Facial Hair As It Is Found In Cultures Around The World
Facial hair is a secondary sex characteristic in human males. Most men develop facial hair in puberty. Many women also have some facial hair, especially after menopause, though typically much less than men. Eyebrows and eyelashes are also grown by both sexes of all ages.
Male pogonotrophy (the growing of facial hair; beardedness) is often culturally associated with wisdom and virility. Many men style their facial hair into beards, moustaches, goatees or sideburns. However, many others completely shave their facial hair. A man’s facial hair, especially short hairs that were missed in shaving, is often referred to as whiskers, although only certain nonhuman mammals have true sensory whiskers.
Women typically have little hair on their faces, apart from eyebrows and the fine fuzz nearly all people have covering most of their bodies. However, a few women have noticeable facial hair growth. Excessive hairiness (especially facially) is known as hirsutism, and is usually an indication of normal hormonal variation. In contemporary western culture, almost all women shave, tweeze or otherwise depilate...