Facial hair
Categories: Human appearance | Secondary sexual characteristics
Facial hair is a secondary sexual characteristic in human males. Most men develop facial hair in puberty.
Male pogonotrophy (the growing of facial hair; beardedness) is often culturally associated with wisdom and virility. Many men style their facial hair into beards, moustaches, goatees or sideburns. A man's facial hair (especially short hairs that were missed in shaving) is often affectionately known as his whiskers (however, only nonhuman mammals have true whiskers). However, many others shave their facial hair.
Women rarely grow hair on their faces (apart from the fine fuzz that all people have covering their entire bodies). However, a very few women are afflicted with noticeable facial hair growth. Excessive hairiness (especially facially) is known as hirsutism, and is an indication of hormonal variation.
The amount of facial hair on a man's face varies from individual to individual, and also between ethnic groups. For example, men of East Asian, or Native American descent (Mongoloids) typically have less facial hair than those of Caucasoids (Europeans and Middle Easterners). However, as with all generalizations, this isn't always the case for everyone.
Topics about facial hair
- Men and facial hair: moustaches, beards, goatees, sideburns, royale and the lack of facial hair: clean-shaven
- Women and facial hair: depilation and bearded women
- Shaving: the Romans and Greeks
- Straight or cut-throat razors and safety razors, Electric razors
See also