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A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards.

Throughout the course of history, societal attitudes toward male beards have varied widely depending on factors such as prevailing cultural-religious traditions and the current era's fashion trends. Some religions (such as some sects of Islam, and Sikhism) have considered a full beard to be essential and mandate it as part of their observance. Other cultures, even while not officially mandating it, view a beard as central to a man's virility, exemplifying such virtues as wisdom, strength, sexual prowess and high social status. In cultures where facial hair is uncommon (or currently out of fashion), beards may be associated with poor hygiene or an unconventional demeanor. In countries with colder climates, beards help protect the wearer's face from the elements. Beards also provide sun protection.

Biology

The beard develops during puberty. Beard growth is linked to stimulation of hair follicles in the area by dihydrotestosterone, which continues to affect beard growth after puberty. Dihydrotestosterone also promotes balding. Dihydrotestosterone is produced from testosterone, the levels of which vary with season. Beard growth rate is also genetic.

Evolution

Biologists characterize beards as a secondary sexual characteristic because they are unique to one sex, yet do not play a direct role in reproduction. Charles Darwin first suggested a possible evolutionary explanation of beards in his work ''The Descent of Man'', which hypothesized that the process of sexual selection may have led to beards. Modern biologists have reaffirmed the role of sexual selection in the evolution of beards, concluding that there is evidence that a majority of women find men with beards more attractive than men without beards.

Evolutionary psychology explanations for the existence of beards include signalling sexual maturity and signalling dominance by the increasing perceived size of jaws; clean-shaved faces are rated less dominant than bearded. Some scholars assert that it is not yet established whether the sexual selection leading to beards is rooted in attractiveness (inter-sexual selection) or dominance (intra-sexual selection). A beard can be explained as an indicator of a male's overall condition. The rate of facial hairiness appears to influence male attractiveness. The presence of a beard makes the male vulnerable in hand-to-hand fights (it provides an easy way to grab and hold the opponent's head), which is costly, so biologists have speculated that there must be other evolutionary benefits that outweigh that drawback. Excess testosterone evidenced by the beard may indicate mild immunosuppression, which may support spermatogenesis.

Styles

Beard hair is most commonly removed by shaving or by trimming with the use of a beard trimmer. If only the area above the upper lip is left unshaven, the resulting facial hairstyle is known as a mustache; if hair is left only on the chin, the style is a goatee.

* Full: downward flowing beard with either a styled or integrated mustache
* Garibaldi: wide, full beard with rounded bottom and integrated mustache
* Old Dutch: A large, long beard, connected by sideburns, that flares outward in width at the bottom, without a mustache.
* Sideburns: hair grown from the temples down the cheeks toward the jawline. Worn by Isaac Asimov and Carlos Menem.
* Jawline beard: A beard that is grown from the chin along the jawline. Chinstrap, chin curtain and brett are all variations of a jawline beard with distinctions being chin coverage and sideburn length.
* Chinstrap: a beard with long sideburns that comes forward and ends under the chin.
* Chin curtain: similar to the chinstrap beard but covers the entire chin. Also called a Lincoln, Shenandoah, or spade.
* Brett: similar to the chin curtain beard, but does not connect to the sideburns.
* Neckbeard (a.k.a. ''Neard'', a portmanteau of "neck" and "beard"): similar to the chinstrap, but with the chin and jawline shaven, leaving hair to grow only on the neck. While never as popular as other beard styles, a few noted historical figures have worn this type of beard, such as Nero, Horace Greeley, Henry David Thoreau, William Empson, Peter Cooper, Moses Mendelssohn, Richard Wagner, and Michael Costa.
* Circle beard: Commonly mistaken for the goatee, the circle beard is a small chin beard that connects around the mouth to a mustache. Also called a ''doorknocker''.
* Designer stubble: A short growth of the male beard that was popular in the West in the 1980s, and experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2010s.
* Sea captain: A rounded, bottom-heavy beard of medium length with short sides that is often paired with a longer mustache.
* Goatee: A tuft of hair grown on the chin, sometimes resembling a billy goat's.
* Junco: A goatee that extends upward and connects to the corners of the mouth but does not include a mustache, like the circle beard.
* Meg: A goatee that extends upward and connects to the mustache, this word is commonly used in the south east of Ireland.
* Van Dyke: a goatee accompanied by a mustache.
* Monkey tail: a Van Dyke as viewed from one side, and a Lincoln plus mustache as viewed from the other, giving the impression that a monkey's tail stretches from an ear down to the chin and around one's mouth.
* Hollywoodian: a beard with an integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area, without connecting sideburns.
* Reed: a beard with an integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area that tapers towards the ears without connecting sideburns.
* Royale: a narrow pointed beard extending from the chin. The style was popular in France during the period of the Second Empire, from which it gets its alternative name, the ''imperial'' or ''impériale''.
* Verdi: a short beard with a rounded bottom and slightly shaven cheeks with a prominent mustache
* Muslim beard: Full beard with the mustache trimmed
* Soul patch: a small beard just below the lower lip and above the chin
* Glitter beard: Beard dipped in glitter.
* Hulihee: clean-shaven chin with fat chops connected at the mustache.
* Friendly mutton chops: long mutton chop-type sideburns connected to a mustache, but with a shaved chin and neck.
* Stashburns or the Lemmy: sideburns that drop down the jaw but jut upwards across the mustache, leaving the chin exposed. Similar to friendly mutton chops. Often found in southern and southwestern American culture (see, for example, the Yosemite Sam caricature).
*Closed or Tied beard: Mostly seen among modern Sikh youth, this is a kind of full beard tied by using a sticky liquid or Gel and stiffens below the chin.
* Oakley beard: Described by Indian makeup artist Banu as "neither a French beard nor a full beard". She used the look for Rajinikanth in ''Enthiran'' (2010).

Maintenance

For appearance and cleanliness, some people maintain their beards by exfoliating the skin, using soap or shampoo and sometimes conditioner, and afterward applying oils for softness.

History

Ancient and classical world

Lebanon

The ancient Semitic civilization situated on the western, coastal part of the Fertile Crescent and centered on the coastline of modern Lebanon gave great attention to the hair and beard. Where the beard has mostly a strong resemblance to that affected by the Assyrians, and familiar to us from their sculptures. It is arranged in three, four, or five rows of small tight curls, and extends from ear to ear around the cheeks and chin. Sometimes, however, in lieu of the many rows, we find one row only, the beard falling in tresses, which are curled at the extremity. There is no indication of the Phoenicians having cultivated mustachios.

Israel

Israelite society placed a special importance on the beard. Many religious male figures are recorded to have had facial hair; for example, numerous prophets mentioned in the Tanakh

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