Beard Scholar: What Your Facial Hair Says About You
Your face, now, is the index of your brain. Even your facial hair, according to huffingtonpost.
Allan Peterkin, a pogonologist, or beard scholar, a Dove Men+Care facial grooming expert and author, said that a mustache-wearing man has loads of confidence.
Earlier, facial hair could indicate a man's politics, religion and also class. Still, in the late 20th and mid-21st century, you need to ask the guy, as you can't know completely, he said. "We all project meaning onto beards and mustaches but that may not really align with who the man is."
Still, he does make some relationship between the facial hair and the personality. Let's look at some of his regulations:
Full Beard could be an "older" man's beard. "I think the association for a lot of people is that it's scholarly beard, or academics often have those beards," says Peterkin. "Full beards also have religious associations (think of Moses or Jesus). So that one comes with a lot of historical weight. It's a bit of an old-fashioned style but we certainly see young men wearing it these days."
Goatee: This man is supposed to be "stuck in the past", as it came into fashion in the mid-1990s. Now it has become an "overly done" expression. While a few men sport it, it should be changed, says Peterson.
Scruffy/Stubble: A man who wears this kind of beard is supposed to be trendy. "If you just scan men's magazines -- Esquire, GQ, etc. -- probably every one to three ads have a guy with stubble as the main expression. Sometimes you see it superimposed with a mustache on top or with bigger side burns, but stubble is sort of the base," says Peterkin. "The only misconception is that people think that it's easy and you just roll out of bed. But you do have to maintain it."
Sideburns: This is a man who is a fun guy. This is an Elvis style, and the playful appearance seems to hit the college campuses and hipsters in Brooklyn most of all, says Peterkin.
Chinstrap: This is all about a man who likes some attention. Peterkin says: "It's for a guy who wants to push the envelope and also wants to be asked about his facial hair. Everything has been done under the sun, so I think men are sort of looking for what's the thing that they don't see on their street or in their workplace."
Mustache: Signifies a man who is a bit cocky. "Historically, it's had the baddest rap of all the facial hair expressions. Then in the '70s, the mustache took on a sexual connotation -- there was the swinger mustache, the porn mustache and then the gay/bisexual mustache," says Peterkin. "The mustache comes with all that baggage, but it's eased up recently because of charity movements like Movember. I think younger guys who wear it are confident enough to believe that you can read their mustache in any way and not really care."
Horseshoe Mustache: A rebellious man is indicated, a man who is a person with a biker mustache and then the wrestler, or any famous person like Hulk Hogan.
Handlebar Mustache: Peterkin says that it shows that a man has a pleasant personality. He points towards barbershop quartets, southern gentleman and the famous baseball player Rollie Fingers..." and the "sipping tea on the porch" link.
Soul Patch: An off-beat man is indicated. He said that in the World Wars, Americans were clean-shaven, but after a decade, "pockets of hair" were always present. "In the '50s, beatniks had soul patches, and then hippies adopted the look in the '60s."
Mutton Chops: This is all about a gentleman with a big heart. "What comes to mind for me is a Victorian gentleman with a monocle or a general in the North called 'Burnside.' But it's a very Victorian expression," says Peterkin.
Clean-Shaven: The slightly preppy man has this style, he says. "Before, men used to be wed to a look, it was a life-long expression and not a fad. I think young men are going back and forth between having some sort of facial hair and now going clean-shaven. I think men are freer to do that than before. And I predict that we're going to go back to that 'Mad Men,' clean-shaven look."
