Man with beard

Peak beard is a cultural phenomenon identified during the early 21st century, surmising that the perceived widespread prevalence of beards found in the general population of Western countries had reached a maximum.

Research

The concept of peak beard gained wider prevalence following the publication of an academic paper from a team based at University of New South Wales, that suggested that there was a long term cyclic variance in the prevalence of beards in Western culture due to the role that scarcity of physical attributes plays in sexual selection in heterosexual men and bisexual and heterosexual women.[1][2] They suggested that as facial hair becomes dominant, clean-shaven faces become a more desirable trait in partner selection due to their scarcity.[2] Similarly, when clean-shaven faces are dominant, beards become a more desired trait.[1][2] This applied to both men and women as the observers.[2]

2010s peak beard

The increasing prevalence of beards in the first decade of the 2000s had followed a period which was perceived as having a general lack of facial hair throughout the 1990s.[3] It was suggested the growth of beards may have been triggered by the financial crisis in 2008, and that a similar pattern may have occurred following the Wall Street Crash in the 1920s.[3][4] The beard during this period had become associated with emergence of the contemporary hipster subculture, which itself had been suggested to be a reaction to growth of the metrosexual male.[5][6] The team hypothesised that beards follow a 30-year cycle.[1]

Whilst numerous media noted the possibility that beard prevalence had peaked in the early 2010s, a YouGov poll suggested that beards had become more commonplace in November 2016 compared with August 2011.[7][8] This was reflected in the persistent decline in the sales of razor blades between 2013 and 2015.[9]

The beard's oft-predicted demise was suggested to have been further delayed by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as remote working from home became rapidly widespread as a public health measure to mitigate the pandemic's spread. That in turn made it acceptable for more workers to go through the unshaven look on their way to growing full beards.[6][10][11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Millman, Oliver (2014-04-16). "Fashion-conscious men warned we may have reached 'peak beard'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Janif, Zinnia J.; Brooks, Robert C.; Dixson, Barnaby J. (2014-04-30). "Negative frequency-dependent preferences and variation in male facial hair". Biology Letters. Royal Society. 10 (4): 20130958. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0958. PMC 4013690. PMID 24740903.
  3. 1 2 Morgan, James (2014-04-16). "Beard trend is 'guided by evolution'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13. The recent boom may have its roots in the financial crisis of 2008, Prof Brooks suggests. 'I think one of the reasons beards have made a comeback now is that it's a difficult time. Young men are competing to attract someone when work is not easy to come by. So we might expect some aspects [of masculinity] to get turned up to eleven. After the Wall Street Crash in the 1920s there is some circumstantial evidence that beards got big again. So maybe economic conditions have set the stage for the recent comeback in beardedness.'
  4. ↑ "Evolution and progression of the beard". barbierduweb.com. 2022-05-07. Archived from the original on 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  5. ↑ Mount, Harry (2014-10-23). "It's time to shave that beard: the decade of the hipster is over". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  6. 1 2 Dowling, Tim (2022-04-22). "Are you a beard guy? Tim Dowling on the trend that will never end". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  7. ↑ Smith, Matthew (2017-03-10). "Beards are growing on the British public". YouGov. Archived from the original on 2022-05-16. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  8. ↑ "Peak beard? We're just getting started". Financial Times. 2017-08-16. Archived from the original on 2022-05-20. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  9. ↑ "The Beards Have Won". Bloomberg News. 2015-06-05. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  10. ↑ Lavelle, Anthony (2020-07-03). "Peak beard: why are men so committed to this lockdown look?". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
  11. ↑ Barnett, Adrian (2015-12-15). "Peak beard: Why our love of facial hair is still growing". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 2023-06-01. Retrieved 2022-05-13.
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