Beards become fashionable

Kabir Bedi in his highly readable autobiography, Stories I Must Tell, recounts how he got selected to play the role of Sandokan by the Italian producers. And how his beard played a critical part: “… were touring Asia to find a tall, athletic, preferably bearded actor to play the role of Sandokan… my name came up when they asked around…. It helped that I’d grown a beard for my first Bollywood hit… My beard was deemed ‘Lucky’ and became my trademark.” It probably helped that very few Bollywood actors sported a beard in the mid-1970s. Today it will be difficult to find one who is clean shaven when not in a “role”!
 
Not just Bollywood, even in cricket the beard has become a part of the “kit”. If you look at the World Cup winning team of 1983, only Syed Kirmani and Balwinder Sandhu had a beard. Check out the team today. But for a few, almost all of them sport a beard. Some interesting variants, too.
 
What is the reason for the increasing popularity of the beard?
 
Sociologists point to the Vietnam war and the hippie culture to explain the rise of the beard culture in the US. Sporting an unkempt beard was a sign of showing your disrespect to the establishment. Or exhibiting your free spirit.
 
When I joined advertising in 1979 straight out of a B School, I had a boss who had a beard. I rationalised that having a beard would make me look older (and hopefully wiser). So, I too grew a beard. Those were the days that you just let your beard grow. No fragrant beard oils or fancy beard trimmers.
 
Come 1982, I joined a British multinational, Boots Company. It had a dress code (ties compulsory for officers) but I did not realise it also had a grooming culture. Soon after I joined, the managing director bumped into me in the executive washroom and politely pointed out, “Parameswaran, a beard is okay for advertising, but not in a British pharmaceutical company.” Off went my beard, something that never failed to amuse my then boss.
 
Was I alone at this? In an article in the Time magazine (February 18, 2008), I spotted a law student’s quote that I empathised with: “I should have a right to wear my own facial hair as I please…. But I am not going to risk my job over it.” In the US, most police departments outlaw beards, claiming that it made the officers look unprofessional. New York Yankees, the baseball team, also refuses to let players wear facial hair below their upper lip.
 
The article reports that there is a trend towards recognising facial hair as an essential accessory for would-be chic men, just as oversized totes are for their female counterparts. There is even a term for a beard scholar: “Pogonologist”. Allan Peterkin, the author of the book One Thousand Beards, observes: “Beards are back. It is an act of rebellion. Men are trying to prove that they are no longer a corporate slave.”

 
From being shunned, bearded men are being given useful tips on what to do and not do with their beard. Bloomberg Businessweek (June 10, 2013) has given three helpful tips: Pick a shape that best works for you, your beard should complement your face; maintain your neckline, remove unsightly hair; and clean up your act, remove unwanted patches and clean the margins.
 
A report in the Fortune magazine (January 2017) said that among American men of the ages 18-24, an amazing 39 per cent had facial hair, a leap from 15 per cent in just five years.
 
The slowing down of shaving habits has had a deep impact on one brand that stands for shaving: Gillette. The Economist (August 2019) reported that Procter & Gamble recorded a big quarterly loss after writing down the value of its Gillette shaving products business by an astounding $8 billion (they had acquired the business for an eye-popping $57 billion in 2005).
 
As a country we have always had a penchant for moustaches and hence, growing a beard is but a small step. What has been happening in the last five years is a boon for consumer product marketers. A new male grooming category is evolving fast with brands like The Man Company, Beardo, Bombay Shaving Company, Truefitt & Hill, MamaEarth, Forest Essentials and even L'Oréal and The Body Shop expanding into the beard territory.
 
One question, however, remains: If a beard was supposed to make you stand apart, and if everyone in the meeting room has one, will you still sport it? Or will you go the clean-shaven way?


The writer is an independent brand strategist, author and founder of Brand-Building.com.
He can be reached at ambimgp@brand-building.com