Talk:Facial hair

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[edit] Stop developing

Added that facial hair doesn't stop developing at 18 and included footnote. I couldn't find a better source, but I'm 20 years old and I'm still developing facial hair. Arthur Curry (talk) 21:18, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cultures content

Many cultures seek to pretend that women have no facial hair. Which cultures are these?

I don't know who wrote this. I don't particularly like the wording. Nevertheless, I think the writer means to infer that our culture, and all modern Western culures, like to make this claim. Women simply aren't supposed to have moustaches, and if they do, they secretly pluck out the hairs with tweezers. [[User:Whiskers|whiskers (talk)]] 00:03, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I took the liberty of removing the aforementioned statement. I think it is simply false, in the wording as it was presented. The page needs quite a bit of work and development. I will poke around with it off and on and it should develop with the efforts of all involved with it. [[User:Whiskers|whiskers (talk)]] 00:06, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Pictures

Here, again, as on the Moustache page, we have some pictures that could be improved upon. The guy with the Verdi beard is okay, I guess, but with a bit of hunting, one could find something more... er, neutral. Same goes for the other photo. I prefer something with historical value, say a famous man. There were beautiful moustaches in the past and men wore them with pride. How about a Civil War officer, or an early officer from the RCMP? [[User:Whiskers|whiskers (talk)]] 00:03, 15 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Section needs work

I think the following section is self-explanatorily bad, and needs serious work.

-- A man's facial hair is often affectionately known as his whiskers (only mammals have true whiskers). However, many others shave their facial hair.

Alas, women rarely grow hair on their faces --

only mammals? men aren't mammals? (tee hee, all ninjas are mammals!) many others? other than what? other than men who refer to theirs as whiskers? the sentence makes no grammatical sense.. ALAS? not only is that not NPOV but it sounds like the writer was some kind of fetishist... no offense..

[-anon.]

[edit] Reason for Male Facial Hair?

Thought the article didn't address a key question, i.e., during human evolution, why did natural selection favor men with facial hair? Particularly curious considering how much hair we've lost compared to our primate ancestors. Anyone know the answer? —Joe Jarvis 19:23, May 22, 2005 (UTC)

I reckon it's something to do with the importance of facial characteristics in partner selection and the way hair can augment the face. The illusion of a stronger/broader jaw line and chin is often created by facial hair in much the same way as thicker eyebrows give the appearance of a heavier brow. Males with stronger, more masculine, faces would have been perceived as more dominant, with the potential for getting a better share of the action either through female preference or the male pecking order in situations where the female had no choice. I daresay hair on the rest of a mans body was also selected for because it made the individual look bigger. As for why men haven't become giant puffballs of fluff over the generations... probably because if the hair gets too long it becomes un-manageable through grooming, and any potential benefit towards securing a mate or decent postition in society is lost by the owner's unclean appearance and the likelihood of them harbouring more than the usual share of parasites. Newsmare 21:14, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
I must comment that this is a very poorly thought out and unscientific explaination. Though human males do almost invariably have more facial hair than their female counterparts, many human groups, e.g. australian aborigine, Native American melanesia, etc. have little to no facial hair at all. Furthermore, the evolutionary mechanism would be to evolve towards having less hair, given that our austrolepithicus and hominid ancestors had much more facial hair (and body hair) than modern humans, regardless of gender. Evidence points to the fact that over the millenia there has been evolutionary pressure on both female and males to favour less facial hair, but among some groups there has been significantly less pressure on males, Which poses a question with an answer yet to be proven.

I would have to disagree with one thing. australian aborigines actually do grow facial hair. When they get old it turns orange instead of gray. I'm pretty sure I'm talking about aboriginies although i could be wrong. Other than that I would agree.Hellomoto33 00:36, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Not sure about the last one. Aborigines are a diverse group, discrete and isolated communities spread across a continent for tens of thousands of years. But many of them certainly do grow full, thick beards - as depicted on the Australian $2 coin.
A beard serves as a mane, which is vaguely protective, I suppose. It does not inhibit survival, nor apparently sexual selection, and as a gender differentiator and yet another sign of sexual maturity it may well be attractive.
Breasts swell during menstruation, and in the interests of reproduction larger breasts have been favoured by males. Or perhaps the males which favour large breasts are engaging in sexual intercourse more likely to bear children? Positive feedback loop, more breasts. Less body hair on females is attractive in many cultures, dating back to we-don't-know-when. A less hairy female may be percieved to be younger, nubile, which is presently yet another word for "attractive" (formerly "suitable for marriage"). A degree of hairless thrown up by natural variation may somehow lead to more offspring, both sexes of whom may display or at least carry this trait. More of the positive feedback loop.
Or it may just be an adaption to the heat - like the lengthening of limbs (compare with neanderthals). Maybe a combination of the two or more. The motives may be inherent or instilled. I'm certainly not the one to say. It's all conjecture, and I'm not the first to suggest these. Just throwing another rock in the pool... I hope I've been useful or interesting... --The Chairman (Shout me · Stalk me) 12:36, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Facial Hair Occurences around world

The occurence of facial hair seems more homogenous among Caucasians (any group ranging from North Africans to Europeans, to South Asians). But it seems that among Africans and Asians, there to me quite a clear distinction in terms of the climate: Africans and Asians from drier cliamtes typically seem much hairier that their tropical counterparts. In other words, Asians and African populations seem to have huge variation in terms of body or facial hair. Northeast Asians and Central Asians seem much hairier than Southeast Asians, for instance. And East Africans seem much hairier than West Africans. Is there a known reason why the tropics kills facial and body hair? User:Le Anh-Huy

I'm southeast asian and i dont grow visible hair at all in the cheeks

[edit] Occurance

What determines the amount of facial hair - is it genetics, testosterone. Some men have a perpetual five o'clock shadow, while others can hardly grow any facial hair, or grow it inconsistently. Why is this?

Genetics, probably.

[edit] Length

What limits the length certain hairs (e.g. eyebrow and eyelashes) grow? Jigen III 09:24, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Every hair folicle has a limit of how long a hair it will produce. These are different in different places on the body. These limits are largely set by the genes, but are greatly infuenced by hormones. Bubba ditto 19:05, 5 February 2006 (UTC)
Yes. Hair located at different parts of the body will grow at different speeds, and will be lost (falling out) at different rates. Your eyelashes would not grow as fast as, say, your beard (if you are one who can grow one), and will typically fall out before they get too far. We might see on the elderly unusually long hair at the eyebrows, from the nostrils, elsewhere? Maybe the hormonal regulation has changed, maybe they spend less time standing in a stiff breeze. --The Chairman (Shout me · Stalk me) 12:45, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] uneven facial hair

i have some patches on my right side of the face with absolutely no facial hair then elsewhere its all stubbly. This isn't the same as the left hand side of my face, which has full facial hair and there is also more eyebrow hair. It's also an unusual pattern which repeats even to chest hair (the left side) and not surprisingly im left handed and footed. What is this? --86.18.156.77 22:20, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Intro language?

IMHO, this should be redone. Makes it seem like the article was written for aliens, especially " Many men develop facial hair in the later years of puberty, approximately between 15-18 years old. Many women also have some facial hair, especially after menopause, though typically much less than men" 152.105.64.11 08:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

May I direct you to WP:CSB?--The Chairman (Shout me · Stalk me) 12:41, 19 September 2007 (UTC)