Beard Transplants Are All The Rage And Baby-Faced Men Are Paying Up To $22,000 To Get A Bristly Look

While some may attest that the beard fad is over and done with, it appears that there are still plenty of men who want to grow beards. Only problem is that they can’t. Now there are beard transplants to remedy their disturbing lack of facial hair.

The New York Times reported on the rising trend of men getting beard transplants. According to the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, a nonprofit medical association, beard transplants grew from 1.5 percent of all hair restoration procedures performed internationally in 2012 to 3.7 percent in 2014. Medigo, a company specializing in helping patients find overseas clinics for different types of procedures, found that their data indicating the number of beard transplants worldwide increased by 600 percent from 2004 to 2014. Dr. Jeffrey S. Epstein, a hair restoration surgeon with offices in Miami and New York, performed four or five facial hair transplants per year a decade ago. Now, he averages three a week.

Now baby-faced men can look like a rugged lumberjack like the rest of us thanks to this procedure. During the beard transplant, individual hair follicles are taken from the back of the head, where hair is thickest, and are implanted into the beard area. To fill in some patches where nature decided that you don’t need hair will set you back $4,000. To get the whole bristly enchilada it costs upwards of $22,000.

Jose Armos is a 28-year-old paramedic who lives in Miami who hated his bald face. “They would look at me and be like, ‘O.K., is this 16-year-old really going to take care of me?’ ” said Armos. “It was hard for people to trust me because I had that baby face. It does play a role in me looking more mature, more manly, and just kind of getting respect from people.”

So if you can’t grow facial hair and look like a 12-year-old girl there’s still hope, and for you manly men who can grow beards, be thankful that you can flaunt a glorious beard without dropping stacks of cash.

[GQ]