Beard facts for kids

Some kinds of beards.

A beard is the hair growing on the lower part of a man's face.

The hair that grows on the upper lip of some men is a mustache. When a man has hair only below the lower lip and above the chin, it is called a soul patch. Some men have a lot of hair and a big beard, and some have very little. In the modern world, many men shave part or all of their beards, or cut their beard so it does not get very long. Women can also have beards, but it is less common.

Some animals also have hair like this, and people sometimes also call this hair a beard.

Images for kids

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  Henry David Thoreau with a neckbeard

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  Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico

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  Emperor Pedro II

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  J. L. Runeberg

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  Phoenicians or the ancestors of the Lebanese gave great attention to the beard, as can be seen in their sculptures.

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  The Israelite king Jehu kneels before Shalmaneser III as carved on the Black Obelisk, he and the Jewish delegation distinguished from the Assyrians by distinctive beards

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  Xuan Zong of Tang with the specific east Asian facial hair growth pattern in which hair only grows above the lips, below the lips and on the chin. The cheeks and jaw are unshaven as no hair grows there.

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  Aristotle with a beard.

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  Epictetus stated he would embrace death before shaving.

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  Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

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  Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice of the United States

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  Russian Orthodox monk with a full beard playing a semantron

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  Many early LDS Church leaders (such as Brigham Young, pictured) wore beards.

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  Lorenzo Snow, Mormon missionary and fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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  An example of an Ottoman-style beard (Sultan Selim III)

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  An elderly Bengali man with a beard dyed in henna.

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  Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem with an unshaved beard and peyos (sidelocks)

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  Sikh man

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  James Harden, nicknamed "the Beard"

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  Brian Wilson's beard in 2011

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  Bornean bearded pigs

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  A bearded saki

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  Ancient Indian warriors with various types of beards, circa 480 BCE.

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  Chhatrapati Shivaji of the Maratha Empire with a trimmed beard.

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  Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Sikh Empire with a long beard.

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  Indian warrior Kunwar Singh of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 with a standard beard.

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  Xuande emperor with a full beard

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  Face of Terracotta Army warrior

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  Lamassu beard relief in Gate of All Nations in Perspolis (south of Iran).

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  Fath-Ali Shah, the second Qajar Shah of Persia had a long beard.

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  Friedrich Engels exhibiting a full moustache and beard that was a common style among Europeans of the 19th century.

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  Johann Strauss II with a large beard, moustache, and sideburns.

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  Maryland Governor Thomas Swann with a long goatee. Such beards were common around the time of the American Civil War.

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  Emperor Meiji of Japan wore a full beard and moustache during most of his reign.

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  Johannes Brahms with a large beard and moustache.

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  Walt Whitman with a large beard and moustache.

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  Leo Tolstoy with a large beard and moustache.

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  English cricketer W. G. Grace with his trademark beard.

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  Cuban revolutionaries Che Guevara (left) and Fidel Castro (right) with a full beard.

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  The Ned Kelly beard was named after the bushranger, Ned Kelly.

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  Russian Orthodox Archbishop Saint Luka (Voyno-Yasenetsky) (1877–1961).

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  Rûm founders of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America

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  Basilios Bessarion's beard contributed to his defeat in the papal conclave of 1455.

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  Pope Paul III

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  Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and architect of the English Reformation, wore a long beard in his later years.

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  Thomas Bramwell Welch was a Methodist minister.

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  Roman Catholic Capuchin friar, Blessed Solanus Casey (1870–1957).

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  An Amish man with a Shenandoah beard.