Why do people claim beards are itchy?

I do prefer mine very trim and short.

Mostly cleanliness. If you don’t wash your face and clean your bear every day, it will get dirty and icky and it will itch.

(I have had a beard for 38 years… once it was red, now it is grey… but I wouldn’t recognize myself without it.

Mine gets itchy when first growing it. Goes away after a little bit.

I must agree with @ARE_you_kidding_me . I grew a beard last November for “no shave November” and it drove me nuts! Itch, itch, itch! Had a beard years ago and I can’t say it itched when grown out.

Because in the first two weeks THEY ARE. After the stubble gets longer, they become less intolerable.

You never give your beard a good satisfying scratch, @SQUEEKY2?

I’ve had goatee and stache for decades and every once in a while I give it a good, satisfying, scratch. Same with all the hair on my body, now that I think of it. Probably dislodges the crap that would otherwise be dandruff.

So, back to your original question…
Imagine a beard in the days when polite people bathed once a week.
There were no pesticides.
Lye soap was the cleanser (no fancy-schmancy ”shampoo”).

I imagine that beards were once itchy as hell. The alternatives being a straight razor and paying a barber.

@elbanditoroso “If you don’t wash your face and clean your bear every day, it will get dirty and icky….”
And if your beard smells like a bear, you’re definitely doing it wrong.

Hubby has facial hair commitment issues.

This mostly stems from the fact that he has sensitive skin and we live on the surface of the sun. After a few weeks of sweaty face, he shaves the whole thing off to stop the itching.

Then after a few weeks of shaving he starts growing it out again to stop the irritation.

Thick beard, sensitive skin, bad combination.

A friend of mine has the softest beard imaginable. I love being kissed by him.

I had the impression that they were itchy to the person trying to grow them in.