{"id":212,"date":"2014-11-11T14:07:25","date_gmt":"2014-11-11T14:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/?p=212"},"modified":"2024-04-04T20:47:54","modified_gmt":"2024-04-04T20:47:54","slug":"my-interview-with-view-the-vibe-magazine-on-beard-implants-its-a-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/my-interview-with-view-the-vibe-magazine-on-beard-implants-its-a-thing\/","title":{"rendered":"Beard Implants: It’s a Thing! (Interview with View The Vibe)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Face The Facts: Beard Implants and Weaves Are a Thing<\/span><\/h2>\n
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BY:\u00a0PHILIP MAK<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\/<\/span>\u00a0NOVEMBER 11, 2014 <\/span>\/<\/span>\u00a0LEAVE A COMMENT<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\u201cIs that ferret sleeping on his mouth? Oh my God, maybe it\u2019s some horrible skin condition. I think I\u2019m a terrible person.\u201d If you\u2019ve had this train of thought, or something similar to it, you\u2019re not alone. And no, you\u2019re not a terrible person. Well, maybe you are \u2013 we don\u2019t know you like that. Either way, a little facial hair-related confusion is understandable at this time of year. With Movember in full swing, it\u2019s hard to miss seeing a guy with an awkward patchy something of \u201cugh\u201d for the first half the month. Whether the messy man in question is trying to grow a razor-thin John Waters \u2018stache or a full-blown lumberjack pelt, genetics can often make these dapper dreams more of a DO NOT disaster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some blame beards\u2019 recent popularity on hipster culture influencing the mainstream. Maybe. Realistically, beards have been \u201ca thing\u201d forever but it seems in a decidedly more androgynous era of fashion, they have become a stark marker of masculinity for men. The question of the hour is then, \u201cWhat if I can\u2019t grow a beard?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Traditionally, one would have to just suck it up and embrace his facial baldness. However, just as for women who want a bigger cup size or a tighter brow, men have cosmetic options. The beard implant trend has received significant coverage in media and Vv Magazine had to get our hands dirty with it as well. We chatted with facial plastic surgeon Dr. Ashlin Alexander of\u00a0Ashlin Alexander Facial Cosmetic Surgery Clinic<\/span><\/a>\u00a0to get his professional opinion and experience. Interestingly, the average age of customers is between 25 and 45 (read: yuppies). Dr. Alexander notes, \u201cBefore 25, they\u2019re not that concerned about [facial hair] and then after 45, if they\u2019ve made it that far, they\u2019re not so bothered anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Of more interest, however, may be the ethnic demographics of people getting beard implants. While our culture constructs the idea of the beard trend around white hipster men, in actuality, \u201cYou typically see it in ethnic populations that place weight or importance on facial hair and attach a certain masculinity to it. South Indian populations or Middle Eastern populations are the two most common groups we see come in for this sort of procedure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But what about the hipsters, you ask? While Dr. Alexander has seen an increase in recent years of white males getting beard implants, he does not believe the weightiness of hipster culture in Canada is enough to convince people to get the procedure. It\u2019s certainly not a walk in the park: it takes generally a half-day to complete, you\u2019re awake for it under local anaesthetic with oral sedation, and the hair follicles are harvested individually \u2014 most commonly from the back of your scalp. It\u2019s also not cheap: generally costing anywhere from $3,000 for a little goatee work, and up to $9,000+ for a more a major transplant. \u201cPart of the reason [beard implants are so expensive] is because it is such a delicate, precise, and artistic procedure, involving a whole team of assistants to help with the various steps. It\u2019s surprisingly labour intensive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you\u2019re interested in the procedure but are worried about not being able to grab hair from your head due to baldness, you have options. \u201cIf somebody has advanced scalp balding but a very hairy back or chest, hairs can be harvested from these areas. The kicker here is that body hair generally has a different texture and has a lesser viability when transplanted, so it\u2019s not ideal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of the reason we do not see as many hipsters getting beard implants in Canada may be because our culture is generally less comfortable with cosmetic procedures compared to America\u2019s. Also, let\u2019s be honest: Toronto is not a \u201cfashion city.\u201d The pressure to look a certain way in a metropolis like New York or L.A. is exponentially higher than it is here. As Dr. Alexander notes, \u201cThe U.S. market, in general, is a lot more commercialised, so there\u2019s much more pressure to get a procedure done. The cosmetic world is so much bigger there than here. If you\u2019re on the fence, with all the media pressure and big-budget advertising in the U.S., people might be more easily swayed towards a procedure south of the border.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

So are there alternatives to getting a beard implant? Anybody who has been watching this cycle of\u00a0America\u2019s Next Top Model<\/a><\/span>\u2014 or who has spent more than 2 hours on the internet in the past 3 months \u2014 has likely heard of the infamous \u201cbeard weave.\u201d More formally known as a lace-front beard, the principle is similar to the hair black women get hair woven onto their heads (a.k.a weaves). We spoke with the victim of Tyra\u2019s newest Tyra-nny, Denzel Wells, who wore the beard weave for the extent of his time on the hit reality show.<\/span><\/p>\n

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While woven into Wells\u2019 natural facial hair, the beard weave was also adhered to his face using prop glue; though the formula could cause breakouts. \u201cThe beard is God-awful. It is the most irritating thing you could put on your face. There\u2019s the lace-front part, which you actually glue on your face, but to make it more real, we\u2019d use my actual beard hair. We\u2019d take the real beard, trim it down, and then glue the fake beard to it. Basically, you\u2019d have hair poking through from every which direction.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not the easiest thing to put on or take off. While Wells could do it himself, he found it much easier when aided by a makeup artist. This is because going on, it must be lined up with your face\u2019s contour. Upon removal, the right amount of glue-dissolving solution has to be used or it can take off chunks of your skin. Yikes. In terms of day-to-day wear, Wells says, \u201cEating is the worst part. If the beard is on, you\u2019re very constricted. You can\u2019t really move your mouth a lot, move, or talk animatedly. If you open your mouth or jaw too wide, it\u2019ll stretch and it will get loose. A big laugh or chuckle could make it move. As far as kissing\u2026 well, Marjana didn\u2019t complain too much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Would he recommend it for somebody who wanted a fuller beard? \u201cHell no. Let\u2019s put it like this: when I\u2019m paid to recommend it to somebody, I\u2019ll recommend it to somebody. Until then, I would not recommend it be worn by the everyday man. Until they get it as good as women\u2019s lace-front weaves, you will not be seeing any beard weaves on my face again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We say just man up and fork it over for the beard implants.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Face The Facts: Beard Implants and Weaves Are a Thing BY:\u00a0PHILIP MAK\u00a0\/\u00a0NOVEMBER 11, 2014 \/\u00a0LEAVE A COMMENT \u00a0 \u201cIs that ferret sleeping on his mouth? Oh my God, maybe it\u2019s some horrible skin condition. I think I\u2019m a terrible person.\u201d If you\u2019ve had this train of thought, or something similar to it, you\u2019re not alone. … Continue reading Beard Implants: It’s a Thing! (Interview with View The Vibe)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ashlinalexander.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}