“We just can’t bear(d) it anymore!” These
are the war cries of some women who can’t deal with their ‘man’s’ facial hair.
The trend, contradictory to predictions, shares a fair amount of popularity
still and is being followed to a fair extend in Goa.
One must, of course, spare a thought for
the shaving industry, who, at one point, thought that their industry was
immortal, for razor blades were to men, what shampoo and make-up were to women:
their constant aide and companion in the bathroom cabinet. However, then came
the revival of the beard, changing the lives of men as they knew them, and
bringing with them a butterfly effect that sent ripples across relationships shared
with those in their lives who thought that a beard wasn’t quite ‘the best that
a man could get’.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Amongst those is avid
‘anti-hipster-beard-activist’, Desiree Alemao. “There is a reason we have
evolved from being cavemen. Why would we want to go back to those times? I see
men with an Elvis-esque hair-do on their head and then look further down at
their face and see an unkempt mop, and wonder why they take the time and effort
to work on their hair for that long if they sport those kinds of beards,” she says,
adding, “When well groomed, they can be fairly decent.”
While most hipster trends may fly under the
radar, this one may have a scientific explanation to it too. The University of
Western Australia may just have successfully demystified the trend, believing
it to be associated with a psychological need for men who grow beards to assert
dominance over other men as well as appeal to women.
However, it appears that some beard
researchers have accredited the rise of the trend to an innovative documentary,
‘The Winter of The Beard’, that has explored, in detail, the relationship
between man and beard. Having surfaced on social news site Reddit, the footage
pre-dates the trend of growing facial hair by close to 10 years.
Michael Schwartz co-directed of the documentary
along with his fellow director Jefferson Pitcher. With Schwartz being quoted as
saying, “Sometimes Jeff and I joke that maybe we started the beard resurgence.”
The inspiration for the film was Pitcher’s grandfather’s revelation just before
passing away that he had never grown a beard in his life, and that it was an
essential experience for a man to have.
‘An essential male experience’ is precisely
how Shardul Sidhu from Dona Paula expresses his feelings for his facial hair.
“It gives me a truly rugged look, and I love it. It also ties into my Sikh
roots, so to an extent, it’s me going back to basics, and having some amount of
symbolism,” he shares.
While there are constant reports of the
demise of the beard circulating amongst portals and publications for about a
year, the male population doesn’t appear to be in any hurry to shelve the style
and return to their clean-shaven ways of yore. Perhaps it’s time for Tai Chi to
rise in popularity and become a trend for the beardo’s counterparts?
Quotes
Singer-songwriter Vince Costa (who
loves his beard) along with his wife Nina (who’s not so fond of it)
share their trysts with beard-ness
When most guys were clean shaven in
college, I was the odd
one out sporting some sort of facial hair. I will admit that it has caused me
issues while travelling abroad, but I’ve still stuck to my conviction and now
sport a ‘proper’, full-grown beard. While I was locked away in my room for
months on end, writing my album, I didn’t feel the need to shave and, in a way,
I think I enjoyed the visual; it made me feel like a rather desperate Americana
artist, (which is true anyway). I’ve noticed over the past few years that
beards are in and especially associated with indie music. There are those days
I may check out the Instagram hashtags to reassure myself (and try to convince
my wife)
that beards are cool and I’m not the only one. Only a bearded guy
knows the joy of having one, try it.
I hate Vince’s beard with a passion. If
I could, I would even resort to a butcher’s knife to slice it off. Sometimes at
night I think he wakes up in a sweat, wondering if his bearded days are
numbered…
