Alot of people had beards in the past and some people do now. Many people agree that beards originated around the time the first males of the species hit puberty, whenever that was. Sometimes women can grow beards and these are regarded as rarer and altogether more special than a male beard, many times the female owner would be regarded as a minor celebrity.
Beards were more popular in the past because things were always better in the past, they also didn't have fancy razors with 5 blades and a special moisturising strip. Shaving was a trickier business involving a brush, some white foam and a straight razor. If you weren't very good you might die and it was tricky to practice, this made people stop shaving and grow beards. The beard could be managed, if required, with scissors: a much safer option.
Before the straight razor, people would use two shells to pull hair from their chins - much like a pair of pliers. This was phased out due to being time consuming and painful. After this, with the invention/discovery of metal, sharp edges were crafted and gradually evolved. It is thought that organised crime was heavily involved in the development of the straight razor due to its duality of use, grooming for an intimidatory appearance and throat slitting for greater amounts of intimidation.
Beards went out of fashion around World War 1 because your gas mask wouldn't make a proper seal and then you would die from horrible gases. Moustaches managed to survive due to nestling nicely inside the mask. Since this period, moustaches have mostly been worn by people wishing to practice evil. Lenin, Hitler, Stalin, Selleck, Bolton. Presumably this allows them to escape in a cloud of poison gas if cornered and near capture.
Several famous people that have worn beards are Jesus, Lennon, Santa, Van Gogh, ZZ Top, Chabal, Clapton.
In modern media, the beard is often shorthand for an evil or untrustworthy character. Disposable razor adverts litter every commercial break, promising the smoothest shave possible with an increasing amount of blades. Men with attractive women stroking their face, and sports stars are used to emphasise the point that one must be clean-shaven in order to achieve success, thereby socialising easily influenced young people to believe that sporting facial hair is deviant behaviour. This would be a great shame if the idea were to take root.
