Yesterday I passed a barbershop and saw ads on their wall outside of men with beards and short hair. It is a revival or saving electricity ?

  • @scottywh@lemmy.world
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    348 months ago

    Shaving sucks.

    The real question is why shaving should be normalized, expected, or encouraged in modern society.

    • @bluemellophone@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Long story short: WW2

      The military required men to be clean shaven, which was partly tactical (proper gas mask seals), partly to whitewash the service (e.g., black men can have severe skin reactions to shaving every day), and had other benefits to unit cohesion and general order (routine personal fitness and hygiene).

      Well, that stuck, and an entire (massive) generation of men and their male children were taught that to be good they simply had to be clean shaven. Those two generations make up the vast majority of business and political power in the US, so the idea of “success” and “power” was idolized by a clean shaven male. This was further accentuated by the counter culture reaction of this cohort’s kids in the 60s and 70s, where longer and unkempt “bad” hair was cast against this “good” clean shaven look.

      Fast forward to today, those traditions and appearances have been baked into most of modern life. As the boomer population starts to fade away, so will the tyranny of the razor.

  • @m13@lemmy.world
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    418 months ago

    Beards are where the Communism is stored. As the ruling class become richer and more obscene, class consciousness grows amongst the working class. Hence, beards.

  • CrimeDadA
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    188 months ago

    It’s crazy how long it’s been since we’ve had a bearded president in the US.

  • @sbv@sh.itjust.works
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    88 months ago

    I feel like beards are a reaction to the clean-cut look of the 1980s and 90s. The mainstream aesthetic was clean-cut brutalism, from architecture to facial hair. People in media lived in almost empty spaces made of concrete and hard lines. Even the grunge/plaid look of the 90s featured beardless dudes with a hint of stubble.

    In the 2000s, there was a reaction against that. People looked for alternatives. Hipsters grew beards and mustaches. Instead of IKEA catalogs, movie characters lived in cottage-core wizard hangouts or busy apocalyptic shelters. This will continue for a while.

    In the next decade or two we’re going to see a reaction against that. Politics are going to get funky and I think that’ll help get us back to clean-cut and brutal. But here’s hoping for a hirsute solar-punk future. Given a choice, I’d take a 1990s-style perfect shave in a solar-punk future, but that’s just me.

    • @BakerBagel@midwest.social
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      48 months ago

      Fashion is always cyclical. There are loads of guys with beards today, but so many look awful, unkempt, and untidy. Kids today will grow up seeing those awful beards and decide it isn’t for them after a couple attempts. A good beard takes just as much effort to maintain as a clean shaven face, which the next generation is going to experience.

  • Stern
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    188 months ago

    I always figured rona caused a big enough surge in beards owing to WFH allowing folks to get past the scruff hump that beards could be back on the table again.

  • @Swallowtail@beehaw.org
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    78 months ago

    I hate shaving and I think it’s a waste of time. I think facial hair can also act to make your appearance more visually interesting if you prefer to keep your hair cut really short like I do.