The most popular image of a Viking is of a very bearded man, and most images of vikings portray them with heavy beards.
I've read that men without beards were considered womanly and weak if they did not grow a beard, but realy how important were beards to the image of a Viking Age Scandinavian?
I'll give you the Example from Njals Saga where he is insulted by Sigmund who sings a verse about Njal. In this verse he not only insults Njal but his sons who are called " dungbeard boys".Njals wife is insulted by this and tells her sons about it they do not take this lightly and they hunt Sigmund and his friend Skiolld down in a brutal battle. This is all part of a larger feud between Njals wife and Gunner's wife, but up until this point direct family members had not been involved and had been a back and forth of slaying slaves.Of course this is one of the Icelandic Sagas and some scholars say they are totally useless, but I still believe that they can be used to give us insight into parts of viking life and should not be thrown away so easily.