Do you guys have a social stigma around beards?

47 comments

1. You don’t work in tech, do you?

2. I think you might be exaggerating or imagining some of this

3. Not really. Beards are in style and rightfully so. I sport a beard with no issue and have for years.

4. No we don’t, but “neckbeards” is used negatively.

   I’ll also add there’s a thing about guys having beards to hide undefined chins/jaws.

5. The only “consequence” I experienced after growing a beard was that I was no longer carded for alcohol.

6. Like 90% of the dudes I know have a beard, including me. As far as I know, none of my friends have ever experienced what you’re talking about because of their beard.

7. Do you have a mustache?

   But “scared”? I feel like people misinterpret behavior a lot and this might be one of those times.

   Let’s just leave it at you seem to get less positive attention with a beard.

8. Depends on the beard. I generally look better with a beard and get compliments on it, but it’s almost always a short, neat one. Longer beards and mustaches get more varied reactions IME.

   They used to be fashionable and professional, then went out of style for a long time, and are now working their way back in. The last president to consistently have facial hair, for example, was Taft, but many of his predecessors also had facial hair.

9. >I am from UAE but not a terrorist.

   Sounds like something a terrorist would say.

   But yea we don’t really care if you have a beard or not. The only ones who care are my students who experience a reality shock when I either grow or shave my beard.

10. Maybe when it comes to poorly maintained beards. But I’m gonna guess in your case, you probably look more like a stereotypical muslim.

11. It’s mostly bigotry. Arabs w/ beards are usually associated w/ more religious Muslims in the US. I don’t think most Americans associate it w/ terrorists anymore, but they do assume they are heavily religious and only want to associate w/ other Muslims, and not westerners.

12. No, until I started working in tech almost every man I interacted with on a daily basis had a beard. I have a beard. Almost everyone in this industry is clean-shaven and it actually weirds me out.

13. I mean, are you a female?

14. Some people look good with one some people don’t so idk

15. It’s all perception. When I shave I look like Tom Hanks or Matt Damon. Harmless. When I grow a beard I look like Triple H, or one of the Sons of Anarchy. People are way less likely to approach me.

16. I have a beard, people seem to like me just fine

17. Honestly it’s just personal preference for me, I find them kind of gross from a hygiene standpoint

18. Beards are super common around here.

19. I havent shaved in over a decade. If there is a stigma I will be glad to meet up and correct you 😎✌

20. I know *I* grow beards so sketchy that I’d suspect myself looking in a mirror. But in general… well, it kind of depends.

    You can probably tell that mustaches and beards are pretty hard to find among US politicians (and no President since 1913, it seems), probably CEOs and stuff, too.

    But your average guy, “just around”? Not really. “Neckbeard” notwithstanding.

21. It’s funny but I think the US current beard trend started from MENA cross cultural contact and returning vets. It’s that combination of not being forced to shave any more leaving service and remembering how great your buddy Azizi looked with his. That or the specops guys who lived out of regs. I dunno.

    You might have some backing to your theory about why it isn’t working for you.

22. I sort of wonder if it is more your age than your beard. Kids and teens generally talk to people their own age and sometimes view younger or older people outside of that group. I’m wondering if your beard makes you appear much older… they might think you are 28 instead of 21 for example.
     

    Beyond that, beards are pretty common in the USA. However, some people may associate different things with different types of beards. A short well groomed beard might suggest successful businessmen, but a longer well groomed beard might suggest pretensious hipster.
     

    On the other hand you might have the [full deluxe](https://i.pinimg.com/236x/24/62/4f/24624fcdf8aeb0a502ea9a30b45a9b0c–motorcycle-quotes-biker-quotes.jpg) and that could mean anything. Biker, Santa Claus, Homo, Hippy, Linux Dev, moon shiner that has been up in the mountains a little too long.

23. I’d guess you look not only more “Muslim” but “conservative Muslim”. Probably people are wary of you, service industry is going to assume you’re rude and don’t tip. Some might assume you don’t speak English very well. None of this is fair but that’s how it goes.

    Depends on the beard too. A short clean shaven one is different that big one, and different than the mustache-free ones sported by some religious Muslims and the Amish. A clean shaven Muslim usually is stereotyped as non-practicing or at least not super devout. Hence more seen as someone the typical American is going to have more in common with.

24. The 2010s were basically the peak beard decade. They’re still pretty popular.

25. I have had the opposite experience. When I grow my beard out people — especially women — are nicer to me. This may be because of how gray my beard is; people may think I’m a cute little old man. I’m not even 50, but I’ve been offered the senior discount.

    I have read of [older] surveys that said people find men with beards a little less trustworthy.

26. I like my beard, plan on keeping it, and there’s generally no issue with the length because I work a corporate job and have to keep it tidy anyway. When I first grew it in, I got a number of positive comments about it that made me decide to keep it. That said, after being “randomly” stopped at an airport *every* time it gets tiring.

27. Beards are pretty popular right now in the US. I have a full beard and I’m told by all the women I know that I’m forbidden from shaving it. My wife used to hate beards but she likes it now and once (jokingly) told me I ruined my face when I shaved it off.

    With that said, some people suck at growing one and they shouldn’t try. If your beard looks like [this](https://original-content.imgix.net/2020/05/Patchy_Beard.jpg) or [this](https://hairstylecamp.com/wp-content/uploads/neck-beard-14.jpg), you may want to consider staying clean shaven. The more patchy and/or unkept it appears, the more of a social stigma there is. The name “neckbeard” gets thrown around a lot.

28. Have had a beard all my adult life. Had no problem finding professional work and when I started a biz, found no probs doing sales to US govt.

    Keeping a beard trimmed is as important as keeping your hair trimmed, neat, and clean. If you look like you don’t care about your appearance you can’t expect others to take you seriously in a professional situation

29. I haven’t been clean shaven in almost 10 years and I’ve always gotten compliments on my beard, and I’ve even been told that I look Armenian, might just be where you live.

30. My name reflects my sentiment

31. No, Beards are extremely common.

32. Some faces just look better without a beard.

33. I’m guessing it’s not just the beard but the combination of your race. I remember seeing a video on tik tok or ig where they showed photos of clean shaven serial killers and photos of nice people who were middle eastern guys with facial hair and almost all the comments were taking about the clean shaven guys looked like good people while while the bearded brown guys were terrorists or looked shady

34. Not so much nowadays. There used to be tho, in part originating from soldiers returning from ww1 clean shaven. Being clean shaven was considered more “professional” in many circles til relatively recently.

35. I’m convinced the only people who don’t like beards can’t grow them

36. It depends. If you have blonde hair with colored eyes people might like it but if you have brown skin with dark eyes than different story.

37. Most men I know have beards. It’s all in your head my friend.

38. I mean, I don’t want to discount your experiences, but it’s also possible that your beard doesn’t make you as attractive as you think it does and it’s more the loss of pretty privilege than people thinking you’re a terrorist. Really hard to judge from one tiny internet post though.

    I do think that beards in the US have a lot more varied reactions than clean shaven men get, mainly because with some facial shapes they really work and with some they really don’t, and some women just don’t find bearded men attractive, while other women are mainly or solely attracted to bearded men. Beards can completely change someone’s look. I mean, just look at the Les Mis movie with Hugh Jackman and compare him at the beginning to him after he becomes mayor. Beards can massively change the way a man is perceived. They also carry many different, varied social connotations than men without them. There’s neckbeards that give off badly put together life vibes, long bushy beards that give off strong country man vibes, or Amish vibes if mustache-less, goatees that give off suave rich antihero/villain vibes, wacky beards that give off Civil War general with too much time on his hands, and the possible unfortunate possibility of terrorist vibes that some might see with certain beards on certain men. So, I don’t know, just look at before and after photos of yourself and evaluate the different vibes you feel. If the beard flatters you and makes you happy, that’s all that matters.

39. My best friend is Indian and he has a beard with no issues outside of travel. He has to shave it every time before going through airport security, otherwise he gets “randomly selected” for a hand search every time

40. Maybe you just have a weird beard idk OP

41. Beards are very common. It is, unfortunately, the fact that you are middle eastern.

42. It’s definitely the middle eastern heritage. I have middle eastern heritage myself and would never grow a beard for that exact reason. I have received enough racism throughout my life without one, imagine what it would be like with one?

43. It’s just islamophobia, I’m afraid. If you look middle eastern and have a beard, you “look more intimidating” and “don’t look friendly” because of the stereotypes we have about Arab/Muslim-looking men.

44. Nope. Beards can mean, or not mean, a few different things here. Usually they’re just an aesthetic choice. Sometimes religious, usually either by very orthodox or Hasidic Jews or more conservative Muslims. Nobody bats an eye, whether it’s aesthetic or religious.

    My husband is middle eastern. He can’t really grow a good beard – always comes out patchy. Nobody assumes he’s a terrorist when he goes a few days without shaving. But we live right outside of NYC. Plenty of diversity around here. Maybe he would get racially profiled more if we were in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest? But if so, it would probably happen regardless of his facial hair or lack their of.

45. Yeah some people are bigots and unfortunately those people associate neared Middle Eastern men with terrorism. It’s likely not the beard that’s the problem.

46. Do you live in the villages in Florida?

47. As soon as I grew my beard, I was charged and convicted on 17 charges of 1st degree murder.