so not to freak them out:)

  9. Until about a year ago my husband had never in our 9 year marriage been without a beard for more than the handful of days it took to regrow. Then new responsibilities came along, responsibilities that require a clean shave. It took weeks and weeks for me to get used to his bare face. I still miss the beard. I look wistfully at old photos and think “someday”

  10. Hi Gab:
    I am not about to read 112 comments about beards so I am not sure if this has already been mentioned but worth saying it again. I am not a fan of facial hair. Rather grossed out….but it is November which is the beard growing month called Movember where mean grow and sport facial hair for a cause. Changing the face of men’s health….

    http://ca.movember.com/about/

    is this why BB did this?

  11. In general, I’m not a big fan of facial hair. My husband stopped sporting a moustache about 6 months before I met him; I know I would have not been as attracted to him if he still had it. My father has had a moustache for most of his adult life and I associated moustaches with an older generation. My dad also used to have a beard and I remember when he shaved it (beard was turning gray) my younger sisters didn’t recognize him at first.

  12. I love (some) men with beards, definitely mine.

    They look very dashing :)

    Ben Blair is very handsome with his beard.

    Gabrielle, I love how you keep raving about your husband – it is beautiful to see :)

  13. Love the beard Ben Blair! Very rugged outdoorsy looking. You’re timing is a little off though :) this month every year is movember, when men sport just a mustache to promote men’s health awareness and get sponsors to raise money for prostate cancer research. Check out movember.com
    Again, though, a big like on the beard!

  14. My husband is always growing some sort of beard/goatee. He’s been growing one since June and it is the biggest one he’s ever had. I was sure I would hate it but I fell in love with it (and him, again) and kinda like it. But it’s huge now and getting a little out of control.

  15. My husband is a few weeks into a new beard. I quite like it, actually! He’s been wanting to try it for a long time, but he’s an attorney for a big law firm in NYC and didn’t feel comfortable not shaving when going into the office. He finally went for it, and he’s certainly had a few comments, but generally in good humor!

  16. My father in law always had a beard when my husband was little, and he passed away a couple of years ago, so my husband decided he would grow a beard every year from February (his dad’s birthday) to April (when he died) to remember him. I love the tradition, and I love how he looks with a beard!

  17. I only like beards that are trimmed VERY well and quite short. Fluffy or long beards are unappealing to me. Goatees are okay as well, but a little 2-3 day scruff is the best to me (looks-wise). And I can’t even begin to describe how much I deplore mustaches.
    Overall, I definitely prefer clean shaven, though.

  18. ben blair looks awesome with a beard! that said, i think most guys beards are handsome. mustaches and goatees and any other kind….nope. just beards. my ex had a manly beard and was a mountain guy so i always felt like he personified handsome. he turned out to be a real jerk in the end but i still kept my preference for beards and plaid button ups hahaha

  19. My husband has grown a beard every winter (except for the years we lived in the desert in Tucson-too hot!) since college. It absolutely looks different…people who meet him with it never recognize him without it, and vice versa, unless they see the transition or have known him for years. I think it looks pretty rugged and handsome, and the most fun is when he shaves it in spring!!! All of a sudden you can see his dimple again and that smooth skin all of a sudden makes him look super young and cute :). His hair is very dense (he describes it as brillo), so he doesn’t have a lot of options to change it for a different look, so the beard is super fun. I love it!

    Just wait until Ben Blair shaves his (after a long while)…as fun as it is to have the change now, I predict you will also love the dramatic sudden youthful look when he shaves :).

  20. My husband has the mustache and goatee look going on. I keep trying to get to sport a full, mountain man beard. Just once. I think he’s warming up to the idea.
    How could any man not grow a beard at least once, just to see?

    (side note: the word ‘beard’ starts to look very odd after you look at it for several minutes)

  21. My husband grew a beard a little over a year ago and at first I wasn’t a fan but now I’ve made him promise never to shave it. It doesn’t bother me when we smooch and I think it’s a bit mysterious. I think a well kept beard is super hot.

  22. A man that wears a beard tells me a million small things – he owns being a man and isnt afraid of it, can hold his own in winter weather, and build a fire from what they can find in nature.. My husband sports a fine beard of the softest shades of red and grey. We traveled once to a remote town and sitting in the diner having a meal he commented he never felt so at home. I peered around to find not a naked face in the place.

  23. I love men in beards! My man especially :) He has had facial hair since before we met. That was part of the attraction i suppose. My father has always had a mustache and beard also. It is very manly and I enjoy it. My husband once shaved his facial hair completely off. I hated it! He didn’t look like my man. Luckily he hated it too and grew it right back.

  24. How timely! It’s No Shave November, or Movember around here. My husband is growing a mustache because he’s in the military and that’s the only facial hair they allow. I’d rather he was clean shaven or sport a goatee or beard, but he maintains that it’s for a good cause: raising awareness of men’s health, testicular and prostate cancer in particular. People at church and at work can’t recognize him with the ‘stache! It’s funny. The whole radiology department is sporting mustaches and I think they look creepy. But the end of the month is soon… clip, clip, shave, shave!

  25. I have never kissed a man with a beard but my husband has been sporting a ‘Movember’ mustache all month and if it were’t for such a good cause I would get him to shave it off…it’s too prickly and both our sons agree!!!

  26. oh and my husband’s beard has actually 3 colours in it…
    red, blonde and some sprinkles of white are coming in now as well…. love that as well :)

  27. My husband has a beard and pretty much has had one ever since we were married. I love it. He can grow a pretty rad beard. It is dark brown with flashes of light brown and red. He comes from a family of bearded men. I don’t mind him clean shaven, but I prefer the beard.

  28. My husband has kind of a baby face and he’s not really able to grow a thick beard. We both prefer the look when he has some scruff so he shaves once or twice a week. My only complaint is that his face feels like sandpaper for a day after he shaves. Ouch!

  29. if not trimmed up properly facial hair can look scruffy. my husband has a goatee, and he looks AMAZING in it if i do say so myself:) it does a lot for a guy if they have a “baby face” like my husband. it makes him look his age (thirties) in a GOOD way.

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