Beards and mustaches: these are the only two types of facial hair. Every style of facial hair, either you've ever had or seen, is one of these two or both.
According to WIRED, imagine facial hair "like a part of a Linnaean taxonomy" of human characteristics that we just made up.
Although it "totally makes sense" where facial hair is considered a family, "beards and mustaches are each a genus." Their several varieties then are distinct species which reproduce, as it were, to produce hybrid species such as the "duck-billed platypus of the facial hair family" known as the soul patch.
This might appear self-evident when you give it a thought, but then, why would you be thinking about this at all unless you're working in the comparatively booming industry in beard care, or, as WIRED described, "you're a pogonophile."
Pogonophile is an individual who loves beards a lot or someone who is bearded.
In a 2015 article, The Economist featured "philia," which is about the "growing trend of beardedness" while reporting from the National Beard and Mustache Championship, happening in Brooklyn that same year.
Just a Passing Trend
If you are breathing at this very moment, you must then be aware that beards, as reported by The Economist, were "more than just a passing trend."
The same report said facial hair grew more famous for the rest of the decade until it turned out to be a full-blown phenomenon of maleness in the 21st century.
In fact, it even had a role at the start of this COVID-19 pandemic. Media firms tripped on an infographic from the Centers for Disease Control in 2017 that showed which facial hairstyles went well with an N95 mask or a standard respirator, and which styles were not suitable as they "crossed the seal," enabling all ways of "nasty little things access" to the wide-open mouth.
As it turns out, other than trend and style, facial hair is not a helpful or a useful physical human characteristic in the manner we have always thought it is for many years. Indeed, whether it's beard or mustache - is just decorative.
Only Things Facial Hair Does for Us
Of all the physical traits on the human body, which include other kinds of hair, facial hair is the only hair type that's purely or mainly "ornamental."
Meaning, it does not actually do a thing, or perform any type of physiological function." Read on and see what the rest of the hair in our body does for us:
1. Body hair
This contributes to thermoregulation, a process that enables the body to retain its core internal temperature.
2. Head hair
This yields the scalp from the harmful heat of the sun. It also traps heat in during the cold weather.
3. Eyelashes
Eyelashes are akin to screen doors for the human eyes to keep out dust and small amount of debris particles away each time our eyes are open.
4. Eyebrows
This hinders sweat from reaching the eyes.
5. Underarm hair
Also called "axillary hair," this collects and spread pheromones as it acts like the body hair's "WD-40," decreasing friction between the skin on the arm's underside and the skin on the chest's side as humans walk and swing their arms.
For facial hair, you will notice that it does not appear on the list above. At the start of studying this sort of thing, evolutionary biologists perceived it might "it might serve thermoregulatory or prophylactic purposes."
Both mustaches and beards are around the mouth. This part takes in food as well as other particles, which may cause illness. Still, since these hair types are on the face, it may be playing a role in maintaining heat on the said part, which might escape the body if not covered by hair.
Check out more news and information on Beard in Science Times.
