Lack of beards
after 70 days they would all have big bushy beards. Even the dudes that couldn't grow beards would have long wirey peach fuzz.
shareNo, there's nothing strange with the fact some of them didn't have very much facial hair after more than 70 days. The amount of facial hair on a man's face varies from individual to individual, some men can't grow a full beard no matter how old they are, or no matter how long they don't shave.
Also some men don't develop an "adult" beard until somewhere in their 20s, and most of the guys were in their teens/early 20s.
That's a stupid explanation.
shareJust because it's true? Beard growth IS individual, not exact science.
shareI feel like in some way you can chalk it up to malnutrition, and the hazardous weather conditions. At least that's what I figured.
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Was it possible that some of the guys brought along some grooming kits? A tooth brush, a razor, etc.? Surely one of two of them brought along one...
shareIn the book, there is mention of a hurried clean-up session the survivors had on the morning of the helicopter rescue (they had heard over the radio that Canessa and Parrado had reached help); however, while most tried to do some tidying up and some trimmed hair and beards there was no mention -- that I recall -- of anyone shaving, even though some undoubtedly had shaving materials (if they had electric razors, those would have been useless). They lacked sufficient water for regular shaving over the 70-day period, and those with bushy beards would have been hard put to get them off with ordinary razors.
Several of the boys did not grow much of a beard during their ordeal -- Sabella for example. Beard growth is genetically determined, and some individuals didn't get much of that gene.
There are pictures that exist of the guys sitting around the fuselage. As far as I could tell... all guys had full beards at the time of the photos. They were not big and bushy like they were in the Taliban or anything... so they must have trimmed them with scissors. You can probably find the pics online somewhere, or watch the excellent 2007 Documentary "Stranded".
shareAs Scarlet said, most of them were still only teenagers and wouldn't have bushy beards, even after 70 days. (I know that I couldn't grow one at that age.) Look at the pictures in the book. There's a photo of the guys on the day they were rescued...most of them did NOT have a lot of facial hair.
shareActually, they mostly did have bushy facial hair. The youngest among them was 19, the rest were 21 and above.
shareIf you look at the pics of when they were rescued, most had beards and looked about 40.
WE LOVE THIS MONKEY!!!
There was a greater age range than that.
Carlitos Paez, the youngest, was 18 (he had a birthday during their time on the mountain). Zerbino and Canessa, the two medical students, were both 19. So were Antonio Vizentin and Alvaro Mangino. Bobby Francois and Roy Harley were 20. Pedro Algorta and Ramon Sabella were 21, as was Nando Parrado. Coche Inciarte and Pancho Delgado were 24, and the three Strauch cousins were 24, 25 and 26, with the old man, Javier Methol, aged 36.
So that made for 5 teenagers, 5 aged 20 and 21, 5 aged 24-26, and one aged 36.
They tried to film the movie in chronological order to allow for beard growth naturally. Some men actually do have very little facial hair. Some of the pictures in the book (of Sabella, for instance) do not show much beard growth. The picture of Carlitos embracing his father by the helicopter looks like Carlitos was almost clean-shaven.
Actually, in the documentary for the 20th anniversary DVD, narrator Martin Sheen states that Nando was only 19 at the time.
shareHe does state that, but it was an error. Nando was born in December 1949, which meant he was 22 when the plane crashed and had his 23rd birthday while they were on the glacier. He might have simply mixed up Canessa and Parrado -- Canessa was 19.
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