The new age rivalry
Let’s start by defining what a rivalry is. According to Wikipedia, rivalries are “the state of two people or groups engaging in on-going competitive relationships”. This definitely applies to the beard and clean shave look right?
One can argue that the battle between the beard and the shave is a new phenomenon, with the resurgence in popularity of facial hair among men around the world. Clothing models, footballers and celebrities are some of them men sporting all sorts of beards in this day and age. The clean shaven look has struggled to keep up in places.
Although the beard – clean shave rivalry is new. There are many far older rivalries that can be compared to it:
- Coca Cola v Pepsi
- Nike v Adidas
- Barcelona V Real Madrid
- Batman v Superman
All these rivalries have another central theme that underpins them. A Love hate relationship. Coca Cola boys detest Pepsi. Nike fans refuse to be spotted wearing Adidas. Barcelona fans will never consider Cristiano a great. While Batman v Superman has taken their beef from comic books to Hollywood screens.
So competitive are these rivalries, that they often outright cloud judgement. Rivalries will have an otherwise reasonable man swearing that red is blue, up is down. This has become true for the bearded clean shaven debate as well.
The clean shave men will swear that guys with facial hair are unkempt. While the bearded guys claim that the clean shaven crew are not manly enough.
It’s not just the men that frequently pick opposing sides. Women have their preferences to. A few love the clean shave feel of a man’s cheek bones whilst others swear by not dating a guy who doesn’t have a beard. These issues have trended across social media causing rigorous debates.
The Clean Shave
Depending on which country you reside, the clean shaven look has been the traditional approach to grooming. This is more true for Western countries such as the US and UK. So ingrained is it in the older generation, that even keeping a bit of stubble was almost seen as a sin. Many men above the ages of 60 have been conditioned that shaving daily is as mandatory as bathing every day.
The clean shave definitely has its advantages though:
- Aids in removing dead skin cells
- Can make you look younger than you are
- Save beard grooming time
- Looks good in formal corporate environments
- A lot of women swear by their men being clean shaven
The beard
The good old beard. This has been the more traditional approach to male grooming in non-western countries, specifically Islamic ones. Here keeping a beard is seen as a sign of the coming of age of a man. Often barbers in these countries will outright refuse to touch the man’s beard much more than a slight trim and shape up.
The beards advantages include:
- Protects you from the cold
- Makes you look more mature
- Save shaving time
- No shaving bumps
- Many women find bearded men sexier
The verdict
It depends. Some men’s faces look better with a beard than without, whereas other men look good with either. Also not everyone happens to have the ability to grow a thick dense looking beard. Some men’s beards are just patchy by nature no matter what they do: ‘Genetics bro’.
To help you decide: ask your girl what she prefers (or any girl for that matter). Mind you, you don’t necessarily have to ask for anyone’s opinion. If you’re confident in your decision making powers that is.
Either way what’s important is that, beard or no beard you groom yourself to the best of your abilities.
This means if you do decide to keep a beard make sure it’s a well-kept, stylish one. In which case you should be using beard oil to make it smooth and soft.
On the other hand, if you decide to wear the clean shaven look, daily use of a face & shave oil is essential. It’ll go a long way to helping you keep that perfect looking face of yours.
Silver Ravan stock both a men’s facial oil and men’s beard oil. Bearded or not, we have you covered, place an order today and up your ‘groom’.