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In Ancient non-nuclear times when man enjoyed more civilised fighting in hand-to-hand battles, he used to cut off his beard because it could be grabbed and he could be overpowered by having it pulled.

The aboriginals in Australia were also aware of this fact and are known to have chewed off their beards prior to fighting. It seems that the Romans and the Greeks were the first to advocate a clean face and perhaps one could consider that they liked the clean-shaven appearance because a shaven face is more individual than a bearded face.

We could summarise that bearded faces are quite similar in appearance and if men wore beards they would greatly lose their individuality. Facial expressions would be lost and the character of a person would not be transmitted so clearly.

—Q. Whitehouse.