Apparently beards are a ''popular'' thing now? i mean i've had my beard for years and no one really cared. Recently people say having a beard is the in thing to do and ''in'' right now.

I don't really understand fads or trends to be honest. What's in one year, is seen as stupid the next year. Which is why i don't understand why people don't just do what makes them happy. VS going with what the majority says for them.

People tell me beards are really hot right now. And that every guy is growing one to fit in. I seriously had no idea this was a thing in 8th grade ''real men wore pink'' cause of that whole fiasco with Cam'Ron and other rappers doing it. Literally a year later it was gay to wear pink.

Beards have been popular for about 2 years. Hipsters being the force behind this trend.

As for beards being popular, so? Wear want you want. Remember goatee's were the rage in the 90's. Now it's considered as old man facial hair style.

The main purpose of this thread is to address ''trends'' i have never totally understood trends. Like i mentioned in 2004 when i was in 8th grade all the dudes wore pink. And did that whole ''real men wear pink'' thing and the girls loved it. When i was a freshman in high school just a year later. They were back to calling dudes gay, queer, and weak for wearing pink.

It's just bizzare how one day a fad is really in. People praise you for a certain thing you do to your body or style of dress. And in a year or two completely mock you. Just... bizzare how that works.

I turned my 90's goatee into a full beard before the "trend"...now I keep it trimmed thin and can't decide whether to go clean-shaven or not.

The last time I shaved it all off, my kids were like; "Grow it back dad, you look weird".



The newest "trend" I see is the severe parted hairline.

My youngest asked the haircutter for it, and she said that typically they shave the part to make it bolder...but she wasn't doing it on him because he's so young.

kewlschool said:

Beards have been popular for about 2 years. Hipsters being the force behind this trend.

More than that, it's been 6 years since hipsters started wearing beards and moustaches. It's gone mainstream now.

ufoclub said:

kewlschool said:

Beards have been popular for about 2 years. Hipsters being the force behind this trend.

More than that, it's been 6 years since hipsters started wearing beards and moustaches. It's gone mainstream now.

Yes, but they weren't popular 6 years ago.

kewlschool said:

kewlschool said:

ufoclub said:

More than that, it's been 6 years since hipsters started wearing beards and moustaches. It's gone mainstream now.

Yes, but they weren't popular 6 years ago.

Here's an article from 2008: http://sfist.com/2008/02/..._the_s.php and it describes trendy beards as at critical mass popularity.

That's when I noticed every guy at popular bars had one (but not sports bars), and that was the rise of tons of beard/moustache growing charity events too! It also went hand in hand with the trucker hat craze. And guys started using moustache wax to shape and twirl their moustaches. Also every member of any up and coming alt rock (white) band would have a beard too. But maybe it was just the scenster/hipster thing in the "cool" neighborhoods, I'm guessing it started in Brooklyn, and eventually I was seeing it here in Texas (especially Austin, Texas).

I think right now it's a resurgance with the new generation of college kids. Or maybe now it spread over to frats and jocks and is really mainstream. When all 40+ men start following a trend, you'll get a Target ad with the look in it (or on their in-store posters).

ufoclub said:

kewlschool said:

Yes, but they weren't popular 6 years ago.

Here's an article from 2008: http://sfist.com/2008/02/..._the_s.php and it describes trendy beards as at critical mass popularity.

That's when I noticed every guy at popular bars had one (but not sports bars), and that was the rise of tons of beard/moustache growing charity events too! It also went hand in hand with the trucker hat craze. And guys started using moustache wax to shape and twirl their moustaches. Also every member of any up and coming alt rock (white) band would have a beard too. But maybe it was just the scenster/hipster thing in the "cool" neighborhoods, I'm guessing it started in Brooklyn, and eventually I was seeing it here in Texas (especially Austin, Texas).

I think right now it's a resurgance with the new generation of college kids. Or maybe now it spread over to frats and jocks and is really mainstream. When all 40+ men start following a trend, you'll get a Target ad with the look in it (or on their in-store posters).

I was gonna say... Beards have been big here in Minne for many years now (probably to the point they're kinda over) but we've always been hipstery. So much so I don't think I even understand what people mean when they call someone a hipster or where the hate of them comes from. Pretension sucks, sure, but there are pretensious assholes all over the place.

CarrieMpls said:

ufoclub said:

Here's an article from 2008: http://sfist.com/2008/02/..._the_s.php and it describes trendy beards as at critical mass popularity.

That's when I noticed every guy at popular bars had one (but not sports bars), and that was the rise of tons of beard/moustache growing charity events too! It also went hand in hand with the trucker hat craze. And guys started using moustache wax to shape and twirl their moustaches. Also every member of any up and coming alt rock (white) band would have a beard too. But maybe it was just the scenster/hipster thing in the "cool" neighborhoods, I'm guessing it started in Brooklyn, and eventually I was seeing it here in Texas (especially Austin, Texas).

I think right now it's a resurgance with the new generation of college kids. Or maybe now it spread over to frats and jocks and is really mainstream. When all 40+ men start following a trend, you'll get a Target ad with the look in it (or on their in-store posters).

I was gonna say... Beards have been big here in Minne for many years now (probably to the point they're kinda over) but we've always been hipstery. So much so I don't think I even understand what people mean when they call someone a hipster or where the hate of them comes from. Pretension sucks, sure, but there are pretensious assholes all over the place.

You know what else has been "in" for a while with the fashionable but might now go mainstream? Short swimsuits for men, not board shorts, but more like 80's gym short type lengths.

[Edited 4/16/14 8:36am]

totally off traffic. i know right?

But i never understood the fascination with men and their beards.

I have to shave everytwo weeks. its so itchy when it grows. its such a hassle!!

I guess people follow trend because they programed that way. Think of it , we are social animals..

[Edited 4/16/14 8:54am]

kewlschool said:

Beards have been popular for about 2 years. Hipsters being the force behind this trend.

No, they picked it up from the gay community who were all into that bushy beard look about 5 years ago.

Specifically this look:

Erin's correct.

Well, it least that's how it was in Ontario, Canada about 2008-ish.

http://www.wisegeek.com/w...-beard.htm

"The hipster beard is a facial hairstyle that achieved popularity among the hipster subculture in late 2005 and early 2006. These beards can take a number of different forms, but, like most hipster fashion, they blur the line between an ironic celebration of unattractiveness and an attempt to impress by looking good. Within a few years of their introduction, hipster beards were already the target of a massive backlash, regarded by many as symptomatic of pretension. Despite this, this style of beard appears to have had some impact on the acceptability of facial hair among American males. Prior to this period, full beards had typically been worn only by older males, but the hipster style made them more acceptable to young men."

I think I know what the difference might be between when it first started as a trend with hipsters and now...

the IRONY!

Before it was all about "ironic beards and moustaches".

This is funny: ""Post-ironic Beardcore (or PiBxC for short) describes a genre of hard/metal/math/etc. -core music whose practitioners choose to openly wear often extreme facial hair in a genuine manner despite the proliferation of facial hair as some form of “ironic” rebellion among the world’s youth community in the late 00’s.

The most notable true-blue PiBxC band is Canada’s Protest the Hero; although bands such as Thrice, Coheed and Cambria, Alexisonfire, Silverstein, The Dear Hunter, Valient Thorr , The Red Chord and many more share some early-/proto-PiBxC elements in their music as well as having provided a marketable basis for the genre to come to fruition. The oldest elements of PiBxC -however- can be found within Ironic Beard Rock bands such as ZZ Top and The Beatles who also decided to genuinely wear facial hair in a time when growing a beard was considered the rebellion d’jour."

Yeah, the whole big beard thing being picked up by that group of people might have been earlier than '08...time is all a blur to me these days...but it was most def in the gay culture first.

yeah, beards are popular for years already...and that's a great thing!!!

Gunsnhalen said:

The main purpose of this thread is to address ''trends'' i have never totally understood trends. Like i mentioned in 2004 when i was in 8th grade all the dudes wore pink. And did that whole ''real men wear pink'' thing and the girls loved it. When i was a freshman in high school just a year later. They were back to calling dudes gay, queer, and weak for wearing pink.

It's just bizzare how one day a fad is really in. People praise you for a certain thing you do to your body or style of dress. And in a year or two completely mock you. Just... bizzare how that works.

it's just age....you'll grow out of it

I love my beard, but only in fall and winter. Too bad every single year the same people (mostly women) just have to let me know they don't like beards.

Looks like beards are in the news because of some doctor's beard implant service story.

ufoclub said:

Looks like beards are in the news because of some doctor's beard implant service story.

http://nypost.com/2014/02...ransplants/

[Edited 4/16/14 12:23pm]

JustErin said:

Specifically this look:

Looks like he could be a "cool" Menonnite.

JustErin said:

kewlschool said:

Beards have been popular for about 2 years. Hipsters being the force behind this trend.

No, they picked it up from the gay community who were all into that bushy beard look about 5 years ago.

Hipsters can be gay too.

ufoclub said:

CarrieMpls said:

I was gonna say... Beards have been big here in Minne for many years now (probably to the point they're kinda over) but we've always been hipstery. So much so I don't think I even understand what people mean when they call someone a hipster or where the hate of them comes from. Pretension sucks, sure, but there are pretensious assholes all over the place.

You know what else has been "in" for a while with the fashionable but might now go mainstream? Short swimsuits for men, not board shorts, but more like 80's gym short type lengths.

[Edited 4/16/14 8:36am]

They have been selling 80's style shorts at Hollister for the past 2 summers along with the regular at the knee cargo kind.

kewlschool said:

JustErin said:

No, they picked it up from the gay community who were all into that bushy beard look about 5 years ago.

Hipsters can be gay too.

True, the hipster crowd seemed fairly sexuality diverse.

I'm the only man on earth without a beard at this point