--- title: Peak Beard: Facial Hair Going Out of Style Would Be Bad for Men description: Every male on earth should bristle at the news that beards are going out of fashion canonical: https://time.com/65375/peak-beard-men-shaving-hair/ author: Dan Stewart article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-16T18:53:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:09.140Z og:title: If We Have Reached 'Peak Beard' It's Bad News for Men Everywhere og:description: Every male on earth should bristle at the news that beards are going out of fashion og:url: https://time.com/65375/peak-beard-men-shaving-hair/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65700d5dffb47128/69868af1adae4421ae54298c/90433951.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3713 og:image:height: 2089 og:image:alt: 90433951 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: If We Have Reached 'Peak Beard' It's Bad News for Men Everywhere twitter:description: Every male on earth should bristle at the news that beards are going out of fashion twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt65700d5dffb47128/69868af1adae4421ae54298c/90433951.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # If We Have Reached 'Peak Beard' It's Bad News for Men Everywhere > Sponsored content. 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It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters.  by [Dan Stewart](https://time.com/author/dan-stewart/)  ## Dan Stewart Apr 16, 2014 6:53 PM UTC  Jillian Lochner  by [Dan Stewart](https://time.com/author/dan-stewart/)  ## Dan Stewart Apr 16, 2014 6:53 PM UTC It may not come as a surprise to anyone who has spent a lot of time in hipster coffee shops or gentrifying urban neighborhoods, but scientists say we are reaching “[peak beard](http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27023992).” That’s the point when, according to researchers at the University of South Wales, facial hair becomes so prevalent that clean-shaven men are a comparative rarity and therefore more attractive to the opposite sex. More and more men will be inspired to grab their razors and start shaving, and the current era of the facially hirsute man will fade into history, at least until cyclical trends return the beard to favor. The eggheads call it “negative frequency-dependent sexual selection.” I call it the worst thing to happen to men in years. Just think what men would be losing if the beard was to slip out of fashion. A proud symbol of masculinity, that you can wear on your face, for the whole world to see. A whole new area of self-expression, where you can display your individuality through architectural grooming. A mask to cover unsightly blemishes, or an unusually large medial cleft. A facial trompe l’oeil to give the appearance of a chin. Before beards became broadly fashionable in recent years, the metrosexual look prevailed — a disaster for those, like me, who awake every morning with a fresh dusting of stubble on their chin. Simpering, bare-faced men were our fashion icons in the 1990s/2000s — from the beta males of _Friends_ to pre-teen lookalikes like Justin Timberlake — a depilatory trend that slowly crept from men’s faces to below their chins and inside their shirts. It was an era where the term “manscaping” entered the lexicon, the utterance of which geologists have discovered literally causes our cavemen ancestors to spin in their graves. Is this really the world we want to return to? A world where those with above average testosterone must face the daily ritual of scraping a razor blade across their face, leaving their skin raw, shiny and unprotected? A time when bold, bristly men must go bare-faced into the world? Are guys really going to take _that_ on the chin? Those who would prefer their men to look more like a [Canadian Sphynx](http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/canadian-sphynx-16715063.jpg) than a [Bearded Collie](http://www.petwave.com/~/media/Images/Center/Breed/Dogs/Herding%20Group/Bearded%20Collie/Bearded%5FCollie%5FFace.ashx) should remember what came before the naked-faced look. Something far worse, a trend that every man alive at the time looks back on with a shudder. Yes, the era of the mustache — from the 1970s version that drooped over the top lip like a fur scarf, to the 1980s _Magnum P.I._ edition. And that gave way to the 90s’ goatee, last seen nestling beneath Tom Green’s nose like a malevolent sea anemone. So it’s in everyone’s interest to prevent this cycle from renewing again. 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