Bearded person here.

I've found a beard provides a couple of benefits when outside. My face gets some shade, and the beard itself works like an evaporative cooler. I can't help but wonder if the 'hunter' part of hunter-gatherer.

My first couple of years on a motorcycle I sometimes wore an open-face helmet. I also sometimes had a beard. The beard was definitely protective when I was hit by small objects (think raindrops / bugs). Pretty sure there's no connection to hunter-gatherer. Ditto flying an open cockpit biplane (open helmet, but windscreen - and no bugs above 500' - and I was VFR only so no raindrops)