Malcolm Turnbull has been in the public eye for decades — as head of the Australian Republican Movement, a high-profile politician and now Prime Minister.

But in all that time have you ever seen him with a beard?

The answer would be no but, while he might not have sprouted one himself, he appears to have grown fond of male facial hair.

Last week, while touring the (appropriately-titled) A.H. Beard mattress factory in Sydney, Mr Turnbull met Neville, the mattress maker.

And he was so taken with Neville's white, wispy locks that he told the nation about them.

"Neville, with his handsome white beard, has become a household figure in China ... through the publicity for the A.H. Beard products," Mr Turnbull said moments later in his daily media conference

"Next time I go to Beijing I will be able to say to people, 'I know Neville from A.H. Beard with his own magnificent beard'."

But it is not just internationally-recognised beards that the Prime Minister has a penchant for praising.

"Yesterday in Question Time the member for McMahon — hard to recognise with his handsome beard — was crowing about Labor's record on budget savings," Mr Turnbull said in February about Labor's Chris Bowen.

But on the campaign trail last month — perhaps shattered Mr Bowen's "handsome beard" had since disappeared — Mr Turnbull rounded on the clean-shaven Shadow Treasurer.

"You may remember the last speech he gave in the House of Representatives ... he turned purple almost, he was so agitated," he said.

"And I think after that he decided he should shave off his beard so people wouldn't recognise the hyperactive Shadow Treasurer."

Even everyday Australians who reject razors get effusive praise.

After taking the a Liberal leadership last September, he returned to his affluent — mostly beard-free — electorate of Wentworth, in Sydney's east.

But taking a stroll down Oxford Street he found a constituent whose facial locks he latched onto.

Malcolm Turnbull speaks to a member of the public sporting a beard on Oxford Street in Sydney. ( AAP: David Moir )

"You have the most handsome beard," he exclaimed, perhaps exaggerating its attractiveness.

"You look like a sea captain, or you should be commanding a submarine."

So, you might be thinking, "he is the Prime Minister, he has got to make a lot of small talk and why not raise something as obvious as a man's beard?"

Fair enough.

Then there was this tweet from 2013.

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Mr Turnbull's professional life has largely been spent in facial hair-free workplaces — as a lawyer, merchant banker and now a politician.

But perhaps there is a small part of our national leader who, one day, wants to grow a beard of his own.