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Men get $10,000 beard transplant to boost confidence

This article is more than 12 months old

Baby-faced men have gone to such extent as to pay thousands of dollars to patch up their bare faces.

The New York Times recently interviewed a group of men who have spent thousands to transplant the hair on their heads on to their faces using a technique called Follicular Unit Extraction (FUE).

According to Daily Mail, these men have trouble growing their facial hair and they seek out these procedures because they feel that having facial hair boosts their confidence and make them feel respected and more macho.

The rising trend can be attributed to the hipster beards that were the rave in 2014, as reported by the Guardian.

 

 

Mr Jose Armos, 28, a paramedic in Miami, said he looked so young that some of the patients seemed doubtful of his capabilities.

"They would look at me and be like, 'Ok, is this 16-year-old really going to take care of me?'" said Mr Armos. "It was hard for people to trust me because I had that baby face."

Wanting to look stronger and more manly, Mr Armos had a full beard transplant - from sideburns to chin - which cost about US$7,000 (S$9,942).

According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, a nonprofit medical association, beard transplants grew from 1.5 per cent of all hair restoration procedures performed internationally in 2012 to 3.7 per cent in 2014.

As compared with plug-like grafts of about 15 hair follicles when hair transplants were done even a decade ago, each hair follicle is now transplanted individually so that the hair would look more natural.

Ray, 53, said he had always wanted to grow a beard ever since he was 12, but no strand ever appeared on his cheeks.

After his first procedure, in 2011, Ray wanted his beard to be denser and climb higher up his cheeks. He had a second transplant in 2012, and a third time in 2013 from another hair restoration specialist. In total it cost him $22,000.

“I don’t really even care that much if people know that I’ve had the transplants,” Ray said. “I just don’t want them to know how much I’ve spent on it, because then they’ll think I’m crazy.”

“A lot of guys go through a midlife crisis and they buy the sports car. I just got a beard.”

Here are some A-list celebrities who've been keeping their scruff.

Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie Proof in 2005 (left) and on (right) Sept 10 this year for "Demolition" premiere in during 2015 Toronto Film Festival.

PHOTO: GOLDEN VILLAGE/ AFP

British actor Daniel Radcliffe arrives for the Lawrence Olivier Awards in London on April 28, 2013 (left) and for the 20th Century Fox press room during Comic-Con International 2015 on July 11, 2015 in San Diego, California (right).

PHOTO: AFP

(Left) Shia LaBeouf starred in Wall Street 2 in 2010 and posing (right) during a photocall for the film "Fury", on Oct 18, 2014 in Paris.

PHOTO: 20TH CENTURY FOX/ AFP

British actor Robert Pattinson at Cannes Film Festival (Left) in Cannes, Southern France, on May 18, 2014 and at "Maps To The Stars" Press Conference (Right) during the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival  on Sept 9, 2014 in Toronto, Canada.

 PHOTO: AFP

The closest a celeb here came to spotting a beard was local television and radio presenter Divan Nair - but he decided on only a moustache and goatee, saying that "the 'stache has plans to take over my face" on his Instagram in July.

PHOTO: TWITTER/Diviannair

What do you think of beards? Yay or Nay?

Sources: New York Times, Daily Mail, the Guardian

 

 

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