Jim Tedder presents Voice of America, a program to improve American English skills. Tedder explores the last trends in Los Angeles, California of growing facial hair by men. Therefore, he interviews Daniel Winter who is a barber, and asks him about the matter. Winter mentions that facial hair in Los Angeles is becoming trendy, even including body art. Further, Mr. Winter states that big corporations that are fashion-oriented are nowadays hiring men with beards and tattoos. Moreover, he explains that growing facial hair has its roots in history as it once referred to masculinity, sexual vitality, and awesomeness and gives an example of Greek mythology.
Tedder continues his journey in exploring the issue and therefore interviews Nicholas Watsford who is a manufacturer of hair care products. Mr. Watsford says that growing facial hair is not temporary but rather some kind of a lifestyle or a way of living and is about how men present themselves. He refers further to men around the world growing facial hair during November to draw attention to men’s health issues.
In this context, Jim Tedder goes to The Los Angeles Facial Hair Society which was started by two men and two women to connect the community of people with facial hair. Alana Beck is among the founders and she mentions that she only dates men with beards. Roberto Campos, a community member, says that this community brings people together and contributes to social relations.
Sweden is to an extent following the USA in this trend and more men are nowadays growing facial hair. Moreover, facial hair has become a part of some men’s identities because of different reasons. However, it is a bit hard to judge the matter without conducting proper research on the issue and exploring the reasons and how it becomes a trend even in Sweden. Therefore, we see more products that are specialized to take care of facial hair and specialized for each part of facial hair, that is, beards or mustaches.
I believe that facial hair is a subjective matter that can vary among people according to personal preferences. However, it is a bit hard to judge any person growing facial hair just because they do it. This is because everyone has their reasons that can not be generalized to everyone.