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A beard is the hair that grows on a person's chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip. Typically, only males going through puberty, or post-pubescent males are able to grow beards. When differentiating between upper and lower facial hair, a beard specifically refers to the facial hair on the lower part of a man's chin (excluding the moustache, which refers to hair above the upper lip and around it).
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Encyclopedia
A beard is the hair that grows on a person's chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip. Typically, only males going through puberty, or post-pubescent males are able to grow beards. When differentiating between upper and lower facial hair, a beard specifically refers to the facial hair on the lower part of a man's chin (excluding the moustache, which refers to hair above the upper lip and around it). The study of beards is called pogonology.
In the course of history, men with facial hair have been ascribed various attributes such as wisdom and knowledge, sexual virility, or high social status; and, conversely, filthiness, crudeness, or an eccentric disposition, such as in the case of a tramp, hobo or vagrant. In many cultures beards are associated with nature and outdoorsmen.
History
Ancient and classical world
The highest ranking Ancient Egyptians grew hair on their chins which was often dyed or hennaed (reddish brown) and sometimes plaited with interwoven gold thread. A metal false beard, or postiche, which was a sign of sovereignty, was worn by queens as well as kings. This was held in place by a ribbon tied over the head and attached to a gold chin strap, a fashion existing from about 3000 to 1580 BC.
Mesopotamian civilizations (Assyrian, Babylonian, Chaldean, Median and ancient Persian) devoted great care to oiling and dressing their beards, using tongs and curling irons to create elaborate ringlets and tiered patterns.
The Persians were fond of long beards. In Olearius' Travels, a King of Persia commands his steward's head to be cut off, and on its being brought to him, remarks, "what a pity it was, that a man possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed", but he adds, "Ah! it was your own fault."
Ancient India
In ancient India, the beard was allowed to grow long, a symbol of dignity and of wisdom (cf. sadhu). The nations in the east generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, and the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might pledge it for the payment of a debt.
Ancient Greece
The ancient Greeks regarded the beard as a badge or sign of virility which it was a disgrace to be without; and in the Homeric time it had even a sanctity as among the Jews, so that a common form of entreaty was to touch the beard of the person addressed. It was only shaven as a sign of mourning, though in this case it was instead often left untrimmed. A smooth face was regarded as a sign of effeminacy. The Spartans punished cowards by shaving off a portion of their beards. From the earliest times, however, the shaving of the upper lip was not uncommon. Greek beards were also frequently curled with tongs.
Ancient Macedonia
In the time of Alexander the Great the custom of smooth shaving was introduced. Reportedly, Alexander ordered his soldiers to be clean shaven, fearing that their beards would serve as handles for their enemies to grab and to hold the soldier as he was killed. The practice of shaving spread from the Macedonians, whose kings are represented on coins, etc. with smooth faces, throughout the whole Greek world. Laws were passed against it, without effect, at Rhodes and Byzantium; and even Aristotle, we are told, conformed to the new custom, unlike the other philosophers, who retained the beard as a badge of their profession. A man with a beard after the Macedonian period implied a philosopher, and we have many allusions to this custom of the later philosophers in such proverbs as: "The beard does not make the sage."
Ancient Rome
Shaving seems to have not been known to the Romans during their early history (under the Kings of Rome and the early Republic). Pliny tells us that P. Ticinius was the first who brought a barber to Rome, which was in the 454th year from the founding of the city (that is, around 299 BC). Scipio Africanus was apparently the first among the Romans who shaved his beard. However, after that shaving seems to have caught on very quickly, and soon almost all Roman men were clean-shaven - being clean-shaven became a sign of being Roman and not Greek. Only in the later times of the Republic did many youths shave the beard only partially, and trimmed it so as to give it an ornamental form; other young men oiled their chins to force a premature growth of beard.
Still, beards remained rare among the Romans throughout the Late Republic and the early Principate. In a general way, in Rome at this time, a long beard was considered a mark of slovenliness and squalor. The censors L. Veturius and P. Licinius compelled M. Livius, who had been banished, on his restoration to the city to be shaved, and to lay aside his dirty appearance, and then, but not till then, to come into the Senate. The first time of shaving was regarded as the beginning of manhood, and the day on which this took place was celebrated as a festival. Usually, this was done when the young Roman assumed the toga virilis. Augustus did it in his twenty-fourth year, Caligula in his twentieth. The hair cut off on such occasions was consecrated to some god. Thus Nero put his into a golden box set with pearls, and dedicated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. The Romans, unlike the Greeks, let their beards grow in time of mourning; so did Augustus for the death of Julius Caesar. Other occasions of mourning on which the beard was allowed to grow were, appearance as a reus, condemnation, or some public calamity.
In the second century A.D. the Emperor Hadrian, according to Dion, was the first of all the Caesars to grow a beard; Plutarch says that he did it to hide scars on his face. This was a period in Rome of widespread imitation of Greek culture, and many other men grew beards in imitation of Hadrian and the Greek fashion. Until the time of Constantine the Great the emperors appear in busts and coins with beards; but Constantine and his successors to the end of the sixth century, with the exception of Julian, are represented as beardless.
Barbarian customs
Tacitus states that among the Catti, a Germanic tribe (perhaps the Chatten), a young man was not allowed to shave or cut his hair until he had slain an enemy. The Lombards derived their fame from the great length of their beards (Longobards - Long Beards - Langbarten). When Otho the Great said anything serious, he swore by his beard, which covered his breast.
From the Renaissance to the present day
In the 15th century, most European men were clean-shaven. Sixteenth century beards were suffered to grow to an amazing length (see the portraits of John Knox, Bishop Gardiner and Thomas Cranmer). Some beards of this time were the Spanish spade beard, the English square cut beard, the forked beard, and the stiletto beard.
Strangely, this trend was especially marked during Queen Mary's reign, a time of reaction against Protestant reform (Cardinal Pole's beard is a good example).
In urban circles of Western Europe and the Americas, beards were out of fashion after the early 17th century; to such an extent that, in 1698, Peter the Great of Russia ordered men to shave off their beards, and in 1705 levied a tax on beards in order to bring Russian society more in line with contemporary Western Europe.
Throughout the 18th century beards were unknown among most parts of Western society, especially the nobility and upper classes.
Beards returned strongly to fashion during the Napoleonic Era. Veterans of the French Emperor's Army were known as "Vieux Moustaches" (Old Moustaches), while greener conscripts were forbidden to grow them, thus making them especially coveted and prestigious. Throughout the nineteenth century facial hair (beards, along with long sideburns and moustaches) was more common than not. Many male European monarchs were bearded (e.g. Alexander III of Russia, Napoleon III of France, Frederick III of Germany), as were many of the leading statesmen and cultural figures (e.g. Benjamin Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Karl Marx, and Giuseppe Verdi). The stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular mind remains a stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is added to by a heavy beard (or long sideburns). However, in the early twentieth century beards started a slow decline in popularity, while some prominent figures retained them (like Sigmund Freud, albeit severely shortened from the fashion of prior decades) most men which in the 20s and 30s still retained facial hair limited it to the moustache or a goatee (Marcel Proust, Albert Einstein, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin)
Beards, together with long hair, were reintroduced to mainstream society in Western Europe and the Americas by the hippie movement of the mid 1960s. By the end of the 20th century, the closely clipped Verdi beard, often with a matching integrated moustache, had become relatively common.
In North America
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, beards were rare in the United States. However, they had become prevalent by the mid-nineteenth century. Up to and following the American Civil War, many famous heroes and General officers had significant beards. A sign of the shift was to be observed in occupants of the Presidency: before Abraham Lincoln, no President had a beard; after Lincoln until William Howard Taft, every President except Andrew Johnson and William McKinley had either a beard or a moustache. The beard's loss of popularity since its nineteenth century heyday is shown by the fact that after this brief "golden age", no President has worn a full beard since Benjamin Harrison, and no President has worn any facial hair at all since William H. Taft.
Following World War I, beards fell out of vogue. There are several theories as to why the military began shaving beards. When World War I broke out in the 1910s, the use of chemical weapons necessitated that soldiers shave their beards so that gas masks could seal over their faces. The enlistment of military recruits for World War I in 1914 precipitated a major migration of men from rural to urban locales. This was the largest such migration that had ever occurred in the United States up to that time. The rural lives of some of these bearded men included the "Saturday Night bath" as a reality rather than a humorism. The sudden concentration of recruits in crowded army induction centers brought with it disease, including head lice. Remedial action was taken by immediately shaving the faces and cutting the hair of all inductees upon their arrival.
When the war concluded in 1918 the "Doughboys" returned to a hero's welcome. During this time period the Film Industry was coming into its own and "going to the movies" became a popular pastime. Due to the recent Armistice many of the films had themes related to World War I. These popular films featured actors who portrayed soldiers with their clean shaven faces and "crew cuts". Concurrently, the psychological mass marketing of Madison Avenue was becoming prevalent. The Gillette Safety Razor Company was one of these marketers' early clients. These events conspired to popularize short hair and clean shaven faces as the only acceptable style for decades to come.
From the 1920s to the early 1960s, beards were virtually nonexistent in mainstream America. The few men who wore the beard or portions of the beard during this period were either old, Central Europeans, members of a religious sect that required it, in academia, or part of the counterculture, such as the "beatniks".
Following the Vietnam War, beards exploded in popularity. In the mid-late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, beards were worn by hippies and businessmen alike. Popular rock, soul and folk musicians like The Beatles, Barry White and the male members of Peter, Paul, and Mary wore full beards. The trend of seemingly ubiquitous beards in American culture subsided in the mid 1980s.
From the 1990s onward, the fashion in beards has generally trended toward either a goatee, Van Dyck, or a closely cropped full beard undercut on the throat.
One stratum of American society where facial hair is virtually nonexistent is in government and politics. The last President of the United States to wear any type of facial hair was William Howard Taft, who was in office from 1909 till 1913. The last Vice President of the United States to wear any facial hair was Charles Curtis, who was in office from 1929 till 1933.
Beards in religion
Beards also play an important role in some religions.
In Greek mythology and art Zeus and Poseidon are always portrayed with beards, but Apollo never is. A bearded Hermes was replaced with the more familiar beardless youth in the 5th century B.C.
Sikhism
The Sikhs consider the beard to be an integral part of the male human body as created by God and believe that it should be preserved, maintained, and respected as such. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, ordained and established the keeping of the hair as part of the identity and one of the insignia of Sikhs. Sikhs consider the beard to be part of the nobility and dignity of their manhood. Kesh is also one of the Five Ks for a baptised Sikh.
Hinduism
The Hindus keep beards depending on caste and Dharma. Many Hindu priests are unshaven as a sign of purity. Keeping beards in Hinduism depends on the Dharma that is being followed. The ancient text followed regarding beards depends on the Deva and other teachings, varying according to whom the devotee worships or follows. Most original idols lack moustaches, except for the Rakshasa and Asuras, who are considered to be bad or power-seeking. Many Sadhus, Yogis, or Yoga practitioners keep beards, and represent all situations of life. Shaivite ascetics generally have beards, as they are not permitted to own anything, which would include a razor. The beard is also a sign of a nomadic and ascetic lifestyle.
Vaishnava men, especially Gaudiya Vaishnava men, are encouraged to be clean-shaven as a sign of cleanliness. Sannyasis, or renunciates, are generally clean-shaven and keep a shaven head (except a small tail called a shikha).
Judaism
The Bible states in Leviticus 19:27 that "You shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard." Talmudic tradition explains this to mean that a man may not shave his beard with a razor with a single blade, since the cutting action of the blade against the skin "mars" the beard. Because scissors have two blades, halakha (Jewish law) permits their use to trim the beard, as the cutting action comes from contact of the two blades and not the blade against the skin. For this reason, most poskim (Jewish legal decisors) rule that Orthodox Jews may use electric razors to remain cleanshaven, as such shavers cut by trapping the hair between the blades and the metal grating, halakhically a scissor-like action. Some prominent contemporary poskim maintain that electric shavers constitute a razor-like action and consequently prohibit their use.
Many Orthodox Jews grow beards for social and cultural reasons. Since the electric razor is a relatively modern innovation, virtually all Orthodox Jews grew beards before its advent. Beards are thus symbolic of keeping the traditions of one's ancestors. The Zohar, one of the primary sources of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), attributes holiness to the beard, specifying that hairs of the beard symbolize channels of subconscious holy energy that flows from above to the human soul. Therefore, most Hasidic Jews, for whom Kabbalah plays an important role in their religious practice, traditionally do not remove or even trim their beards.
Also, some Jews refrain from shaving during the 30-day mourning period after the death of a close relative, known in Hebrew as the "Sheloshim" (thirty).
Christianity
Jesus is almost always portrayed with a beard in iconography and art dating from the Fourth Century and later. In paintings and statues most of the Old Testament Biblical characters such as Moses and Abraham and Jesus' New Testament disciples such as St Peter are with beard, as was John the Baptist. John the Evangelist is generally depicted as clean-shaven in Western European art, however. Eight of the figures portrayed in the painting entitled The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci are bearded. Mainstream Christianity holds Isaiah Chapter 50: Verse 6 as a prophecy of Christ's crucifixion, and as so, as a description of Christ having his beard plucked by his tormentors.
In Eastern Christianity, beards are often worn by members of the priesthood and by monastics, and at times have been required for all believers - see Old Believers. Amish and Hutterite men shave until they are married, then grow a beard and are never thereafter without one, although it is a particular form of a beard (see Visual markers of marital status). Many Syrian Christians from Kerala in India wore long beards.
Nowadays, members of many Catholic religious communities, mainly those of Franciscan origin, use a beard as a sign of their vocation. At various times in its history the Catholic Church permitted and prohibited facial hair. Some Messianic Jews also wear beards to show their observance of the Old Testament.
Islam
The Islamic prophet Muhammad said that Muslim men should grow their beards and trim their moustaches.
Muslim scholars at large view the beard is commendable for men, though not obligatory. However, there are numerous scholars in each of the four major Sunni schools of jurisprudence and Shia schools of jurisprudence who rule a beard is mandatory for all men. Regardless of either views, bearded Muslim men are considered equal to those who shave for ritualistic purposes. For example, being an imam (i.e. leading the daily Salah prayers) has no relation to having a beard.
In the Islamic tradition, Allah commanded Abraham to keep his beard, shorten his moustaches, clip his nails, shave the hair around his genitals, and pluck his armpit hair.
Rastafari Movement
A male Rastafarian's beard is a sign of his pact with God (Jah or Jehovah), and his Bible is his source of knowledge. Leviticus 21:5 ("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.") Likewise, it is not uncommon for a Rastafarian beard to grow uncombed, like dreadlocks.
Daoism
Mystics and priests in Daoist practices also grow their beards and hair, but always have the latter tied in a knot or tail.
Modern prohibition of beards
Religions
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
LDS Church Presidents from Brigham Young to George Albert Smith all wore beards of some manner. But from the time of David O. McKay through Thomas S. Monson, general Church leaders have been uniformly clean-shaven. Mormon men in general have followed suit, though this is not mandated by scripture or Church policy. Having a beard does not disqualify a man from temple attendance, nor from serving in many positions of local leadership.
Full-time missionaries are clean-shaven as a matter of policy. Bishops and stake presidents are strongly encouraged not to grow facial hair. Students at Brigham Young University adhere to an Honor Code containing Dress and Grooming Standards. This includes the following language: "If worn, moustaches should be neatly trimmed and may not extend beyond or below the corners of the mouth. Men are expected to be clean shaven; beards are not acceptable." Exceptions are made for BYU students who must keep their beard for medical reasons. While such exceptions once applied to religious reasons as well, such is not the current administrative stance of BYU.
Civilian Prohibitions
Professional airline pilots are required to be clean shaven to facilitate a tight seal with auxiliary oxygen masks.
Sports
Today, for practical reasons (with some exceptions), it is illegal for amateur boxers to have beards. As a safety precaution, high school wrestlers must be clean-shaven before each match, though neatly trimmed moustaches are often allowed.
The Cincinnati Reds, the oldest existing team in Major League Baseball, had a longstanding enforced policy where all players had to be completely clean shaven (no beards, long sideburns or moustaches). However, this policy was abolished following the sale of the team by Marge Schott.
In Irish football, a ban on beards has been in place since 2005, when Beechlawn Rovers defender David Murray pulled Chanel striker Ricky Bobby down by his beard when he was clear through on goal. It was feared by the Irish Premier League that this practice would continue; therefore a ban was placed on growing facial hair longer than two inches.
Under owner George Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees baseball team has had a strict dress code that forbids long hair and facial hair below the lip. More recently, Willie Randolph and Joe Girardi, both former Yankee assistant coaches, adopted a similar clean-shaven policy for their ballclubs: the New York Mets and Florida Marlins, respectively. Fredi Gonzalez, who replaced Girardi as the Marlins' manager, dropped that policy when he took over after the 2006 season.
Playoff beard is a tradition common on some teams in the National Hockey League and now in other leagues where players allow their beards to grow from the beginning of the playoff season until the playoffs are over for their team.
Armed forces
Canada
The Canadian Forces permits moustaches, provided they be neatly trimmed and do not pass beyond the corners of the mouth; an exception to this is the handlebar moustache, which is permitted. Generally speaking, beards are not permitted to CF personnel with the following exceptions:
- members wearing the naval uniform (tradition)
- members of an infantry pioneer platoon (tradition)
- members who must maintain a beard due to religious requirements - (Muslims, Sikhs or orthodox Jews, for example)
- members with a medical condition which precludes shaving
These exceptions notwithstanding, in no case is a beard permitted without a moustache, and only full beards may be worn (not goatees, van dykes, etc.).
Personnel with beards may still be required to modify or shave off the beard, as environmental or tactical circumstances dictate (e.g., to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask).
Beards are also allowed to be worn by personnel conducting OPFOR duties.
Finland
The regulations of the Finnish Defence Forces (Rule 83) prohibit the growing of a moustache or a beard.
France
traditionally feature large beards]]The "decree N° 75-675 regarding regulations for general discipline in the Armies of 28 July 1975, modified" regulates facial hair in the French armed forces. Military personnel are allowed to grow a beard or moustache only during periods when they are out of uniform. The beard must be "correctly trimmed", and provisions are stated for a possible ban of beards by the military authorities to ensure compatibility with certain equipment.
However, within the Foreign Legion, sappers (combat engineers) are traditionally encouraged to grow a large beard.
The gendarmes, also by tradition, may grow a moustache.
Submariners may be bearded, clean-shaved, or "patrol-bearded", growing a beard for the time of a patrol in reminiscence of the time of the diesel submarines whose cramped space allowed for rustic and minimal personal care.
Germany
The present-day regulations of the German Federal Defence Forces allow soldiers to grow a beard, on condition that it be trimmed, unobtrusive and well-kept. Beards must not impact the proper use of any military equipment. Moreover, stubble may not be shown; thus a clean-shaven soldier who wants to start growing a beard must do so during his furlough.
According to German military tradition, soldiers should not have beards, only moustaches. Therefore this form of facial hair is still the only one allowed to members of the so-called Wachbataillon (Guard Battalion), which is deployed for solely protocol-related duties. Likewise, superior officers are rarely seen with large beards.
India
In the armed forces of India, only Sikhs are allowed to wear beards as their religion expressly requires followers to do so. In fact, in Sikh only units there are instances of personnel transferred out by the unit Commander for their refusal to wear beard and hair as required by Sikh religion, although no official regulation exists on this.
Exceptions for other religions are made in case of under-cover special forces operatives like army commandos(Para SF) and navy commandos (MARCOS) who are allowed to grow beards.
Navy personnel are allowed to grow beards subject to the permission of the respective Commanding Officer.
Regular army on active duty are sometimes exempt from the facial-hair regulations for the duration of their 'tour' if their task makes access to such facilities difficult.
Iran
Beards are permitted in most branches and units of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Israel
The IDF generally allows only full or French beards. A special request form must be filed, which is valid for no more than a single year, after which it has to be renewed.
The Netherlands
In the Royal Netherlands Army, officers and soldiers may only grow beards after permission has been obtained. As in many other armies, medical conditions can mean automatic permission to grow one and not shave. Moustaches may be grown without asking permission. Beards are worn at times by the Royal Netherlands Marines and by Royal Netherlands Navy personnel. All facial hair in the Netherlands armed forces is subject to instant removal when operational circumstances demand it. Recent operations in Afghanistan under the ISAF have seen a trend of growing "tour beards", both for bonding and as a way of advancing contacts with the Afghan population, who regard a full beard as a sign of manhood. A beard without a moustache is uncommon in The Netherlands.
Norway
The Royal Guard is required to be clean-shaven. Most operative personnel are not allowed to wear them (so as not to interfere with gas masks) unless:
- The soldier attains express permission to grow his beard from a high-ranking officer.
- The soldier already has a beard upon his enlistment and requests to continue growing it or maintain it at its present length.
Spain
The Spanish Legion allows beards to be grown.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the Royal Navy allows "full sets" (beards and moustaches together) but not beards or moustaches alone. The other British armed services allow moustaches only. Exceptions are beards grown for religious reasons (usually by Sikhs), though in the event of conflict in which the use of chemical or biological weapons is likely, they may be required to shave a strip around the seal of a respirator. Beards are also permitted for medical reasons, such as temporary skin irritations, or by infantry pioneer warrant officers, colour sergeants and sergeants, who traditionally wear beards. Any style of facial hair is allowed in British police forces as long as it is neatly trimmed. Beards are also permitted by special forces when not on base, ie covert intelligence operations or behind enemy lines.
United States
The U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Marine Corps justify banning beards on the basis of both hygiene and of the necessity for a good seal with gas masks. The U.S. Navy did allow beards for a time in the 1970s and 1980s, following a directive from Chief of Naval Operations Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr., but subsequently banned them again. The U.S. Coast Guard allowed beards until 1986, when they were banned by the Commandant, Admiral Paul Yost. The vast majority of police forces across the United States still ban beards. However, moustaches are generally allowed in both the military and police forces (except for those undergoing basic training). U.S. Army Special Forces and other U.S. Special Operation Forces have been allowed to wear beards in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other middle-eastern countries in order to better fit in with the indigenous population.
Also, those with pseudofolliculitis barbae or severe acne are allowed to maintain neatly trimmed beards with a doctor's or medic's permission.
Quotations regarding beards
- "There are two kinds of people in this world that go around beardless — boys and women — and I am neither one." -Greek saying
- "A woman with a beard looks like a man. A man without a beard looks like a woman." - Afghan Saying
- "The beard is the handsomeness of the face, and a wife is the joy in a man's heart." - R' Akiva, Eicha Rabbah
- Leonato: You may light on a husband that hath no beard.
Beatrice: What should I do with him? Dress him in my apparel and make him my waiting-gentlewoman? He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man: and he that is more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less than a man, I am not for him… -William Shakespeare - Excerpt from Much Ado About Nothing – Act 2, Scene I
- "And yet your beards forbid me..." - Banquo, to the witches, in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
- "Shaving was a custom of the Macedonian military, taken over by Hellenic and Roman society. From then on the beard becomes a philosophical status symbol, a sign of non-conformism." - Peter Sloterdijk, Critique of Cynical Reason, pg. 210, n.4
Early Christian attitudes
- St Clement of Alexandria
- "The hair of the chin showed him to be a man." St Clement of Alexandria (c.195, E), 2.271
- "How womanly it is for one who is a man to comb himself and shave himself with a razor, for the sake of fine effect, and to arrange his hair at the mirror, shave his cheeks, pluck hairs out of them, and smooth them!…For God wished women to be smooth and to rejoice in their locks alone growing spontaneously, as a horse in his mane. But He adorned man like the lions, with a beard, and endowed him as an attribute of manhood, with a hairy chest--a sign of strength and rule." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.275
- "This, then, is the mark of the man, the beard. By this, he is seen to be a man. It is older than Eve. It is the token of the superior nature….It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood, hairiness." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.276
- "It is not lawful to pluck out the beard, man's natural and noble adornment." St. Clement of Alexandria, 2.277
- St Cyprian
- "In their manners, there was no discipline. In men, their beards were defaced." St Cyprian (c. 250, W), 5.438
- "The beard must not be plucked. 'You will not deface the figure of your beard'." (Leviticus 19:27) St. Cyprian, 5.553
- Lactantius
- "The nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to distinguish the sex, or to contribute to the beauty of manliness and strength." Lactantius (c. 304-314, W), 7.288
- Apostolic Constitutions
- "Men may not destroy the hair of their beards and unnaturally change the form of a man. For the Law says, "You will not deface your beards." For God the Creator has made this decent for women, but has determined that it is unsuitable for men." Apostolic Constitutions (compiled c.390, E) 7.392. (1)
- Augustine of Hippo
- "There are some details of the body which are there for simply aesthetic reasons, and for no practical purpose - for instance, the nipples on a man's chest, and the beard on his face, the latter being clearly for a masculine ornament, not for protection. This is shown by the fact that women's faces are hairless, and since women are the weaker sex, it would surely be more appropriate for them to be given such a protection." City of God (c. 410) book 22, chapter 24
Famous personalities with beards
Religious figures in scripture and/or history
Scientists and philosophers
- Leucippus - Was among the earliest philosophers of atomism
- Aristotle - Helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture
- Plato - Helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture
- Socrates - Helped to lay the philosophical foundations of Western culture
- Diogenes of Sinope, one of the founders of Cynicism
- Galileo Galilei - Was a physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the scientific revolution.
- Aristarchus of Samos - Was a Greek astronomer and mathematician
- Archimedes - Was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer
- Democritus - Was a pre-Socratic Greek materialist philosopher
- Ernst Karl Abbe - He discovered the Abbe number, a measure of any transparent material's variation of refractive index with wavelength
- Leonardo da Vinci - Was an Italian polymath; a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer
- Michelangelo - Was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer
- Donatello - Was a famous early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence
- John Calvin, founder Calvinism
- Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - Was the first person to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics, for his discovery of x-rays
- Charles Darwin - Founder of modern biology
- Rudolf Clausius - Was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founders of the science of thermodynamics
- William Crookes - Was an English chemist and physicist
- Pierre Curie - Was a French physicist, a pioneer in crystallography, magnetism, piezoelectricity and radioactivity
- Karl Ferdinand Braun - Was a German inventor, physicist and Nobel Prize laureate
- Ludwig Boltzmann - Was an Austrian physicist famous for his founding contributions in the fields of statistical mechanics and statistical thermodynamics
- Henri Becquerel - Was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity
- Loránd Eötvös - Remembered today for his experimental work on gravity
- George FitzGerald - Was an Irish professor of physics
- Josiah Willard Gibbs - Helped lay the basis for a large part of modern-day science
- Charles Édouard Guillaume - Received the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Peter Andreas Hansen - Was a Danish astronomer
- Oliver Heaviside - Advanced the idea that the Earth's uppermost atmosphere contained an ionized layer known as the ionosphere
- Heinrich Hertz - Was a German physicist who clarified and expanded the electromagnetic theory of light
- James Prescott Joule - Studied the nature of heat, and discovered its relationship to mechanical work
- Gustav Kirchhoff - Was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects
- Johannes Kepler - A key figure in the 17th century astronomical revolution
- Gabriel Lippmann - Nobel laureate in physics for his method of reproducing colours photographically based on the phenomenon of interference, later known as the Lippmann plate
- Willebrord Snellius - Most famous for the law of refraction now known as Snell's law
- Joseph Swan – Invented the incandescent light bulb
- Thorstein Veblen - Sociologist and economist, father of institutional economics.
- Edmund Husserl - Inaugural philosopher of the phenomenology movement.
- Karl Marx - Author and economist
- Sigmund Freud, physician
- Confucius, Chinese philosopher
- Charles Édouard Guillaume - Received the Nobel Prize in Physics
- Henri Becquerel - Was a French physicist, Nobel laureate, and one of the discoverers of radioactivity
Political and military leaders
Artists
- Brian Blessed, actor
- Sean Connery (later on in career, not yet when playing 007), actor
- Jim Henson, puppeteer, film director, television producer
- Pierre Kartner, alias "Father Abraham", singer
- George Lucas, film maker
- Édouard Manet, painter
- Bob Marley, Reggae legend
- Georges Moustaki, singer, songwrighter
- Mouth, singer from duet Mouth & MacNeal
- Willie Nelson, singer
- Chuck Norris, actor, martial artist
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painter
- Demis Roussos, singer
- Steven Spielberg, director
- Johann Strauss II, composer
- Rabindranath Tagore - Nobel Laureate, poet, novelist, composer
- Peter Ustinov, actor
- Roger Whittaker, singer
More musicians
The 20th century American jazz drummer and bandleader Buddy Rich famously fired members of his band for wearing beards. Dusty Hill and Billy Gibbons of the famous rock band ZZ Top are also renowned for having very distinctive facial hair. Ironically, ZZ Top's drummer Frank Beard (called "Rube Beard" on earlier albums) is the one member of the group who, despite his surname, and sporting a mustache since the early days of the band, does not wear a beard. Alternative Folk musician Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, is known for always sporting a full beard.
The Beatles, notably John Lennon (see Abbey Road cover), George Harrison, Paul McCartney (during the sessions for Let It Be), and Ringo Starr who also had a beard during Abbey Road and through till the present, sported full beards in the last days of the band. Jim Morrison also sported a beard in the last few years of his life, but a few times shaved it off, as in his last days.
Several heavy metal musicians like Lemmy Kilmister, Tom Araya, Kerry King, James Hetfield, Zakk Wylde, Daron Malakian, Scott Ian, Dimebag Darrell Abbott sport beards.
Leland Sklar, a prolific session bass guitar player, is noted for his long hair and a long flowing beard. In the past few years ex-Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has famously sported a beard.
Clutch lead singer Neil Fallon sports a beard most of the time.
Linkin Park guitarist Brad Delson usually sports a long beard and sometimes grows out an accompanying afro.
Alexisonfire/City and Colour guitarist Dallas Green has had a beard in recent years, although in the bands' early years he was clean shaven.
Another fine example was legendary rock drummer John Henry Bonham, who wore a beard throughout the most part of his adult life, occasionally having just a moustache with sideburns.
Also another fine example is Ryan Armstrong of the Cool Cats, who wears a beard and some lengthy sideburns.
Alternative rock singer Josh Doyle is one of the few proponents of the half beard in music.
Fictional figures
Beard styles
Beard hair is most commonly removed by shaving. If only the area above the upper lip is left unshaven, the resulting facial hairstyle is known as a moustache; if hair is left only on the chin, the style is a chin beard. The combination of a moustache and a chin beard is a goatee or Van Dyck, unless the mustache and chin beard are connected, in which case it is known as a circle beard.
- Full - downward flowing beard with either styled or integrated moustache
- Sideburns - hair grown from the temples down the cheeks toward the jawline. Sometimes with a moustache.
- Chinstrap - a beard with long sideburns that comes forward and ends under the chin, resembling a chinstrap, hence the name.
- Donegal - similar to the chinstrap beard but, covers the entire chin.
- Garibaldi - wide, full beard with rounded bottom and integrated moustache
- Goatee - A tuft of hair grown on the chin, sometimes resembling a billy goat's.
- Junco - A goatee which extends upward and connects to the corners of the mouth.
- Hollywoodian- A beard with integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area, without connecting sideburns.
- Reed - A beard with integrated mustache that is worn on the lower part of the chin and jaw area that tapers towards the ears without connecting side burns.
- Royale - is a narrow pointed beard extending from the chin. The style was popular in France during the period of the Second Empire, from which it gets its alternative name, the imperial or impériale.
- Stubble - a very short beard of only one to a few days growth. This became fashionable during the heyday of Miami Vice. During this time, a modified electric razor called the Miami Device became popular, which would trim stubble to a preset length.
- Van Dyck - A goatee accompanied by a moustache.
- Verdi - short beard with rounded bottom and slightly shaven cheeks with prominent moustache
- Neckbeard (Neard) - Similar to the Chinstrap, but with the chin and jawline shaven, leaving hair to grow only on the neck. While never as popular as other beard styles, a few noted historical figures have worn this type of beard, such as Henry Thoreau and Horace Greeley.
- Soul patch - a small beard just below the lower lip and above the chin
- Friendly Mutton Chops - long muttonchop type sideburns connected to a mustache, but with a shaved chin
- Half Beard - extremely rare, a beard that has been symettrically shaven in the centre so that one side of the face is bare while the opposite side is grown out.
See also
Further reading
- Reginald Reynolds: Beards: Their Social Standing, Religious Involvements, Decorative Possibilities, and Value in Offence and Defence Through the Ages (Doubleday, 1949) (ISBN 0-15-610845-3)
- Helen Bunkin, Randall Williams: Beards, Beards, Beards (Hunter & Cyr, 2000) (ISBN 1-58838-001-7)
- Allan Peterkin: One Thousand Beards. A Cultural History of Facial Hair (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2001) (ISBN 1-55152-107-5)
- A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs, David W. Bercot, Editor, pg 66-67.
External links
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