Of Beards and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair by Christopher Oldstone-Moore Page A

cautious about declaring the current beard trend the dawn of a new era. A few star athletes and Hollywood extrovertsnotwithstanding, a smooth face is still very much the norm. The popularity of beard clubs proves it. They thrive on the proposition that growing a beard or mustache is an adventurous thing to do. In fact, substantial changes in facial hair norms are rare in history, and when they do happen, they are signs of significant historical shifts. We should, then, bear in mind a fourth principle of beard history: understanding the forces shaping the male face requires the long view . Historians who focus on one place and time may miss the larger picture that emerges over many centuries. Beard history is like a mosaic: the image becomes sharper the further back one stands.
    All of these dimensions can be seen in the example of Alexander the Great, who changed the course of Western civilization and also the face of masculine respectability. By conquering Egypt and Persia, Alexander made himself and his fellow Greek-speakers masters of the known world. Yet he chose a look—portraits, statues, and coins depict him as youthful and clean-shaven—that was widely disparaged in Greek tradition as unmanly. Why would he do so? More to the point, why did respectable Greek and Roman men enthusiastically emulate him for the next four hundred years? The answer is that he viewed himself as a demigod and wished to look the part. Because the artists of his day depicted mythic heroes like Achilles and Heracles as eternally youthful and beardless, he shaved himself and encouraged his followers to do the same. He was very persuasive. In classical times, elite men—or lesser men who aspired to greater honor—adopted Alexander’s style to imply something heroic in themselves. It was not a fad or fashion trend but powerful symbolism. Only after many prosperous centuries for ancient barbers did an alternate philosophy of masculine honor arise, finally breaking the power of the shaven ideal.
    Each chapter in this book describes a distinct era in beard history, from the emergence of great cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt to the rise of the smooth-skinned “metrosexual” in our own time. In the twenty-three centuries since Alexander set the precedent, shaving has been the default mode of masculine style, punctuated by four great beard movements. The first, initiated by the Roman emperor Hadrian in the second century, persisted for about a hundred years. The second, in the High Middle Ages, saw kings, nobles, and knights complementing their armored splendor with full beards. This movement, however,was incomplete. Churchmen shaved, especially after the eleventh century, when they were positively required to do so by canon law. This was part of the church’s deliberate effort to define its own brand of manhood, with its own special claims to spiritual and political authority. This hair dualism dissolved by the late fourteenth century, however, when laymen adopted the clergy’s shaven style. The Renaissance generated a third beard movement, inspired in great measure by opposition to medieval churchly values and styles. The fourth and final outgrowth of beards was comparatively brief, spanning just the latter half of the nineteenth century. In this talkative and rather more self-conscious era, men did not hide their aspiration to fashion a new masculinity for the modern world.
    To measure the tides in our present day, one must see them against this extended backdrop, appreciative of the social forces that interact with the styling of the body. If one scans corporate conference tables, capitol chambers, and military mess halls, it is not yet possible to discern a beard movement. When facial hair becomes desirable, or even acceptable, for soldiers, managers, and legislators, we will know that a new chapter in the story of masculinity has begun.
    Limitations of space and sources dictate that this initial exploration of beard history focus primarily