A Note on Facial Hair, by special guest blogger Katie McGrath!

(Katie McGrath, a dear friend of this blog, has a few things to say about beards, goatees, stubble, and 'staches. Clearly, this is the ideal platform. Let 'er rip, McGrath!)

You may have noticed that the media is currently fascinated by a "resurrection" of facial hair. Over the past few months there have been articles in Time Out NY, The Boston Herald, etc., spots on The Today Show, an entire documentary known as "The Glorious Mustache Challenge," and just last week the follicle frenzy made it's way into the New York Times. (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/fashion/thursdaystyles/23BEARDS.html?_r=1&oref=slogin )

Now seeing as I've been talking about this for years I think I'll jump on the current literary bandwagon and tell you what I think of this trend.

Side note: My theory is mainly based on NYC because of it's high gay population.

The recent popularity of male facial hair is a result of the woman's search a masculine lover.There has been such a growth of public homosexuality (which we all love) that straight women have to set straight men further apart from their gay boys. Due to the influx of femininity we need masculinity and we've been driven to the extreme.
Our gay counter-parts have taken us shopping and then sent us to bed the grizzly man.

Think about it; we've got all these gay friends but we don't want to sleep with them. We as straight women don't necessarily think of them as "Men", in the sense of someone we are attracted to. Therefore the men that we are attracted to are turning out to be more rugged than in the past. Those pretty-boy, Abercrombie and Fitch models that used to do it for us are now turning on the boys at the club a whole lot more than they're working it for the ladies. We see a clean shaven man with a blue button down shirt and we have to put on our gaydar but if we see a guy who looks a bit disheveled, sporting a bit of scruff then we know right away that he is a straight man.

I believe that I speak for many women when I say that today, more so than a few years ago, I am definitely more attracted to men with a healthy amount of scruff (no full beards for me.) The fact is that when I'm with a man I want to know that I'm with a MAN. It's just a reminder of their masculinity - it's hot.

So ladies, the next time you find yourself stopping a makeout session to get the hair out of your mouth or waking up with irritated skin around your mouth, blame it on the gays!

WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T:
1. Goatee and/or Chin-Strap: No Way. There's a fine line between hot and trashy and unfortunately those two are the latter.
2. Lil' bit of a Mustache (no beard) : The Prepubescent look. Definitely a NO.
3. Full fluffy mustache (no beard): The Magnum PI look. Some woman like this look. I'm not one of them but I guess it can pass.
4. Bushy Beard & Mustache Set- Hippie or Man-in-the-woods look: Only works for me if they\re a tortured artist, and oh how that works for me.
BEST LOOK: The "I haven't shaved in a week." I think this is the look that pulls in the ladies. EXAMPLE: A few years ago I confused all my friends by having "relations" with this short Jewish pothead with shaggy hair and a face full of scruff. I couldn't put my finger on what attracted me to him but I just kept telling them that there was just "something about him." I realized what that something was one evening when I saw him after a full shave. I was shocked to learn that I was turned on by his facial hair. I loved the scruff! I loved the rough feeling of it against my face and I wanted it back. So when he said to me, "You don't like it do you? I look 12, don't I?", I answered with a very unconvincing "Nnnooo, I don't hate it." and then followed with "It'll grow back."