Talk:Beard

Modern Mormon Men

"Modern Mormon men are strongly encouraged to be clean shaven.[40]"? While I suppose that's true for full-time missionaries, BYU Students (although medical waivers can be granted), and General Authorities (worldwide Church leadership); it's not necessarily true for members at large. That's like 100,000 people (or less) out of an approximate male membership of more than 6 million (1.6%). The Second Counselor in my local Bishopric has a full beard. (Shrugs.) Then, the reference is a New Era article from 31 years ago? Is there maybe a better way to phrase this? Anyone mind if I try? Also, is there a need for TWO references to Brigham Young (and BYU)? Thanks! Kingsfold (Quack quack!) 03:14, 27 August 2012 (UTC)

Patriarchal societies and beards; matriarchal societies and shaving?

It would be interesting to know more about this, if at all relevant, but it's interesting that traditional patriarchs were bearded, and that we often portray ancient men of matriarchal societies beardless... 76.10.128.192 (talk) 12:14, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Why only humans?

Why does this article say in the first sentence that beards are only found on humans? Even the disambiguation page states it is hair from the lower jaw of MAMMALS. This first sentence needs to be changed. Take a look at the list of animals and the picture of a Bearded saki I have placed in the article.__DrChrissy (talk) 22:12, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Is "The British Beard Club" an appropriate external link?

Hi all,
Starting a discussion: should the external link to The British Beard Club be included in the article?
--Shirt58 (talk) 11:46, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

Image caption

An edit was recently made deleting part of an image caption i.e. "...with a prominent beard". The reason given for the edit was that it is redundant information and editorializing about the "prominence" of a beard on a bearded saki. Most of the images in this article use terms such as " full, untrimmed beard and moustache", "cleanly shaven", "Johann Strauss II with a large beard, moustache, and sideburns", "Maryland Governor Thomas Swann with a long goatee. Such beards were common around the time of the American Civil War", "Johannes Brahms with large beard and moustache" and several others. Why then should the image caption of the saki not contain the words "...with a prominent beard"?__DrChrissy (talk) 20:22, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

Do you think the bearded saki, sometimes shaves or trims his beard like Johann Strauss II? and hence we need to say its prominent? WP:CAPTION says the description should be "succinct". Adding that he beard is "prominent" amounts to editorializing. Prominent as compared to what? a man's beard? a goat's beard? Do you see my point?-- — Keithbob • Talk • 20:45, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm afraid I do not see your point. The beard in the male bearded saki is larger than the female. Being a mammal, the bearded saki possibly moults, and a characteristic such as this probably varies n size with reproductive status, dominance, or other social factor. Other animals are called bearded but in fact do not have a beard as defined in this article (e.g. the bearded dragon). So, in my opinion, the fact the saki has a beard consistent with the definition, and that in the image it is prominent, are relevant to this caption. "Johann Strauss II with a large beard, moustache, and sideburns" - large compared to what? a goats beard or a bearded saki's beard?__DrChrissy (talk) 22:04, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

OK we agree to disagree. I've listed this discussion at third opinion. Let's see what a random editor has to say.-- — Keithbob • Talk • 15:39, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Response to third opinion request:

The Bearded saki article does not provide much guidance. Does the zoological literature distinguish between the different beards that saki's may sport? Is the beard in the saki image typical? Calling it "prominent" lacks RS because this may be a term of art for biological descriptions. This differs from the human beards (and the images we see) because those captions seek to describe the various styles of beards: goatees, sideburns, untrimmed, etc – and we as readers can draw upon our own experience in seeing beards (or growing them). Simply describe the sake as a "bearded saki". – S. Rich (talk) 15:57, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for your input. I'm afraid I still do not understand the disagreement. Almost all the other animals I listed with names including 'bearded', in fact do not have beards as defined in the article. Therefore, I used the word 'prominent' for the saki as it clearly has a beard. There are in my opinion many inconsistencies in the images and their captions in this article. For example, who is Brian Wilson? Unless you follow American Baseball he is completely unknown. Anyway, in the interests of good faith I have removed the offending 4 words.__DrChrissy (talk) 16:32, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks DrChrissy for respecting the consensus and for all your good faith contributions to this and other articles. We may not always agree but I do respect your position and your contributions. Thank you again, Cheers! -- — Keithbob • Talk • 21:38, 7 July 2013 (UTC)

Caelan Guackalay

It seems that when we think about the beard we have to consider Caelan Guackalay aka that guy with a beard in Fossil Ridge. He has a giant beard and it is unusual because he is in high school and he also has a mustache. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jerry Glerstein (talk • contribs) 18:43, 17 December 2013 (UTC)

Beards and Islam

The article currently states:

Some religions (such as Islam and Sikhism) have always considered a full beard to be absolutely essential for all males able to grow one, and mandate it as part of their official dogma.

As far as Islam is concerned, that is a vast overstatement. See the account given at: Are beards obligatory for devout Muslim men? -- Picapica (talk) 14:49, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

Neither the BBC nor one unbearded western academic Muslim should qualify the phrase "as far as Islam is concerned". There are higher authorities than that and the consensus of the respected scholars of Islam, from each of the four main schools of thought, has always been that allowing a beard to grow is Wajib (obligatory) for males. The article now reflects this.Aathomson (talk) 23:51, 20 June 2015 (UTC)

China, Africa etc.

The article has absolutely nothing about many important areas and cultures of the world. Because of a number of unpleasant arguments I've gotten into in the past I've stopped editing Wikipedia articles, but somebody really should write something here, for example how and why beards are discouraged in China. Rantalaiho74 (talk) 20:07, 18 August 2014 (UTC)

Ancient Greece and Ancient Macedon?

This is a sensitive issue. If there is a different section for Macedonia, there should be one for Athens, one for Sparta/Lacedaemon, one for Thrace etc. The term "Greece" is modern. -Λίνουξ (talk) 06:39, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Curiosity about the linguistic part

Is there any particular reason why English has no distinction between hair under the skin, hair piercing the skin, calling hair that has not pierced the skin for stubble, 1-2mm of hair pierced is also called stubble, hair past the stubble stage, and actually letting the hair grow? --Stalkerkun (talk) 21:55, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Beards on plants

There is no mention in the article that plants also have beards. Such as Irises (Bearded Irises) Was going to add a section under animals about plant beards, but thought better ask what other editors think first ! DavidAnstiss (talk) 11:45, 11 July 2015 (UTC)

I think (with full respect) that you are out of your mind, good sir! 71.51.137.25 (talk) 08:41, 26 March 2016 (UTC)

Heads Up Warning

Some people got it in their heads to vandalize this article re: the concept of 'neckbeards'. Such a person is defined as an unpleasing, overweight person who does not shave. Thus the beard part. I reverted the vadalism but they might be back. Lots42 (talk) 18:50, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Article contradicts itself

Near the beginning of the article is says beards are mostly found in males but a small number of females can posses them but later in the section about their evolutionary history the article states they're exclusively found in men. --174.102.9.42 (talk) 20:35, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

The lead specifically qualifies the exception to be "women with hirsutism", specifically identifying the cause of the exception. The article then covers that standard (by far mast majority) of the population. So, I don't see it as a contradiction. That said, the subject of hirsutism should be breifly mentioned somewhere in the body of the article - not just the lead section. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 21:01, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Sumerians and beards? Seems incorrect

The article enumerates all the Mesopotamian civilizations as having beard-growing traditions. This seems incorrect to me. I may be mistaken, but as far as I know, the non-Semitic Sumerians tended to shave the beard. On the other hand, the Semitic Akkadians (and other Semitic peoples that settled in Mesopotamia in several later waves), always had a beard tradition (like all the Semites, in fact - this seems to be a very ancient and deeply rooted Semitic custom). I read (in Vojtech Zamarovsky's book about Sumer) that the pioneer Assyriologists, while digging in Mesopotamian sites, noted the absence of the beard in depictions of men in earlier archaeological layers, which contrasted with the later Akkadian depictions of bearded kings, deities, soldiers etc. What I know for fact is that no Akkadian/Assyrian/Babylonian king is ever depicted without a beard, while the well-known diorite statue of Gudea, the ensi of Lagash, depicts him as cleanly shaven. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.218.33.195 (talk) 13:47, 21 August 2016 (UTC)

Added appropriate info to the section "Mesopotamia".81.218.33.195 (talk) 15:34, 23 August 2016 (UTC)

Philosopher's beard

The Art of Living is the only source for this section. On page xii of the Preface, the book says "My discussion of the philosopher's beard is intended as a light-hearted and 'entertaining' opening into proceedings and should not be taken too seriously." I don't think this can be considered a legit source and this section should probably be deleted if a better source cannot be found. Vagary (talk) 18:25, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

The source nonetheless seems to be reliable and the particular content about the "philosopher's beard" in that source seems well-sourced itself. I agree that the section should be supported by more reliable sources, and perhaps expanded beyond Ancient Greece and Rome, but I don't think deleting the section entirely is really appropriate. The "philosopher's beard" is a pretty well-established cultural phenomenon that appears to stretch back at least a couple millennia and is especially well known among those who study philosophy. Even with only a couple sources supporting the section, I think it's worthwhile to keep. At the very most, the section should be demoted to a subsection somewhere else in the article (such as under Beard § Ancient and classical world or § Styles) and perhaps trimmed a bit in order to not appear to be given undue wieght. If I can find any worthwhile reliable sources to include for this section, I'll promptly do so. If nothing else, we can simply find and directly use the sources cited in the source in question, if only to fill out the citations in the section. ―Nøkkenbuer (talk • contribs) 13:05, 19 September 2016 (UTC)

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The Hulihee, a style of beard

Please see Talk:Hulihee for a red-hot, fascinating, bizarre, and completely stunning discussion over the notability of this style of beard!!! Okay, that was just advertising. It's just a normal discussion, but please check it out anyhow. Thanks! :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:00, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

A man with a beard has something to hide

A term from the 1930"s or so. A "beard" was the man who covered illicit activity for his friend. For instance, if Man #1 was having an affair, Man #2 was his "beard" covering up for him. Therefore the phrase: "A man with a beard has something to hide." In current news two famous people who grew beards when they were "caught" are Bill Cosby & Harvey Weinstein. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hates Beards (talk • contribs) 19:04, 11 September 2018 (UTC)

Beards and American politics

In the last few years, beards are no longer so rare in American politics, with figures such as Paul Ryan, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Dan Crenshaw with beards. Ironically, most bearded politicians today seem to be from the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

This might be due to the popularity of beards with veterans, and their growing association with younger conservative men. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:BD0F:1C80:6821:5E44:ED2F:52A3 (talk) 03:06, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

The photos on Ryan's and Cotton's pages need updating; all the photos show them clean shaven. Martin of Sheffield (talk) 07:31, 21 June 2019 (UTC)

Pre-Columbian Beards?

This article is conspicuously missing information about beards in the Americas in the Pre-Columbian era. 95.146.59.90 (talk) 01:25, 30 June 2020 (UTC)

Worth cross-editing with Facial hair?

The Facial hair article is quite short, so a particularly keen editor of this article might like to check it out and make some expansions. Sxologist (talk) 11:44, 2 September 2020 (UTC)

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Beards and attractiveness

Came here expecting at least some information on perception of beards, particularly on attractiveness and popularity across different societies, in different periods, and also in different subpopulations (e.g. different sexual orientations). This would surely be relevant and deserving of a section, would it not? (I have no information to contribute though unfortunately, beyond my personal opinion on them which is obviously not encyclopaedia content) Anditres (talk) 06:52, 9 April 2022 (UTC)

Infobox image

There has been a history of images used on the infobox. I don't have time for the full story, but recently it was changed from Jack Passion [1], to Richard Stallman [2], to an unnamed person [3], back to Stallman, [4] then some random guy's selfie. [5]. I have removed the image for now and inserted a note to not add any image before a consensus can be formed here. 0xDeadbeef 18:41, 30 July 2022 (UTC)

My suggestion would be this.

The beard is the focus of the image, it's not of anyone famous, and is very high quality. (Hohum ^@) 13:28, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

I agree, though it is drawn, which might be an issue. I don't care which image is used, there should just be an image in the infobox. Holzklöppel (talk) 23:48, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

This image is my preference as well. Generalrelative (talk) 15:21, 18 February 2024 (UTC)

Reinstate image until a replacement is found

Since there is no replacement image right now, I will reinstate the version including the image of Stallman which is appropriately licensed. The article should have an image detailing its subject, temporary removal is not the best option since this is a rather general article with potentially lots of traffic. Holzklöppel (talk) 19:55, 13 August 2022 (UTC)

@Holzklöppel: Does the infobox need an image at all? If someone wants to know what a beard looks like, wouldn't they just scroll down and see illustrations for different kinds of beards? 0xDeadbeef 04:00, 14 August 2022 (UTC)

Sure, I'll copy one of these into the infobox. The it's prominently displayed on both WP and other sites which process information from it, like DuckDuckGo. Holzklöppel (talk) 23:43, 14 August 2022 (UTC)