Beards IMHO are merely an affectation.
Come on, Slash, if we were meant to shave we would have been born without beards. You weren't? Sad.
As a 17 year old apprentice AME with QF, growing my first beard, I was told by a senior manager - not my boss, just one who happened to see me - "Qantas doesn't like its apprentices to have beards - get it off." Seems the management style hasn't changed.