While there is no concrete data on the number of urban male chefs cooking while sporting massive facial hair, I can tell you in Brooklyn, New York, where I live, you can't swing a pair of vintage suspenders without hitting a bearded chef.
And it seems I'm not alone. "Big beards are booming," says Tampa Bay Times food critic Laura Reiley. In the food world, where hygiene is key, what's a restaurant to do about this burgeoning style trend that could introduce unsavory bacterium to a diner's plate? Enter: The beard hair net. Yes, the same thing your school lunch lady wore over her head is now being spread across some chefs' chins. And there's anecdotal evidence the facial hair-net trend is growing faster than a high schooler's mustache.
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