What is the purpose for men having beards and moustaches?

Question

Don't women need protection, too? lol

Answer 1

Many species have males that look different than females. There is no purpose for men having beards other than to irritate cross-dressers. It is merely for appearance.

I have a goatee simply because almost everyone I know likes it. I would shave it off, but then kids would miss playing with my beard.

Answer 2

It's a matter of personal choice.  I believe males that grow facial hair are reinforcing their manly image, or hiding some facial irregularity, like a receding chin, a double chin, acne scars, or with the purpose of presenting a more dominant personality.  Personally, I do not like male facial hair.  The mustache harbors bacteria and a beard, for the most part, at least from my perspective is used to cover up some flaw as perceived by the wearer.

Answer 3

I think the better question would be why did men start shaving their bears off?

Answer 4

Instinctively, it's part of the physiological attempt to dominate.

Answer 5

Alopecia areata is a particular disease affecting hair growth in the scalp and elsewhere. The loss is the cause of great concern to those affected, ...

home.vicnet.net.au/~aasa/About%20Alope... -

My intention here is to refute the above assertion, that Alopecia Areata is a disease (it is not more a disease than the relative hairlessness of Homo Sapiens Sapiens is, compared with, say Pan Troglodytes [the chimpanzee] ). Instead, it should be regarded as an evolutionary adaption.

ALOPECIA AREATA (MALE PATTERN BALDNESS):                                                                         Has a great deal to do with the fact that human beings (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) are a relatively hairless, and physically weak, (Pan Troglodytes [chimpanzees] are several times stronger, yet smaller) and need a lot of high nutrient foods to maintain their large brains.                                                                             Those brains can take up to 40% of the blood pumped by the heart*. We are somewhat like sponges, perspiring a great deal, when compared with other primates.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                We evolved in tropical, and sub tropical East Africa, in the enormous rift valley, with its many and variable environments, from a group of hominins (on the evolutionary path leading to Homo Sapiens Sapiens).    



We have only adopted regular bathing very recently. For millions of years, our ancestors never bathed. During sexual intercourse, the areas covered by the pubic hair on the male and female come into repeated contact. If it wasn't for the retention of that pubic hair, the stickiness involved in the partial drying of sexual fluids would have caused skin to be peeled off, exposing the area to infection (flies, as vectors of disease/parasites).                                              No doubt, this is what happened to some groups, which were devoid of pubic hair, to the same extent that we are relatively hairless in other parts of our body. They were selected against, in the evolutionary pool, just like those which were uniformly hirsute, and unable to forage, scavenge, and hunt in the heat of tropical/subtropical Africa, in the middle of the day, because, for them, as with the big cats, it was too hot to do anything but lie down in the shade. As a result, those with less body hair had little competition, and were able to provision the females in their tribe better, receiving more sexual favours as a result of "bringing home the bacon", thereby producing more offspring, bearing similar characteristics. Our ancestors got the best of both traits, perpetuating them to this day.                                                                In my view, male pattern baldness is an evolutionary adaption: an extension of bodily hairlessness (note: it occurs rarely in females, and usually only manifests in males after sexual maturity is attained. It would serve no purpose in females, since they remained in the shade, with their offspring, and may have developed in some groups of males at an early age, but skin cancer takes around 25 years to occur, after initial exposure, so those in which baldness developed early would start to be eliminated, not only by the skin cancer, but by the preference of the females for mating with males displaying no apparent physical defects. In those males in which it developed later, however, by the time skin cancer had developed, their reproductive life would have been over, since they died at a much younger age than we do).                                                              That thinning of the hair on the head, when combined with a male human's high rate of perspiration, and adequate airflow of low humidity air produces a significant increase in the cooling effect to the brain*, which acts to some extent in a manner similar to the radiator of an automobile. This is supported by the fact that males tend to perspire more than females, who, because they were not highly active in the hottest parts of the day, were not selected for that particular                                                      trait.                                                                In the Amazon jungle, the local tribes perspire very little, despite the heat, owing to the fact that the high relative humidity minimises the effectiveness of perspiration as a cooling mechanism. Incidentally, in every documentary I have ever seen of such natives, like the Yanomamu, I have yet to see one with noticeable alopecia. Note too the lack of facial hair, and chest hair on many Polynesian men. It only takes 30 - 40 generations, to bring about significant changes in a population.                                                            There is also a positive correlation between testosterone levels in males, and alopecia. Those males with higher levels of testosterone tend to be more aggressive, competitive, task focused, goal oriented, "alpha males" (I'm not one). They would have spent longer out in the hot sun, and it would have produced a fair degree of reproductive success. Those without such an adaption, but still having relatively hairless bodies, but thick hair on their heads, may well have had more opportunity to mate with the females, provided that they were at least reasonably successful providers. Desmond Morris theorises that the difference in facial hair, between males and female is a sexual identifier, like the relatively large b*****s of the human female, when compared with gorillas, chimpanzees, or orang utans. Because female humans historically, (and prehistorically, apparently) have had the role of caring for the children, this has limited their exposure to the elements, resulting in different evolutionary pressures, and adaptations than those of the males. So, no, they didn't need protection, via facial hair, anywhere near as much.

Answer 6

Well hair's original purpose was to keep us warm.  Seeing as the face is a very vulnerable area, for very vulnerable body parts it was probably there to protect.  Not so much now though :P

edit:

I suppose women need protection as well.  Women have facial hair, but it is usually lighter color such as blond.  It is typically never as thick as men's as well....though I have seen some women who should probably shave lol.

Maybe it has something to do with testosterone and estrogen levels.  In any case facial hair is no longer needed because humans have come up with ways to shelter ourselves from the wind and cold.

Answer 7

Ugh it's totally disguisting nowadays. I guess beards, sometimes men grow them, and that can look okay on lets say brad pitt, but on the average guy it just looks sloppy and disgusiting.

Moustaches, don't even let me start on that.  Gross.

Answer 8

body is protecting itself and is to keep the face from freezing in cold weather.

by the way if you are talking about protection on the shoulder, try a towel or wear a naughty nighty..

Answer 9

They are great for cold weather living, that's why a lot of bikers have facial hair. Men do seem to grow thicker beards in populations at higher latitudes.

They are also a form of sexual signal, it shows when a boy has become an adult. Our species is sexually dimorphic, it's one of the ways we exaggerate the differences between male and female.

Answer 10

Moustaches are excellent. Go see "There Will Be Blood," Daniel Day Lewis has one epic moustache.

Answer 11

women do have beards and moustaches, and so do children-- but because adolescent & post-adoloescent males have a greater abundance of the hormone testosterone, this fact usually presents with longer, darker, thicker, and coarser hair on the face and body.  

Facial and body hair on humans has more to do with evolution than with function; it serves no real purpose

Answer 12

In most cases just appearances.....as for me laziness.