I've had a beard since I could grow one. My chin is weak...so the beard makes me look a little more normal/attractive. Plus, my father had a beard.

I've never been the type to comb it or style it like the pretty boy in the picture. Just grow it and occasionally treat it with some olive oil and conditioner. Before job interviews I'll buzz it down to a conservative length, but I usually let it grow out until it's bushy and wiry, like I've been trapped in the Andes for a few months.

Some chicks like it. One girl I knew told me I should get rid of it. Another girl I dated got pissed when I did shave it...she told me that men's faces with no facial hair look like pussies. I still laugh at that.

Really, though, as some people point out, it has become a fad. Just look at all the products being marketed to men for beard maintenance.

And really, I have no patience for all the stupid shit being sold to care for my beard. I don't need special oils or wax. That's just asinine. Jews, Greeks, and Persians all used olive oil in their beards.

Personally, I think if you can grow one, you should. Here are some reasons to grow a beard:

1.) It's like a secret handshake among other guys with beards. As others on this thread have mentioned. When you both realize you put up with the same Beard Issues, while reaping the same Beard Benefits, a true Beard Brotherhood is born.

2.) It's masculine. Not to say that not growing a beard is effeminate, but growing a beard is something that men generally do. Like hunting a bear or smoking a pipe, chopping wood or building a fire. The beard is a constant reminder of your own manliness - in an increasingly feminized world, there's nothing quite like taking a moment out of your day to stroke your beard as you consider how awesome it is to be a man.

3.) It's illustrative of GYOW. When you break from the clean-cut, nicely-primped-and-styled beauty standards being rammed down your throat by conventional society, you spread the message that conformity ain't shit.

Of course, not everyone can grow a beard. One of my closest friends after high school was part Cherokee...poor bastard labored for years just to grow a wispy soul patch. Though, to his credit, dude was pretty red-pilled at heart.