When is a beard a beard?

[noparlpf]

How long would you say facial hair has to get before it's a beard and not just stubble or scruff?

[LaZodiac]

When you can run your hand through it and the hair is over your fingers.

[inexorabletruth]

Stubble is actually a reference to grain after it's harvested. It's short, stiff and even in length.

So, you have stubble if you keep your beard trimmed short enough to be rough to the touch.

Picture of good stubble:

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It's a textural thing, but essentially, it's just a kind of beard.

A beard is comparatively soft to the touch, with a fullness of shape.

Picture of a good (small) beard:

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My beard's about that big… maybe a little lower on the neck and higher on the cheek though, but not much longer.

[Togath]

I've honestly been wondering myself..
Looks like I have a decent beard then, a bit light on the chin, but heavier on the mustache and sideburns.

[Coidzor]

How long would you say facial hair has to get before it's a beard and not just stubble or scruff?

I don't know, a couple of milimeters? 5 milimeters? I'm sure someone has been bored enough to measure the follicle lengths, but it's not really something that needs a hard and fast length rule or anything.

You know it when you see it, just like obscenity.

[sktarq]

That when a girl (or boy if that's your thing) leans in to kiss you and their faces presses on the SIDE of the hairs instead of pressing on the cut ends of the hairs.

[DraPrime]

When it no longer just looks like you've been forgetting to shave. When this happens varies mostly by how thick a man's facial hair is, and how fast it grows. I know some men who have an actual beard after only one week of not shaving because it's so thick and grows so quickly, and some (like me) require several weeks for this to happen.

[thubby]

i would say the point at which the shape of your facial hair defines the shape of your face rather than your chin.

[noparlpf]

That when a girl (or boy if that's your thing) leans in to kiss you and their faces presses on the SIDE of the hairs instead of pressing on the cut ends of the hairs.

Can't you just, like, touch the side of your face with your hand to see?

[Studoku]

If you have to ask, it's probably not a beard.

[Misery Esquire]

Can't you just, like, touch the side of your face with your hand to see?

While likely effective, this loses you the chance to get KISSES FOR SCIENCE!

(SCIENCE!)

[noparlpf]

While likely effective, this loses you the chance to get KISSES FOR SCIENCE!

(SCIENCE!)

But kissing is unsanitary. And involves other people. Ew.

[Starwulf]

Stubble is actually a reference to grain after it's harvested. It's short, stiff and even in length.

So, you have stubble if you keep your beard trimmed short enough to be rough to the touch.

Picture of good stubble:

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It's a textural thing, but essentially, it's just a kind of beard.

A beard is comparatively soft to the touch, with a fullness of shape.

Picture of a good (small) beard:

Spoiler

Show

My beard's about that big… maybe a little lower on the neck and higher on the cheek though, but not much longer.

If that second one classifies as a beard....good grief. lol. I would barely call that facial hair to be honest. By the time I get around to shaving my beard off, it's at least 4x that in length, and it only takes 3-4 months to grow. What that guy has is what I have right now, and I just had my beard shaved at the start of January.

I define a beard as being at least 2 inches in length, and fully covering the face/chin/neck. Anything less is fuzz, stubble, and growth, in that order.

[inexorabletruth]

If that second one classifies as a beard....good grief. lol. I would barely call that facial hair to be honest.

Lol.

As I said. It's a small beard. But as I also mentioned, even stubble is technically a beard. A beard can be nearly any length, and some of my friends in a beard club have beards that range from conservatively short to wild-man long. I won't try to define a beard, but Merriam-Webster defines a beard thusly:

1beard noun \ˈbird\
: the hair that grows on a man's cheeks and chin

: the long hair that grows on the chin of some animals

Full Definition of BEARD

1
: the hair that grows on a man's face often excluding the mustache
2
: a hairy or bristly appendage or tuft

[Karoht]

How long would you say facial hair has to get before it's a beard and not just stubble or scruff?

When it becomes manly enough to know it is a man, rather than just wonder.
This applies to the beard and the person wearing it.

Moustaches follow a similar rule, but it merely applies to the surface area of the face from the nose down. True beards are a total-person experience.

[Aedilred]

I'd say the point at which it becomes a Beard rather than just general unshavenness is when the hair completely obscures the skin underneath the covered area. On most men that I've observed this tends to take about 3-4 weeks, assuming they can grow a beard at all.

That definition matches the illustrative photos above: Prince William definitely has a beard, albeit a short one, but then it's difficult to have anything significantly longer than that and still look smart. Jason Statham still has stubble.

[Telonius]

Personally, I'd say when it's no longer possible to shave it off in one swipe from an average disposable razor, it's a beard.

[warty goblin]

When frost starts to form in it on a cold day.

[Zrak]

Beardfreeze is one of the greatest feelings of the year.

[DraPrime]

Beardfreeze is one of the greatest feelings of the year.

Alternatively, if it gets bad enough, it can get painful.

[Starwulf]

Alternatively, if it gets bad enough, it can get painful.

It's an interesting experience the first time or two it happens, after that it's just annoying. I've thankfully never had to deal with beardfrost to the point where it became painful, mainly because I don't spend long time outdoors(not by choice ><).

There was this thing on the news a while back about these hardcore surfers that were up in Canada surfing this massively long(but absolutely tiny) wave along the coastline, and while they didn't have beardfreezes(didn't look like any of them had beards), they had "hood freezes". Their entire hoods, all the way around, had icicles surrounding them, one guy actually looked like he had a beard made out of icicles(Sorry, just seemed like a neat story to share).

[TheThan]

Sounds like a question to ask the beards

[Coidzor]

Sounds like a question to ask the beards

That was simply marvelous.

[Kato]

Sounds like a question to ask the beards

Awesome.

Though, I'd say in general it's up to personal preference... only if it's grown for just a day/ it is just a "I forgot to shave" thing when it really is hard to accept as a beard.

I myself am constantly undecided how much beard I want to have.. certainly not clean shaven or so long I'll trip over it.

[dehro]

not that I subscribe to any of this particularly, and I'm not sure what the redsox have to do with it, but there you go.

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Apparently I'm growing a Wolf

[Kalmageddon]

A real beard should constantly produce faint Melodic Death Metal if one were to put its ear next to it.
That's how you know.

[Ravens_cry]

How have we had 2 pages with no mention of the true dignity of the beard?

[sktarq]

Personally, I'd say when it's no longer possible to shave it off in one swipe from an average disposable razor, it's a beard.

For those with tough hair this won't do as a definition. That is true after only 3 days for myself and it still feels like sharkskin.

As for needing a kissing context. Yes I do think it is necessary-because if it is rough enough to distract them from the kiss then it is stubble.

[Sinistas]

not that I subscribe to any of this particularly, and I'm not sure what the redsox have to do with it, but there you go.

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Apparently I'm growing a Wolf

Those are all the different beards players on the Red Sox had this year.

As for the OP, I agree with "when it stops looking like you forgot to shave." Once my beard gets to that point, it grows in well, but the stubble phase takes forever. haha

[noparlpf]

As for the OP, I agree with "when it stops looking like you forgot to shave." Once my beard gets to that point, it grows in well, but the stubble phase takes forever. haha

The other day somebody mistook my four weeks' not bothering to shave for a neatly-trimmed short beard so I guess I pass?