When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) debuted his new beard, the initial reactions were almost as rough as his scruff. But ask some of those critics now, and they’ll tell you certain things get better with time.
Let’s rewind a bit.
It all started last month when Cruz made a public appearance with some stubble, igniting a firestorm of controversy.
“Ted Cruz grew a beard over Thanksgiving!” Business Insider’s Joe Perticone tweeted in astonishment.
Vanity Fair promptly published a review of the new look, calling it “a genuine 2:30 P.M. shadow” and praising the senator as “a cool Ted now.”
But not everyone approved. The Twitter trolls soon emerged in full force, armed with memes, insults and extreme close-ups of the senator’s face.
Jessica Roy, deputy editor at Elle magazine, bashed the beard, saying it proved wrong her theory that facial hair automatically improves a man’s looks.
But then something changed: The beard grew, as beards will.
It appears the public is now fascinated by Cruz’s fuzzy face, with some declaring it has a certain appeal.
His latest endorsement came from Esquire, which ran a headline Wednesday that read, “Damnit, Ted Cruz’s Beard Looks Tolerable Now.”
Even Chrissy Teigen agrees.
A few days before Cruz received Esquire’s approval, Slate published a story titled, “I’m So Sorry to Report that Ted Cruz’s New Beard Looks Great.”
While the politico’s facial hair was once a target of mockery, it seems that now the skeptics aren’t bristling too much.