BEARD GANG: THE NARRATIVES FROM STUDENTS’ SAMPLE AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Wearing of beards is a practice that is very common even from the ancient time and processing the features of another person automatically or saying something about him is a reality we are living with now. Despite the negative narratives about beard wearing nowadays, people from different walks of life still wear beards in Nigeria. The aim of this research was to investigate students’ perception on beard wearing and how their perception would make them to view individuals with beards. The research which was exploratory in nature surveyed 258 (119 males and 139 females) undergraduate students of University of Lagos as participants. A two item self-developed questionnaire was used to elicit responses from the participants. Data were thematically analyzed and themes that emerged showed that students profiled bearded individuals as mature and good looking (42.2%), responsible (35.3%). Hence, a higher percentage of the participants positively perceived individuals with beards. The study concluded that students have positive perception towards beard-wearing individuals.