CathInfo.com

This is one of those things that has something to do with cultural sensibilities.  In some cultures, growing out a beard would be considered a sign of being "low class" (so for instance in the Roman Empire).  Did you know that the term "barbarian" derives from the Latin word for "beard".  So the barbarians were the bearded ones.  In other cultures, being clean-shaven was a sign of effeminacy.  There's no inherent dogmatic thing here.

I myself have gone in between.  I don't like the full-blown 3-foot-long beard thing.  It's impractical among other things and requires too much maintenance.  But I also think facial hair makes a man look more masculine.  So I wear a rather short beard, just enough to look masculine, but not enough to have it be out of control and require maintenance.  I wear something that looks similar to what +Lefebvre was picture as wearing but a bit shorter.

There's always been a bit of a trade-off between nature and culture, between what nature would do left completely unbridled vs. a certain amount of grooming.  Certainly, left to themselves, my fingernails might also grow to several feet long.

Do women prefer a man with facial hair or clean? Is there ever a consensus?

There was a female who gave me a big smooch when I was in a bearding phase. 

Mind you, the female in question was a wolf.(Yup. A genuine raised in captivity full grown gal. Got pictures!) Whether this has something to do with it I dont know!

I started to look too scruffy alas. I would very much like to have a decent expression of facial hair. Although I am more of a polar bear than a grizzled grisly.