'''Basic Trope''': Male character grows a beard to signify he's depressed.
* '''Straight''': Bob lost someone close to him, and his PermaStubble grows out fully.
* '''Exaggerated''': After a particularly bad night, Bob has a beard the size of the rest of his face.
* '''Downplayed''':
** Bob only goes from clean-shaven to having PermaStubble.
** Bob stops taking care of his beard, causing it to go from neatly cropped to shaggy.
** Bob is usually bald or has a crewcut, but lets his hair grow out while in mourning.
* '''Justified''':
** "I'm just too depressed to shave in the morning. Are you happy?"
** The incident that made Bob depressed also caused him a severe injury that made him unable to shave his beard somehow. For instance, he had to have his arms amputated.
** Bob thinks the beard makes him look cooler and makes him feel slightly less awful.
* '''Inverted''':
** Bob shaves off his beard to make a break with his past.
** Bob grows a beard to signify that Bob TookALevelInCheerfulness.
* '''Gender Inverted''':
** Alice, a [[GirlsWithMoustaches woman that grows facial hair]] stops depilating it after she loses someone close to her.
** Alice, a tomboy who usually keeps her hair short, lets it grow to mid-length while grieving.
* '''Subverted''': "I'm not depressed. I just realized that my scar would be less distracting if I grew a beard over it."
* '''Double Subverted''': "I'm not depressed, I just thought I'd see what I look like with a beard." He's lying.
* '''Parodied''':
** People in the series can tell any man's current emotional state just by examining the length of their beard.
** Alice feels depressed one day and puts on a fake beard to show it.
** A bushy beard suddenly grows on Bob whenever he feels slightly sad, let alone depressed.
* '''Zig Zagged''': The character grows out a beard because his [[HalfIdenticalTwins Half-Identical]] [[TwinTelepathy Psychic-Linked Twin]] lost her boyfriend.
* '''Averted''': Bob continues shaving as normal after the trauma.
* '''Enforced''': "The actor wanted to grow a beard and have more serious plotlines. We decided to mix the two."
* '''Lampshaded''': "Depressed, huh?" "How could you tell?" "You haven't shaved."
* '''Invoked''': Bob stopped shaving because his GirlfriendInCanada "dumped him," "leaving" him single.
* '''Exploited''': Charlie opens a combination psychiatric counseling facility and barber shop.
* '''Defied''': The character makes a conscious decision to keep up personal appearances despite his depression.
* '''Discussed''': "What did you expect, to find me sprawled on the couch in despair, not having shaved or washed for weeks? We only went on two dates."
* '''Conversed''': "Is this the episode where Bob starts growing the beard?" "Nope, that was the one where Bob lost his parents."
* '''Deconstructed''': Growing a beard is part of the hero's collapse into outright catatonic stupor, leading to an extended narrative of the miserable life and eventual suicide of an undiagnosed sufferer of bipolar disorder.
* '''Reconstructed''': Growing out a beard is a deliberate reaction, a change of appearance that the hero chooses to signify his new mental state. Bob plans to shave it off if he's ready to feel good again.
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Grow a BeardOfSorrow.
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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
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%%* '''Implied''': ???
%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???
%%* '''Played For Drama''': ???