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. I love beards!!!!!!!!! I have only seen my husband once without one, and it was due to an accident while trimming. I found him wildly attractive right away because of his man hair.
    Goatees and mustaches… no.

  2. beards=sexy. but i also love camping and hiking and backpacking and think i look super hot when i have scrapes all over my legs from a crazy trail run or mt bike fall! does that say anything about my likes and dislikes?

  3. Mother Knows Best

    My husband put down his razor to celebrate Movember, but I’ve already made him shave because kissing was getting too spikey! I started making him approach his kiss target from below and sliding his lips up my chin to meet mine so that he didn’t prickle me in the face! I like the look of a beard, but that upper lip hair and I can never live harmoniously!

  4. Always depends on the man, I’d say. Although – if he decides to wear a beard – two things are an absolute, non-negotiable must (you know, like basic personal hygiene):
    1) The beard must be well-trimmed. I don’t wanna kiss Hagrid.
    2) ESPECIALLY a moustache must be well-trimmed. My father has one, and you can see the last two meals in it. ALWAYS.
    And: I couldn’t sleep with a man who only wears a moustache. It is too much like my father, too much of Oedipus and Electra.

  5. so, here’s the problem with beards in our house – they look awful. my husband grows them when he feels lazy – it used to be a summer break thing (he’s a teacher) and now it’s a bi-monthly thing. but he doesn’t trim them and ends up look like an ewok. a six foot 250 lb ewok. sigh.

  6. I love facial hair. LOVE IT. When Fred shaves, I ask him to grow his ‘stache and goatee back again. It is incredibly sexy. I’m only sorry he can’t grow a full beard because that would be awesome. Ben is rocking his beard. He looks fabulous.

  7. I am a big fan of beards. My husband won’t grow one because he says it isn’t him but he does consent to keeping a little stubble as often as possible. He looks way too young when he’s clean-shaven.

  8. Big beard fan here! HUGE. I love facial hair on men, always have. My husband grows ME a beard every winter, lol. I think he looks dashing and distinguished sporting a beard. All it took for him to do it annually, was a gaggle of women at work telling him how handsome he was, lol.

    My girls love it as well and are always sad when he shaves in spring! : )

  9. I usually think a clean shaved face is so handsome but my husband looks like he is 16 with a completely shaved face. I like when he lets it grow out a few days. He likes as much facial hair as possible but that tickles when he kisses me :)

  10. I think it really depends on the person. Some people can pull it off beautifully while other. . . well, not so much. My husband, for instance, doesn’t grow much facial hair so when he tries it looks rather sparse and pitiful. We both think he looks much better clean shaven and even then he only has to shave a couple of times a week. A lot of his fellow medical residents, though, have been growing facial hair for the last few years because it helps them look older which, in turn, helps patients trust them more. My husband has a lot of gray hair so he doesn’t need to worry about the looking too young bit. :) I’ve noticed that because my husband doesn’t have facial hair our kids get a little nervous around friends and family who do sport a beard and/or mustache. I was mentioning this to a friend with a husband who regularly wears a full beard and she said she’d noticed the same thing with her little girls’ friends. If the dad had a beard the kid was much more comfy with my friend’s husband and his facial hair.

  11. I LOVE BEARDS. Seriously, I find men with beards insanely attractive. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t have much facial hair on his cheeks so he can’t grow one. (He could rock a serious Tom Selleck ‘stache, though!)

  12. My husband grows a beard every winter- this year he started growing it on the first day of hockey season and will probably keep it until our team is done next spring/summer. I love when he has a beard, as long as he keeps it under control, since when it gets too long he looks like a scary drifter!

    The most interesting thing isn’t how men can change their entire appearance in a few weeks by growing a beard, but how they can change it in an instant by shaving it off!

  13. I think Ben Blair looks great with a beard!

    When I met my husband, he was beardless, but for the past 12 years, he’s had a goatee and mustache (so not really a full beard), but it looks great on him and I prefer him with it, as does he. I can’t imagine him any other way! But this all depends on the man.. some look great with facial hair, and some don’t.

  14. My dad also had various beards and goatees while I was growing up. By the time I was in high school and college it was consistently a beard but I could always remember him clean shaven from when I was really young. It was so strange when my brother (16yrs younger) asked for him to shave as a 9th birthday present, since he had never seen Dad clean-shaven.

    My husband’s facial hair is so patchy there’s no chance of a beard or goatee in his future.

  15. I love my husband with a beard. He’s only able to grow one while on vacation, though. He’s in the military. I also like a goatee, but I don’t like him with a mustache only. When he was a traditional reservist, he used to shave off his goatee every month, then spend the next month growing it back out. I love it.

  16. I met my hubby without facial hair & I distinctly remember my friend & I pushing each other to tell him that his newly sported mustache goatie was a good look for him. He ha pretty much kept it since then. Except that one time a couple years ago when I went with him to the hair-dresser to get a hair-cut & convinced him he should just “try” shaving it all off again. He did & as soon as he turned around I knew he needed to keep it & so did he. Good thing it does not take long to grow out. So funny!

  17. Ben Blair looks great with a beard. Like, more serious or something. I love beards. My husband typically grows a beard in the winter and shaves it off once it starts to get warm. I always love it when he first grows it out and then I love it again when he shaves it off.

  18. I love beards too, and my husband usually has one. I’ve never seen my dad without his beard, which is probably why I like them. My husband actually belongs to a beard club, and there are some impressive beards in that group. I prefer his shorter, very groomed beard, though. I think it’s very handsome!

  19. I have always loved a man with a beard…for whatever reason I find it incredibly sexy. My husband and I have been a couple for 20 yrs [tomorrow!] and married for 10 yrs and I’ve only seen him completely clean shaven once! I did not like it! I felt like I was looking at a stranger.
    I do insist that he keeps the mustache section of his beard, above his lips trimmed regularly because that makes kissing much less prickly ;)
    Interestingly, he has light brown hair, but his beard is darker than the hair on his head and it has flecks of red mixed in with the brown [and now some grey]. I’m a redhead, but the only one in my family going back 4 generations. So – never in a million yrs did I expect to have redheaded children! But because of the hubbie’s flecks of red in the beard I ended up with red haired kids. I read once that if both parents have even so much as one red hair on their body they will have red headed kids…no idea if that’s scientifically fact, but in my case it is! Point is – I have a fondness for red beards ;)

  20. My husband grew a beard out for the first time ever a couple months back. He has really thin hair and facial hair so it took a while to get full. We were camping so it was the perfect oppourtunity to grow it in. I actually really like it. It’s so manly!!

  21. Love beards. My husband grows his winter beard every year around now (he claims it’s too hot and itchy in the summer to keep). I’m always depressed when he shaves it on that first spring weekend of March or April– by then, I’ve gotten so used to the beard, I always feel surprised to see him clean shaven again.

  22. My husbands got a movember beard right now. It’s sorta red, blond, brown & clear! I love it since its a nice change from the rest of the year and yes I think it’s sexy!

  23. My husband sports a goatee because he teaches high school and had people trying to recruit him for the football team and kick him out of the teachers lounge. At first I didn’t like it, but now, when he shaves it every summer, I’m really bummed out.

  24. I love beards, but I agree, it depends on the person and how their hair grows in. My husband is lucky and has great facial hair growth. I prefer him with a little scruff to a full beard rather than clean shaven. I think he looks like a 12 year old when he’s clean shaven (plus, it only takes about about 20 minutes before the five o’clock shadow shows up). I’ve never seen him with a mustache, now I’m starting to get curious how he would look!

    We were acquaintances for a few years before we started dating, and I remember seeing him on campus after he had come back from a trip to Mexico and he had this amazing beard. He looked so well traveled, I was so attracted to him! I like to think back to that day and think how funny it is I married that hot, scruffy traveler that I’m sure all the ladies in the English department were lusting after. He’s mine :)

  25. I’m a fan of beards. My husband has had one ever since we moved out East (prior to that he taught at BYU, so he couldn’t). At first he’d shave whenever we visited family because my mom is not a fan, but now it’s fully a part of him.

    He looks younger without his beard, but much more rugged/handsome with it. Interestingly, whenever he has the beard, people are much more respectful toward him (especially on the subway). He’s always called sir and once even professor.

  26. Love, Love, Love facial hair on my husband! Right now he’s growing a handlebar moustache, so things are a little crazy since he also has a full beard. Unbelievably manly. He’s super meticulous about keeping it clean (no after dinner snacks)!! But he’s always a little unsure of himself at church here in Utah. Growing up my Dad cycled between a moustache and no moustache (depending on what church calling he had at the time).

  27. I am so happy that my husband A) is in the military so forbidden growing a certain amoun of facial hair and B) can’t even grow much to any facial hair. I dated a guy who had a mountain man beard once and I just think its gross.

  28. My husband is not allowed to shave his beard. I think it’s so dreamy and manly! When I was a teen, I always wanted a husband with a beard, and I often think that 16 year old me would be so excited at how cute our husband is. And he has dreamy, flowing locks, too, so the effect is a little rugged, a little caveman.

    HOT.

  29. In the seven years I’ve known my husband, I’ve only seen him clean shaven like three times. He always has at least a goatee. I don’t recognize him without all the facial hair–so I’m quite fond of it. It’s part of who he is.

  30. My dad has ALWAYS had a beard. In fact none of my six siblings and I can remember him without having one. Growing up I always thought that I wouldn’t like someone with facial hair since that was my dad’s thing, but eventually I wanted to see what my boyfriend, now husband, would look like with one. My husband first tried to grow a beard our junior year of collage and failed epically, but he wanted to try again our senior year. He read up on the best way to grow a full beard and let it (and his hair) grow for weeks before he trimmed it. Walking around campus he would wear his dad’s old army jacket and he looked like some homeless drifter with his longish hair and crazy beard! Finally, after a couple months he did trim it and looked very handsome. He hasn’t been clean-shaven since, not even for our wedding, and I have to say I now prefer the beard, and he LOVES his beard. I have to say too that when he was little he had blond hair that has now darkened to a light brown, but his beard is very red as well. (Having a beard has actually become a bit of a right of passage for our friends, almost every single guy sports a beard for most of the year).

  31. i love beards! my husband has a beard and, while he’s incredibly handsome, it’s strange to think that i’ll probably never see him without it. the closest thing is probably his 8th grade school photo. likewise, my parents have been married for 40 years and my mother has never seen my father without his moustache.

  32. I’ve always been a fan of facial hair. The husband however could not grow a decent beard if his life depended on it. I get his scruff on the weekends though, so it’s all good.

  33. I actually don’t like facial hair period. Beards, mustache, a goatee, yeah, not a fan! Fortunately, my husband can’t really grow a beard so it’s never been an issue with us.

  34. I love beards as long as they are kept neat and tidy! My husband started out with a gotee when we met and decided to go for the full beard about 3 years into our marriage….I love it! Never want him to go back! Kissing was definitely interesting at first, but I have gotten so used to it I don’t even notice anymore :)

  35. My husband looks so hot with a well-trimmed beard! I don’t like it if he lets it get all Jeremiah Johnson, but if he keeps it trimmed (and he usually does), I think it’s super sexy. Mmm!

  36. I love your site! I love the beard. What gorgeous hair! My hubby has a beard and the few times he has gone clean shaven, I just can’t get used to it. Beard=sexy

  37. My husband has the thickest fastest growing beard I have ever seen. I love Love LOVE his 5:00 shadow. Over the top love it! But…he only grows it for me. Within 2 or 3 days he has a beard and evidently it hurts to shave when it gets that long. :(
    If he ever was without a razor for a month he’d look like a fuzzy mountain man. ;D

  38. My husband grows a beard every now and then and I love it. It takes him about a day and a half to grow a good beard, so I’m lucky. If he has a long weekend of lounging I luck out and get to see him spontaneously sport his scruff.

    I think it’s funny though, because he’s such a no-nonsense guy, that he has this option and truly does take advantage of it. Last Thanksgiving after having grown his hair out really long and growing a full beard to go with it, he decided on a whim to go get a hair cut. When he came home he hopped in the shower and came out with only a goatee! This is a man who could wear the same set of clothes every single day. I love it. It keeps me guessing.

  39. my dad never had a beard (that i remember, at least), but my husband has had a beard as long as i’ve known him. he’s very blessed in the facial hair dept: it grows quickly, mostly evenly, and is nice and thick. he normally just keeps a nicely trimmed beard/mustache combo, but occasionally for halloween he’ll grow it out for a costume (his gallagher was amazing). he’s shaved it completely off just a couple of times since we got together, and he looked so strange to me that it was like he was a different person! i far prefer him with his beard :) on other men, i think that it depends a lot on the amount and pattern of the facial hair growth, as well as facial structure…some look awesome, some not so much. Ben Blair looks great, though.

  40. I thought I didn’t like facial hair on men until I met my husband. I can’t stand him clean shaven! His beard is always very short, and it makes look very handsome and rugged.

    I enjoy Ben Blair’s beard. He’s got a bit of a baby face (not a bad thing, of course), and this balances it out. I think it makes him look more well rounded. I mean, before he looked very young and gentle. This gives him a wee bit of an edge.

  41. My boyfriend keeps his beard about the same length as Ben Blair’s in this picture – but right now he’s growing it. I’m excited! I love a good beary beard.

    Ben Blair looks so kindly in this photo!

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