Carl Icahn's beard may have raised eyebrows when it appeared on the cover of Forbes Magazine, but many of his billionaire counterparts (anti-hipsters?) have worn them forever. Beards are not anti-establishment. Phil Knight has a beard. James Simons has a beard.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Marc Benioff of Salesforce, Netflix's Reed Hastings and Richard Branson of Virgin Group all have beards, though as Steve Tobak notes, they are all founders of their companies.
Sergey Brin, techie nerd billionaire and founder of the smartest being in the world—proudly wears the beard and earns its place among the 5 most influential bearded men on the planet.
Traditional beliefs suggest that beards aren't part of a professional look, and in the past many people were recommended to shave before a job interview. That perception has changed significantly, and a recent survey of 500 men found 90% were allowed to have facial hair at work, as long as it was kept neat and clean.
While a traditional white-collar office isn't the first place you'd think of seeing beards, facial hair can actually help in sales and business. Studies show that people view men with beards as more aggressive, dominant and confident, which are often considered strong qualities in a sales or businessman.
Steve Jobs grew a beard relatively late in life. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has one. So do Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, Reed Hastings of Netflix and Richard Branson of Virgin Group. But they're all founders of their companies.
It is unusual for CEOs of major financial institutions to embrace facial hair. Richard Parsons, former CEO of Citigroup (NYSE:C) would be a rare exception to the rule. Beards are generally more popular among a younger set of CEOs.
Science has shown that there is no link at all between testosterone levels and beard length.
In general they found women rated beards higher for attractiveness compared with clean-shaven faces, particularly when judging potential for long-term rather than short-term relationships. In general, the results showed a mixed link between attractiveness and beardiness.
They have hair — only 21% of the world's billionaires are bald despite the vast majority of them being men (only 197 of the 1,826 are women). Most male billionaires have hair — like Alibaba founder Jack Ma. 3.
Royal Beard
“It consists of a thinner mustache and a disconnected path of hair on the chin. Made popular by the Royal Navy back in the early 1800s, it was a way to let sailors maintain facial hair while also keeping their look clean-cut. Pair this style of beard with a nice long quiff for a classic look.”
Muslim and Sikh men generally keep beards
For many Sikh men, having a beard is seen as a religious obligation, and beards are also traditional in several Islamic schools of thought.
But, the surprise was that in a follow-up study of 450 people, in which they were asked to rate the same photos as either aggressive, masculine, and/or prosocial, they rated the happy, bearded men as higher on all three categories--including prosocial.
Women judge fully bearded men to be a better bet for long-term relationships, one study finds. This might be because it makes men look more 'formidable'. Certainly, beards make men look older and more aggressive. Beards are also often judged to make men look like they have higher social status.
Dixson and Robert C Brooks aimed to decipher the role of facial hair in women's perceptions of attractiveness, and the results were undeniable. After judging a number of pictures featuring men with varying degrees of facial hair, the vast majority of women found full-bearded men to be the top dogs in the mix.
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.
Beards can accentuate the very best features of your face. For instance, due to their position on the face, a beard can accentuate your jawline, giving you one worthy of a movie star. A strong jawline is correlated with a higher level of testosterone, which women are pre-programmed to find attractive.
It's a fairly common misconception that a man's beard is inherited directly from his father. The truth is that beards are just like most other genetically derived features: they can come from either side of the family. The unique feature of beards, obviously, is that they don't appear until maturity.
Men with high testosterone can experience a variety of troubling symptoms and possible health consequences. Excess testosterone can lead to more aggressive and irritable behavior, more acne and oily skin, even worse sleep apnea (if you already have it), and an increase in muscle mass.
Beard Growth and Age
Put simply, in an average amount of cases, a full beard will add roughly 8 years of age to your appearance.
Both women and men thought bearded men—over six weeks of growth, with no trimming—looked older and more likely to command respect from other men. The wild and hairy look also came across as more aggressive than being clean-shaven. Scientists have long wondered why men have beards.
Power & Maturity
As we get older (and better at growing beards), we usually become more mature. Beards therefore, psychologically speaking, work in the subconscious to indicate maturity. A study from 1990 evidenced this, showing both men and women associated beards with maturity and power.