You may have seen on a diamond report with the words bearded girdle, or girdle bearding not shown… something like that.
What the heck is that? Girdle Bearding is small feathers going into the diamond from the girdle. They are not natural, they are caused by poor workmanship when cutting the diamond (no exceptions, it is not caused by wear or damage after cutting).
When the diamond is bruted (given its shape), if the guy doing the work is pressing too hard or trying to get the job done too fast you can end up with bearding on the girdle.
The harder they push to shape the diamond the more bearding that can occur. Some diamonds have a small amount of bearding and it would never be mentioned on a report (some is acceptable) but when it gets bad as shown in the photo here it will most certainly be mentioned.