RELATIONSHIPS; Do Beards Make a Statement? - The New York Times
October 5, 1987, Page 00016 The New York Times Archives IT came as a surprise; it usually does. One minute he stood there, in the prime of beard, with a mustache, too. The next minute, not even an upper-lip hair was left standing. ''Men in this country are judged less on their appearance than women are,'' said Ann Weber, a social psychologist and an associate professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. ''That is why men are thought to owe no one an explanation for changing their appearance, while women are thought to owe everyone an explanation.'' Men are particularly silent on the subject of beards. ''For men, shaving off a beard is one of the few self-...