By Damilola Akinmolayan

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Different stokes for different people. Some like clean shave while some like the bushy one called beard. Some even have the beard in honour of their heroes. Whatever perspectives beard has become an attractive, the vogue in town as young men and even men now adorn beards to up their games of being attractive to the opposite sex.
The Hope spoke with some men on why they adorned beards.

What is the point of a beard, evolutionarily speaking? Children, women, and a whole bunch of men manage just fine without one. But take a walk down some streets these days and you’ll be confronted with all sizes and shapes of groomed (and less groomed) facial hair – from designer stubble to waxed moustaches and hipster beards.
When we see men paying attention to their appearance, it’s easy to assume that they’re just angling for partners. But our research on beards and voices shows that beards probably evolved at least partly to help men boost their standing among other men.
Compared to males and females of many other primates, men and women on average look very different from each other – partly thanks to men’s facial hair. And when we see differences between males and females, the explanation often boils down to evolution through sexual selection – the process that favours traits that boost mating opportunities.
But interestingly, women don’t seem that interested in beards. While some studies have found that women like a bit or even a lot of facial hair on men, other studies have reported that they prefer the clean-shaven look. The lack of consistent evidence means we can’t conclude that beards evolved because women were attracted to them.
A man’s ability to grow a fulsome beard isn’t actually neatly linked to his testosterone levels. Despite this, a number of studies have suggested that both men and women perceive men with beards as older, stronger and more aggressive than others. And dominant men can get more mating opportunities by intimidating rivals to stand aside.
This is something that holds true both in modern times and throughout human history. Dominance can provide a staggering short-cut to mating opportunities.
Of course, most of this research has been carried out within western populations. Make-up use, average body composition, and even the very ability to grow facial hair all differ enormously across the world – meaning we could get different results elsewhere.
But the point is that, whether it’s facial hair or something else, we often see this pattern of competing requirements leading to differences in appearances. Think you can please everyone all of the time? You can’t.

However, for Mr. Godspower Olorunsaanumi guys keep beards for religious reasons, like Muslims and some have taken it as a special interest.
“Guys keep beards for confidence, just like when a lady begins to have breasts, they have this dignity and confidence of maturity.”
He also disclosed that some guys as well keep it for fashion, they want to carve it well to look good.
He added that his beard is not for fashion or for special reason but because he’s a bearded person and he has over time discovered that the more he shaves it, the more it comes out and his skin gets darker because of incessant shaving.

I have a beard because I look weird without one. I shaved two years ago and saw my face and immediately grew my beards back, says Mr Emeka Rube. He added; “I’m ugly without facial hair.
Having beards makes me handsome. But some men keep it because of the kind of jobs they do, some keep it because they don’t have money to shave and some because their woman asked them to keep it. That’s what love turn some men to.”

Mr Fabian Emenike said “I grow beard for many reasons, but one of the most reasons is because Mr Governor beard motivates me. “Shaving makes me have razor bumps and etc. feel even worse about myself.

An artist, Oluwasanmi Akibon said “The real reason why I grow a beard is to up the game of my presentation. I’ve got compliments from my beard.”

Mr Oluwatosin Moses, said “I feel naked without a beard. “I love the feel of it… going through it with my fingers, have a feeling of not being naked.”And besides that, it makes me look cool and wise. Yes, it’s a pretty nice accessory to have on a cold day.”

I have three primary reasons for growing beard. said, Mr Kayode Adebusuyi. “ I have a baby face, so I look much younger without beard. I love keeping it and I’m too lazy to shave every day, so, beard add to my beauty when I have it.”