Can Native Americans Grow Beards?


Many Native Americans are not able to grow beards. Through the ages, Native Americans who are crossbred can grow a beard, but the purebred Native Americans cannot do so still. There are a few reasons for the same.

Why Can’t They Grow Facial Hair?

Most reasons why Native Americans can’t grow beards are hereditary in nature. I will go into the details of these reasons below to help you understand the development which has happened through the years.

1. Undesirable:

Native Americans, since the centuries, have considered facial hair to be undesirable. Keeping a beard was not encouraged due to the same. It is one of the main reasons why, throughout the years, men took great effort to eliminate facial hair. The absence of facial hair through the ages reduced its growth. Due to this reason, today, if Native Americans try to grow beards, it is thin, and the hair follicles are not that dense either.

The undesirability of beard among Native Americans certainly became hereditary.

Only in the most exceptional cases, Native Americans were encouraged to grow a beard. Otherwise, society norms were such that facial hair is a sign of unkempt and undisciplined men.

2. History of plucking:

Additionally, another primary reason why Native Americans can’t grow a beard is because of the facial hair elimination technique which they use. To eliminate facial hair, sophisticated blades and other such beard modification tools were not available. Native Americans often used makeshift methods to pluck the beard hair.

To eliminate facial hair, the norm was to pluck the hair follicle itself. When you pluck the hair follicle, the beard will not grow again. There was no need to shave again and again to eliminate the facial hair again and again. However, the history of plucking meant that future generations also had fewer hair follicles on their face. Generation by generation, the number of hair follicles reduced even more.

Pluckers, as well as shells, were used in order to remove the hair follicle. While it was a painful process, but it was considered a necessity nevertheless.

Any man who grew a beard was considered as an outcast or unkempt. Due to this reason, most men did not have the option but to pluck the facial hair.

The history of plucking automatically led to lower hair follicle density among Native Americans. The effect was exemplified over the generations. Today, the effect is so strong that Native Americans still do not have such a high number of hair follicles that they can grow a dense beard.

3. Distinguishing from animals:

Many Native American tribes encouraged removing the facial hair follicles to differentiate themselves from animals. The reason was to distinguish men from bears.

During medieval times, men growing a beard were thought to be similar to a bear. Since we, as a civilization, wanted to distinguish ourselves from animals, the most obvious aspect was to change the aesthetics. Since removing facial hair follicles and hair was easier, many Native American tribes focused on that. Once again, that led to genetic changes over the years, which meant that future generations could not grow facial hair.

4. Genetics:

The American tribes have taken great care and efforts to ensure that the number of facial hair follicles is reduced significantly. The condition today is such that most Native Americans cannot grow beards. In a nutshell, you can consider the discouragement of facial hair or beards to have had a genetic impact on Native American men.

5. Lack of maintenance resources:

Today, we have various products for maintaining and grooming beard hair. These include:

Razors

Trimmers

Beard oil

• Beard moisturizer

• And so on

Even the most primitive of these products were not available to men a couple of hundred years ago. Due to this very reason, they did not know how to perfectly manage beards. Even if they could grow beards, it turned unkempt. An unkempt look was certainly discouraged among men.

Also, an unmanaged or unclean beard can lead to diseases and various other ailments. In a nutshell, all these reasons forced Native Americans to shave off their beards or to pluck the beard hair follicles. They had no option but to go beardless to avoid diseases. It is another reason why Native Americans cannot grow a beard to date.

Now that you know some of the reasons that Native Americans can’t grow beards, we will answer some FAQs below.

FAQs:

How can you grow a beard as a Native American?

Up until now, you are aware of the reasons why you are not able to grow a beard. In case you want to grow a beard, there are a few options that you have.

• You should try and use beard oils and other such products to grow a beard.

• You have to let the beard grow longer. Only then the hair follicles will strengthen themselves. In that case, your beard will become somewhat denser as well.

• While shaving, you have to ensure that you are not plucking the hair follicles or removing them in any way.

With these three tips, it will certainly become possible for you to grow a beard even if you’re a Native American.

How can you keep your beard?

The best way is to wash it regularly. You can also use beard oils in order to keep it in perfect condition as well. When the hair is not that dry, it becomes easy for you to maintain your beard.

Moreover, during bath daily, you have to take the effort to wash it with beard shampoo as well. Once you do so, you can be sure that maintaining it will not be a problem.

So, the answer to the question, can natives Americans grow beards is not a straightforward one. Off their own accord, they cannot grow beards due to the five reasons that we have highlighted above. However, if you’re looking to grow a beard, there are a few tips in the article above that you can follow. Once you follow these tips, it will become easy for you to grow some beard. However, the density of the hair follicles and the volume will be less due to the reasons mentioned above. The next time around, you see a Native American; now you know why they don’t grow beards.

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