The beard both fascinates and intimidates. I always got compliments on it, from men and women.
I wholeheartedly believe those statements. The longest that I have ever grown my beard out was for about a month and a half. It was too much of a pain for me and my mustache and chin came in red while my cheeks were dark. It didn't really suit me. So I can definitely appreciate a good beard. They are a lot of work and not everyone's grows in full or consistent so it is impressive when you see a good one.
That is very interesting what you said about it throwing people off because it makes reading the persons emotions more challenging. I had never thought of that but I get what you are saying. You are completely right that we are wired to read faces. hmm very interesting. I am going to keep thinking about that. Thanks for sharing :)
No problem! I've been diving into the brain of late, with research into psychedelics. And there are quite a few interesting studies that tackle how the brain reacts to different facial expressions; anger, happy, sad. When the brain sees an angry face, or a depressive face, it signals the amygdala, and sets off a chain of reactions. I touch on it here, Conquering Fear!
Here was my beard, just a few short months ago!
That's an impressive beard.
I'm big into psychology and psychedelics as well. I'll have to check out your post. It sounds interesting.