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Okay, so I'm 0L, have a beard, and absolutely love it. It's medium length, and a pretty awesome beard, but I keep it clean. For me, a beard isn't an excuse to not shave, I put more work into my beard than I did in shaving. And so I keep it clean and presentable, and also keep the neck clean shaven. Reading online, I've read a lot of different things but, when putting them together, the general advice seems to be that you should probably be clean shaven, but that having a beard is okay, so long as it is an actual beard - traditional, nothing too eccentric, and it is well maintained.

Thoughts on this? I assume that facial hair is pretty uncommon now, and I'm sure that some people just downright frown upon it as unprofessional. I'm ready to part with my lovely, but I hold out for that glimmer of hope that our love will last!

It may or may not affect things, but why would you risk it when you can (presumably) just grow it back? I know a fair number of people that have facial hair as associates, so as long as it's well maintained, you might be able to get away with it then.

Also you can do what I'm doing: use your 3L year to grow out a truly obnoxious beard and then shave it off/ trim it to look professional once you start.

Depends on firm culture. I've worked places where many associates had beards. I've worked places where clean-shaven is expected.

I'd say that at least half of the male associates in my office have facial hair. Only one full-blown beard, but a lot of permanent 5-o'clock shadows.

I have a beard