Growing a beard may be a personal choice, but that doesn’t stop your beard from making an impact on the way people perceive you. In our Volt articles, we often talk about how facial hair impacts your life as a man and how your own perspective changes as a result. But in today’s article, we thought it would be a nice change of pace to talk about how a beard impacts you from the perspective of others! Here are 5 things that your beard says about you!
Real quick, here’s a cool little video describing this exact topic!
1: Beards Make You Look Older
It’s fairly common knowledge that a beard will make an otherwise clean-shaven man appear older. But by how much? And why does this occur in the first place? Well, if you’d like the science and full-length article on this subject, click HERE to read more, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll summarize our findings for you here.
“a study conducted in 2013 has stated that panelists who were shown two images of celebrities (one bearded and one clean-shaven) gave an average increase of 8 years to their age estimates when shown the bearded images.” – Does A Beard Make You Look Older
Whether you think that adding 8 years of perceived age and maturity is a good thing is up to you! Obviously, there are going to be caveats in the types of beards and facial hair that make you appear older in general. For example, here are some other beard characteristics that affect your perceived age:
Color: White/gray beards make you appear older for obvious reasons.
Length: Beard length is subconsciously tied to experience/wisdom so a longer beard often makes you appear older.
Style: Certain trends or fashion standards can alter the perception or perceived age of a certain style of beard over time.
Full-Ness: Well-grown and full beards will cause people to appear older, whereas patchy or thin areas may imply adolescence or youth.
2: Beards Make You Look More Masculine
Beards are often said to increase the perception of aggressiveness in men. That is to say, men with beards are considered more aggressive, dominant, and generally given a more “manly” persona. Although we don’t think beards areabsolutely necessary to achieve these things, science certainly agrees that a beard can help elicit these characteristics.
It was originally theorized that beards helped display some prominent and valuable traits regarding “survival of the fittest” and Darwin’s theory of evolution. It’s a combination of subtle psychological cues and the subconscious version of who a “bearded man” is that makes them appealing to the opposite sex.
Overall, a beard displays a sense of masculinity and near-unshakeable confidence much in the same way that lions sports their manes, which were thought to signal fighting ability, strength, and masculinity to other lions.
3: Beards Display Attention to Detail
The devil is in the details, gentleman. A small amount of grooming can make the world of a difference when it comes to your beard’s apparent professionalism and cleanliness. In fact, trimming the neckline of your beard is often one of the easiest (and fastest) things you can do to improve the overall look and sharpness of your beard.
A beard is a prominent and revealing part of who you are, and having a good amount of attention to detail will help you keep your beard looking and feeling awesome! That kind of awesomeness is something people often notice, and having a well-groomed and styled beard is simply another way for that kind of professionalism to be put on display.
Put simply, grooming can make or break more than just a beard, but a whole outfit. It often matters less what clothes a man is wearing if that man’s facial hair isn’t on point. And in true symmetry, a well-groomed beard can make a man noticeable and confident in almost anything he wears as well.
All in all, beards will outwardly communicate the amount of detail that you put effort into upholding. Put some effort into your beard grooming and you’ll immediately notice the benefits!
4: Beard Make You Attractive
We mentioned beard types and styles earlier when talking about how beards affect your apparent age. But here we’re going to dig a bit deeper into why beard styles and types are important for assessing the attractiveness of a man with some facial hair to women.
Let’s first discuss what characteristics are associated with men who have beards, and how those characteristics change depending on your beard style. That change is the key in determining what kind of attraction you likely display to others. Here’s an example:
Studies have shown that beards and attractiveness correlate on many different levels. Studies on women’s preferences for bearded men have shown that stubble is most attractive to women for short-term relationships or casual dating. On the flip-hand, a longer, well-groomed, and thick beard is often the ideal choice for women looking for long-term relationships and “father material”.
Either way, science will tell us that our bearded brothers have a better chance of catching attention from the opposite sex, one way or another. In that case, it might be a good idea to grow a beard using some of Volt’s premium beard balm and/or oil! Just saying!
5: Beards Increase Perceived Trust
According to a study conducted by St. Edwards University, men who rock beards have a higher success rate when closing deals in sales and service-based jobs. It might be easy to say “Hey! Men with beards make more money!” but that wouldn’t be entirely true. It goes far deeper than that.
The reason behind why bearded men seem to excel in sales and service-based jobs is actually due to the perceptions of the buyer, not exactly the charisma of the seller. Here’s what I mean:
People perceive bearded men as more trustworthy, experienced, and generally charismatic. Whether this is actually true must be accounted for on a case-by-case basis. But it’s the perception of the buyer that makes the difference. Buyers are more likely to trust and listen/take advice from men with beards. Here’s an excerpt from our article titled “Get PAID For Being Bearded”
“…a beard may not alter your selling ability intrinsically. However, it absolutely DOES alter your effect on buyer’s perceptions regarding your trustworthiness, and/or experience level.” – Get Paid For Having A Beard
Put simply, the most important factor that determines success in any sales or service-based job is the trust between the buyer and seller. Beards help foster the conditions and beliefs in which that trust can develop.
All in all, a beard says a LOT about you as an individual. Whether you think that the properties and characteristics I mentioned here today are suitable for you may be an important consideration as you grow some facial hair, or if you are on the search for an appropriate beard style itself.
The beard you decide to wear will have an impact on how you appear to others, so choose wisely and enjoy the journey!
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Get PAID For Having A Beard
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