Call it the face of freedom.
After Jorge Hendrickson lost his job at a Manhattan hedge fund three weeks ago, he stopped shaving. 'I've shaved for so long, and it's nice to be able to look at the positive side' of losing a job, says Mr. Hendrickson, 24. 'I'm changing my lifestyle while I can.'
Facial hair is showing up on more former corporate types. It's one of those tiny luxuries unleashed by unemployment, a time when people are briefly released from workaday habits and may wish to take stock of their lives before setting out anew. Al Gore grew a beard after losing the tumultuous presidential election of 2000. Neatly trimmed, it looked cozy and anti-establishment as he pursued creative projects on his way to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Scott Berger, a 35-year-old investment analyst, stopped shaving in October after being laid off from hedge fund Laurus Capital Management. 'It's something you can't do in the corporate world,' he says. He does, however, cut his facial hair closely with a beard trimmer, pledging, 'I'm not ever going to look like a lumberjack.'
The trend may be driven in part by the music industry, where beards have become fashionable. Carrissa Turley, a hair stylist at Rudy's Barbershop in trendy West Hollywood, Calif., says she began to see an uptick in beard requests in mid-October. Men up to age 40 began coming in with photos of bearded musicians from bands, including the Foo Fighters and Kings of Leon. 'It's kind of the hipster thing now,' Ms. Turley says.
For most office workers, the look remained too daring -- until they had nothing left to lose. At the Donsuki salon on Manhattan's East Side, owner Suki Duggin says she's been helping an increasing number of male clients groom newly liberated facial hair. One recent customer came in with a month's growth on his chin, saying he'd lost his job and wanted 'to totally change' his look, she says.
Ms. Duggin, who charges $30 to trim a beard, is spending more time teaching these clients to style their stubble. Beards must be trimmed closely around the mouth, for instance, to avoid embarrassing episodes when eating. One longtime customer discovered last week that his beard would need to be colored if he wanted it to match his dyed hair.
Ms. Duggin says her bewhiskered clients often associate facial hair with power and rugged masculinity. 'They joke with me about it -- 'I feel like a real man,'' she says with a chuckle.
Sure, Ernest Hemingway had whiskers. But like bow ties and white loafers, facial hair is fraught with negative connotations. An alternative meaning of 'beard' is someone who diverts suspicion from the guilty. To avoid sending unintended messages, stylists say, guys should think carefully about what their beards signal.
ZZ Top is the least of it. A thickly bearded man can seem to be hiding something. Within the Amish sect, a long, full beard may denote mature stability, but on an unemployed financial planner, it suggests rather the opposite. Grooming the beard doesn't remove all problems. A man with stubble that's cut close -- a la Tom Ford -- can seem narcissistic.
Kelly Lynn Anders, associate dean at the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas, and author of a new advice book called 'The Organized Lawyer,' tells students to avoid facial hair entirely. As the term 'clean-shaven' implies, 'people find it cleaner,' she says.
Still, professorial beards on older men can imply depth of intellect. Indeed, Ms. Anders says, fully one-third of the law school's male faculty members have facial hair. Among them, she says, 'we have two goatees, a mustache and two full beards.'
Brad Pitt has a goatee on the cover of Architectural Digest this month, and the look implies intelligence and style as he promotes an innovative housing project in New Orleans. John Lennon's beard connoted 'thinker' and 'poet.'
Ben Bernanke's furry jawline gives the Fed chairman the look of a trustworthy intellectual. But Brad Warthen, editorial page editor for the State, a Columbia S.C., newspaper, recently pondered what would happen if Mr. Bernanke were to shave. 'Could this be the bold stroke that is needed to jolt the economy back to where it should be?' Mr. Warthen posited in his blog.
Intellectuals, musicians, artists, and tycoons like investor Sam Zell, who just took Tribune Co. into bankruptcy proceedings, have free rein with facial hair. Not so, workaday businessmen. Beards are virtually verboten in corporate circles. Bill Richardson shaved his beard last week, just before the announcement that he would be the country's next Secretary of Commerce.
For many men, growing that unemployment beard is akin to a tame dance at a bachelor party -- a momentary freedom enjoyed while the rules are suspended. Many of today's beards may be as short-lived as the holidays. Mr. Berger shaves for job interviews, then re-grows his beard, which takes about two weeks. 'I can't go on an interview with a beard,' he says.
Mr. Hendrickson isn't in favor of mixing beards and business suits either. 'Everyone who's lost their job may be changing it up,' he says, 'but I think we'll all be very happy to go back to a more regular life.'
Christina Binkley
