The Allure of the Beard : Trends Keep Most Men Poised at the Razor’s Edge, but the Masculine Mystique of Whiskers Endures

Don Johnson-style stubble is passe. Mustaches are disappearing at a rapid clip. Sideburns past mid-ear length are obsolete. And the beard is absolutely out. The male face of the moment is hairless.

But many men are thumbing their noses at fashion’s fickle fiats in favor of a fuzzy face. These fellows remain hirsute despite the fact that shaving may be much easier than properly tending to a beard.

Some psychologists say that there are men who grow beards to hide from themselves and/or from the rest of the world. But most beard wearers brush off such theories, noting that beards camouflage weak chins, thin lips and scars, and can solve the problem of recurring ingrown hairs and chronic shaving rashes. Others explain that they took a vacation from their razors and preferred the nickless mornings.

Some younger men admit that they grew their beards to look older. Little Joe Torrenueva, a clean-shaven Sunset Boulevard hair stylist who caters to celebrities such as Kirk Douglas, says a beard will make a baby-faced man look more mature by defining his jaw and strengthening the contour of his face. “But many of my clients have shaved them off,” he says, “because they felt the beard made them look too old.”

The Journal of the American Medical Assn. points out that most men begin to show some signs of balding at age 25, and, according to many barbers, that’s also the time when most men begin to experiment with full beards. Harry Drucker, a Beverly Hills barber who has styled President Reagan’s hair, doesn’t think that’s a coincidence. He adds that men of any age whose hair is thinning will often compensate by growing a beard. “But most men who try a beard keep it a maximum of five months and then can’t stand it anymore, so they shave. They think it’s going to be easier than shaving every day, but then they find out that they can’t take care of the beard. The biggest problem is that they can’t find a barber who knows how to trim it. In Europe a barber doesn’t graduate from school until he can clip a beard properly.”

Torrenueva, who charges $95 for a haircut, will shape a beard for free when the client has his regular haircut. It’s $15 for a beard-only clip. Drucker charges $17 for haircuts and $15 for beard trims, noting that “sometimes it’s harder to cut the beard than it is to cut the hair on the head. And, of course, sometimes there’s more hair on the face than there is on the head.”

The well-kept beard gets clipped professionally every two weeks, but it is daily grooming at home that separates the polished, Kenny Rogers-type beards from the “Grizzly Adams” varieties. “It has to be shampooed, conditioned, brushed and combed,” says Beverly Hills skin-care specialist Nance Mitchell. “And the skin underneath needs to be exfoliated and moisturized.” Mitchell, whose clientele is 70% male and includes such striking faces as Tom Selleck and Mark Harmon, advises clients to wash their beards in tepid water to avoid dry skin. If flaking persists, Mitchell suggests brushing the skin under the beard with a soft toothbrush.

Despite the fact that about 3.5 million Americans have beards, there are few products designed to meet the specific needs of the hirsute male. Aramis, which produces one of the most extensive collections of upscale men’s grooming products, does not offer a shampoo or conditioner specifically for beards. And at Lancome, where a new men’s line recently was launched, Vice President of Marketing and Advertising Tony Michaels says: “Most lines aren’t that specialized. Most bearded men use regular shampoo and hair conditioner on their beards.”

But Linda Silver, who created the Roy face-care line for men, says that beard hair is usually much coarser than hair on the head and that the face is more sensitive than the scalp. “Detergent-based shampoos will dry the beard and the skin. The beard will look dull,” Silver says. The Roy collection includes a beard-formula shampoo and conditioner. Although the product has sold well for four years, “sales have increased dramatically in the last year and a half,” Silver adds.

Three separate studies conducted in 1969, 1973 and 1977 concluded that beards do not figure in a man’s overall physical attractiveness, as judged by either males or females. Yet, many people say that trying to get a guy to shave off his prized beard is like trying to take away a child’s teddy bear or a woman’s mink. There’s obviously a certain security in fur.