Matt James Reveals How Long It Took To Shave His Polarizing Beard

In a show like "The Bachelor," where a man envisioned as the absolute ideal lover is courted by a few dozen women, controversies are as fated as the connections they make. From producers manipulating contestants to uncovered racist behavior, the show has been problematic in more ways than one. The internet's ability to bring up important conversations and actionable results have improved various elements in the show. However, it brings similar energy to more light-hearted matters, too.

A particularly polarizing topic was former Bachelor Matt James' beard. Until his appearance on the season's "Women Tell All" preview, James was clean-shaven. The sudden bushiness and full-grown beard alarmed Twitter, with one user saying, "wanna know how to break hearts? ask Matt James' beard at the women['s] tell all." Another said, "Matt James beard is getting out of hand LOL." But many stood at the opposite side of the spectrum. One user's concise statement on the issue had a few exclamation marks edited out for the purpose of this article: "Matt James' beard...!!! SO HOT!!!!!!!!!" 

Finally, on August 30, James took to Twitter to "make y'all a deal." He would shave his beard if Block Fi, a cryptocurrency company he was partnering with, "gets to 50,000 followers in the next 24 hours." Well, Block Fi has 136,000 followers right now. Read on to know how long it took for James to shave his beard.

On September 1, Matt James posted a picture of himself on Twitter, minus the beard. "A bet's a bet," he wrote, with the photo depicting a rather clean-shaven James wearing a purple hat and light blue T-shirt while leaning against the open trunk of a car. While he still had a hint of stubble, there was zero sign of the large beard he had before. One Twitter user summarized the overarching reaction: "Good to have you back," they wrote. Another commented, "honestly thank god u look so good now."

Before the reveal, the former Bachelor told Pop Culture, "The beard is gone. I shaved it last night" and explained that it was a "pretty dope" process that became a "huge production" that "took like three hours." The "production" could be a reference to the fact that James filmed the shaving process and hopes to turn the footage into and NFT (non-fungible token) for a project further down the line. "I've never had something so polarizing on me even when I had dreads," he said.

The oddly specific controversy has now ended and a Twitter user wrote on James' beardless reveal, "You even look relieved."