Beard

Apparently, the beard, mustache and whiskers appeared in men to increase their competitiveness, like war paint, which visually raises the status in the eyes of relatives. ^{[1] [2]} V. R. Dolnik suggested that a magnificent hair of a person (like the mane of old male baboons ) could increase his status in the eyes of relatives. And Charles Darwin believed that the beard arose due to sexual selection, as it serves as a decoration that increases the attractiveness of males. The alleged relationship with beard and attractiveness has been refuted. A beard is probably needed for more effective competition between men. Since men with beards seem more dominant, aggressive, and have a higher status than men with clean-shaven faces. ^{[1] [2]}

All the men of ancient Egypt shaved their beards. Only the pharaoh had the right to wear a beard (as a sign of his possession of the land), but his beard was artificial. She, like a wig, was made of wool or cut hair, intertwined with gold threads, and tied with a cord to her chin. This ceremonial beard could have been given different forms, but the most common was a pigtail bent at the end, similar to a cat's tail ^[3] .

Alexander of Macedon ordered his soldiers to shave off the beard so that the enemy warrior could not grab it during the battle.

In the Roman Empire, a shaved face and a short haircut were some of the signs of civilization and distinguished the Roman from the "wild" peoples. The end of this tradition was laid by the emperor Hadrian .

Cuban rebels against the Batista regime , led by F. Castro, were known as "Barbudos" - bearded.

Age Characteristics

The history of facial hair fashion also demonstrates the decisive influence of the social factor on the ability to have a mustache and beards, on the acceptable styles of beards, on society's attitude to them.

In ancient Egypt, men shaved their beards and mustaches; small representatives of the royal family wore small artificial beards ^[4] . In ancient Greece, shaving came into use from the 4th century BC. e., from there it was taken over by the Romans after the conquest of Greece by Rome ^[5] . A mustache and beard fashion was restored in Rome under Adrian ^[6]

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  Amenhotep I

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  Pericles

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  Emperor Hadrian

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  Emperor Septimius Severus

The documented history of Western European countries allows us to observe the process of alternating standards of male appearance. A pattern is noted: in the case of lush hairstyles, beards shortened or disappeared completely, and vice versa, when simpler hairstyles were worn, more attention was paid to the beard and mustache ^[6] . In the late Middle Ages and the early Renaissance (XIV-XV centuries), the ideal of male appearance was to look like a young man at any age, and male faces were shaved. During the domination of the Burgundian fashion with long curled hair, only a small mustache and beard appear ^[6] .

In the subsequent period (from 1500 until the end of the Renaissance (1620)), most men of all ages wore beards and a long mustache.

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  Portrait of a man brush by Hans Holbein

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  Lucas Cranach

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  Francis I (King of France)

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  Henry VIII

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  Charles IX (king of France)

With the beginning of the Baroque era (from 1620), the beard went out of fashion, from about 1680 the mustache also disappeared. In France, the former European trendsetter, courtiers, imitating the young king Louis XIV , shaved their faces cleanly, only the military wore their mustache ^[6] . Until the middle of the XIX century, the model of a shaved male face completely prevailed. After the revolution of 1848, the reverse process occurred, which spread throughout Europe: the mustache and beard became dominant in the appearance of men.

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  Karl Marx

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  V. Hugo

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  Lev Tolstoy

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  Charles Darwin

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  Louis Pasteur

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  Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

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  Claude Monet

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  Leon Gambetta

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  Ivan Shishkin

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  Giuseppe Verdi

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  James maxwell

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  Ivan Turgenev

But from the second quarter of the 20th century, shaved faces became a mass phenomenon. The alternation of the periods of shaving and hairiness of men as a mass phenomenon of male fashion and male preferences can be considered in connection with a change in the male ideal prevailing in a given historical period. In the era of the prevalence of the ideal of a courageous man, mustaches and beards are in fashion, since they are perceived as the natural and most vivid signs and symbols of masculinity. On the contrary, with the beginning of the transition of public consciousness to the feminine ideal of man, the faces of men become shaved, male secondary sexual characteristics in the form of facial hair are removed. The prevailing trends are always typical of wide sections of the population, regardless of profession or social status. But there are always social strata that preserve the independence and continuity of the tradition of their appearance.

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  Chuck Norris , actor

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  Jules Guesde , politician

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  Kosich A.I. , Lieutenant General of the Russian Imperial Army

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  Henri Matisse , artist and sculptor

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  Fidel Castro , politician

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  Jimmy Wales , Internet Entrepreneur

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  Peter Jackson , filmmaker, screenwriter, actor and producer

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  Alan Cox , programmer

•  

  Psoy Korolenko , musician, performance artist, philologist and journalist

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  Aubrey Di Gray , Gerontologist

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  Ivan Pavlov , physiologist

Judaism

In Tanakh, Jews are forbidden to shave their beards with only a blade:

Do not cut your head round, and do not spoil the edges of your beard.
( Lev. 19:27 )

A shaved beard is considered a loss of honor (2 Sam. 10: 4-6, 1 Chronicles 19: 4-6, etc.). At the same time, cutting a beard with scissors is not prohibited. The reasons for the ban are not clear, perhaps in the Ancient World the beard style was an ethnic marker. In modern times, with the spread of Kabbalah, the ban acquired a mystical meaning. The famous Kabbalist Ramhal did not wear beards, living outside the Holy Land of Israel. Today, shaving habits and beard styles vary from community to community. For example, in Hasidism , beard removal is tantamount to a formal break with the community, and religious Sephardi and Litvaks do not attach much importance to shaving. Common, including among non-religious Jews, is the rule not to shave for a month as a sign of mourning for a close relative ^[7] .

In Orthodoxy and in Russia

In the Greek Orthodox Church, by the time of the Baptism of Russia , by the end of the 10th century, a universal custom was established among the Orthodox - compulsory maternity. During the schism of the Christian church in 1054, one of the accusations made by the Orthodox Greeks against the Latins (Catholics) was barbarian:

Many Orthodox saints and writers wrote about the obligatory wearing of a beard for a Christian ^{[10] [11]} . At the head of the Russian Church were the Greek metropolitans, who were appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, and they were subordinate to him, therefore, the Russians took Greek religious views, including mandatory maternity. Wearing a beard in Russia was established and enshrined in law in collections of civil and church rules and was traditionally preserved.

According to Russian Truth, for inflicting damage to the beard (“Who will tear the beard”) or the mustache, a particularly high fine was imposed - 12 hryvnias - only three times less than the penalty for killing a person.

The rules on child-bearing were enshrined in the Pilot books , Nomocanons - collections of rules that are binding on all Orthodox. In the decisions of the Stoglav Cathedral of the Russian Local Church in 1551, the prohibition of barbarian shaving was confirmed - chapter 40 ^[12] . The ban on shaving entered the Great Consumer . The ban on shaving beards remained after the church reform ^[13] . The helmsman, printed in 1661, repeats this prohibition. Patriarch Adrian in his sermons speaks of a ban on shaving his beard and compares the barberians with dogs and cats and says that they become effeminate ^[11] . Beard shaving was considered in Orthodox Russia a sign of pederasty and sodomy ^[14] .

A radical change - the mandatory shaving of the beard was introduced by Peter I in 1699, first at the royal feasts , and then among all the boyars. Shaving the beard was contrary to traditional Orthodox ideas about the image of a pious Christian, a worthy person, male beauty, and therefore the innovation caused widespread disapproval and protest. On January 16, 1705, a decree was issued allowing the priests and deacons to wear a beard without pay, and everyone else for a special fee, a special fee was charged from men wearing a beard, who paid it was given a specially minted beard - a beard sign , from different categories of people different amounts: 60, 100 and 30 rubles ^[15] . Peter strove to completely eliminate fraud among city residents, so the decree on permission to wear a beard did not exist for long. By a decree of December 17, 1713 it was forbidden to wear beards, wear Russian clothes and sell national Russian clothes and boots (only German-style clothes could be sold) ^[16] ; By decree of December 29, 1714, punishment was introduced for the disobedient - they were beaten with a whip and sent to hard labor ^{[17] [18]} . An exception for wearing a beard and national clothes was made only for the Old Believers , according to the decree of Peter of April 6, 1722, the Old Believers had to pay 50 rubles a year for a beard, and they had no right to wear any other clothes except: a zipun with a standing glued trump card (collar), Ferezi and odnoryadku with a reclining necklace. The collar must be necessarily red - from red cloth, and the dress itself can not be worn in red. If one of the Old Believers appeared in other clothes, then a fine was taken - 50 rubles ^{[19] [20]} . On November 13, 1724, at the request of the Archbishop of Nizhny Novgorod, Pitirim Peter issued a decree to issue copper letters to the Old Believers indicating that payment for the beard was paid, the Old Believers were obliged to sew them on their clothes and wear them; Old Believer women, according to this decree, were obliged to wear slash dresses and hats with horns ^[21] .

The policy of eradicating the beard was carried out throughout the eighteenth century, for this purpose Christian writings, which spoke of compulsory maternity, were not published. For example, Kormchuyu, a collection of rules of the Orthodox Church, was not published at all from the middle of the 17th century. When it was printed in 1778, the 47th chapter, which speaks of a ban on shaving beards, was expelled ^[22] .

Seeking a way out of the ideological impasse, Uvarov proposed in 1833 the theory of "official nationality." Developing this idea, the Slavophiles returned to wearing a beard and wearing Russian clothes. The government reacted negatively to the Slavophiles: some Slavophiles were imprisoned for several months in the Peter and Paul Fortress for harsh statements. Nevertheless, attempts by the Slavophiles to publish newspapers and magazines were immediately stopped ^[23] . But the ideas of returning to their Orthodox and national roots gradually found supporters in an educated society. Two emperors, Alexander III and Nicholas II , already wore beards.

Catholicism

Catholic priests are instructed not to have a freely growing beard: "Clericus nec comam nutriat nec barbam." The interpretation of this prescription in different periods was different. In fact, many popes even in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance wore full beards and mustaches ( Julius II , Clement VII , Paul III , Julius III , Marcellus II , Paul IV , Pius IV , Pius V ). The union never had rules on barbarian shaving.

Islam

According to most Islamic jurists, the wearing of a beard is mandatory for every Muslim, and shaving is prohibited ^[24] . Muslims are advised to let go of a clenched fist beard ^[25] . Mowing a mustache and letting go of a beard belongs to human nature ( fitra ) ^[26] .

According to legend, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad, wearing a mustache and shaving a beard was a distinctive feature of fire worshipers ^{[27] [28]} . Islamic scholars believe that a man shaving his beard is likened to a woman ^[29] .

Women, like men, can grow beards (especially when using androgenic steroids as a concomitant therapy for breast cancer). Since ancient times, such women have been the subject of curiosity. Although most women shave or pluck any vegetation on their chins, some of them, especially women with large beards, earn their living by performing in front of the audience in the so-called "Wonder Show", that is, in touring circuses common in the USA. The contrast between the long beard on her face and such feminine attributes as the singer’s high voice performing in a dress emphasizing her femininity guarantees interest in other circus attractions, so such women traditionally had a wide choice of employers and their performances were very well paid.

An example is Julia Pastarana .

If a woman has a noticeable gun on her face, hair removal is often used.

• Mustache
• Whiskers
• Beard tax

• Beard // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Beard in Russia // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Giles Constable. Beards in history. Symbols, fashion, perception // Odyssey. The man in history. 1994. - M., 1994, p. 165-181
• Faresov A. I. History of the beard and mustache . // Historical Bulletin , 1904. T. 98, No. 10. P. 174-212.
• Thomas Gowing. Beard and Philosophy = The Philosophy of Beards. - M .: Alpina Publisher , 2016 .-- 126 p. - ISBN 978-5-9614-5348-5 .

• Beard (inaccessible link from 14-06-2016 [1219 days]) - article in the humanitarian dictionary.
• “Shaving or not shaving?” (Beard and masculinity in the modern world) from the cycle “Archeology” on Radio “Freedom” (audio, Feb 2016)
• I. Slovennik "Beard" (video).