Beard

"Bearded" redirects here. For the British music magazine, see Bearded (Magazine).

For other uses, see Beard (disambiguation).

Example of a full, untrimmed beard and moustache

Example of a full but trimmed beard and moustache

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. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard. 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, masculinity, or high social status; and, conversely, filthiness, crudeness, or an eccentric disposition, such as in the case of a bum, hobo, hippie or vagrant. In many cultures beards are associated with nature and outdoorsmen.

Biology

The beard develops during puberty. Beard growth is linked to stimulation of hair follicles in the area by dihydrotestosterone, which continues to affect beard growth after puberty. Hair follicles from different areas vary in what hormones they are stimulated or inhibited by; dihydrotestostorone also promotes balding. Dihydrotestosterone is produced from testosterone, the levels of which vary with season; thus beards grow faster in summer.

History

Ancient and classical world

Moche ceramic vessels representing bearded men. Larco Museum Collection. Lima-Peru

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 (Assyrians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and Medians) 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

A coin depicting a cleanly-shaven Alexander the Great

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 even had 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 Macedon

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 until 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 a 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. On the other hand, men of the country areas around Rome in the time of Varro seem not to have shaved except when they came to market every eighth day, so that their usual appearance was most likely a short stubble.

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.

Germanic tribes

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

Friedrich Engels exhibiting a full moustache and beard that was a common style among Europeans of the nineteenth century

Johann Strauss II with a large beard, moustache, and sideburns

Maryland Governor Thomas Swann with a long goatee. Such beards were common around the time of the American Civil War.

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. In 1587 Francis Drake claimed, in a figure of speech, to have singed the King of Spain's 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 "Vieilles 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 the United States

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 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 frequently 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 Dyke, 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. As of 2009, no United States Senator has had a beard since Jon Corzine left the Senate in 2005 to assume the governorship of New Jersey.

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

File:Guru hargobind.jpg

Sri Guru Har Gobind ji with full beard

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

An Indian Hindu sadhu with full beard

Hindus keep beards depending on which Dharma they follow. Many Hindu priests are unshaven as a sign of purity. 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, typically of the ISKCON sect, are encouraged to be clean-shaven as a sign of cleanliness. Vaishnavas of the Gaudiya tradition on the other hand generally keep beards and a shaven head (except a small tail called a shikha).

Judaism

Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem with a beard and peyos (sidelocks)

Main article: Shaving in 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, some opinions in halakha (Jewish law) permit 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 deciders) 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.

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 Shloshim (thirty) as well as during periods of the Counting of the Omer and the Three Weeks.

Christianity

Basilios Bessarion's beard contributed to his defeat in the papal conclave, 1455.

Jesus is almost always portrayed with a beard in iconography and art dating from the fourth century onward. 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 Apostle is generally depicted as clean-shaven in Western European art, however, to emphasize his relative youth. 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.

Diarmaid MacCulloch writes: "There is no doubt that Cranmer mourned the dead king (Henry VIII)", and it was said that he showed his grief by growing a beard. But "it was a break from the past for a clergyman to abandon his clean-shaven appearance which was the norm for late medieval priesthood; with Luther providing a precedent, virtually all the continental reformers had deliberately grown beards as a mark of their rejection of the old church, and the significance of clerical beards as an aggressive anti-Catholic gesture was well recognised in mid-Tudor England."

Islam

A Muslim male with a preferable Muslim beard. (A fist-long length from chin with short moustache)

Muhammad encouraged growing a beard . Trimming the mustaches is one of the fitra.

All Muslim scholars view keeping a beard as being at least commendable for men as it follows the example of the Prophet Muhammad, and some consider it obligatory. Regardless of either view, Muslim men who shave are still allowed to do things such as lead the prayer, as there is nothing recorded in the primary texts of Islamic jurisprudence (Qur'an and hadith) which prohibits this. According to the view that keeping a beard is compulsory, a man who shaves is considered sinful, but being sinful does not exclude one from actions such as leading the prayer.

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.

Taoism

Mystics and priests in Taoist 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. Such exceptions are also applied to those with religious reasons for having a beard, although this is not stated in the official dress and grooming standards.

Civilian prohibitions

Professional airline pilots are required to be clean shaven to facilitate a tight seal with auxiliary oxygen masks. Similarly, fire fighters may also be prohibited from full beards to obtain a proper seal with SCBA equipment.

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 1999.

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. Girardi is now the manager of the Yankees.

Playoff beard is a tradition common on 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

Austria

The Austrian Armed Forces permits moustaches and sideburns, as long as they are neatly trimmed.

Brazil

The Brazilian Army, Brazilian Navy and Brazilian Air Force permit moustaches, as long as they are trimmed to just above the upper lip. Recruits, however, cannot wear moustaches. Beards are not allowed unless required for some special reason, such as covering a deformity. In such cases, a beard is permitted under authorization.

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 ashore (tradition); sea-going personnel must now shave daily.
• 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.

Denmark

Danish Army personnel are generally allowed to wear any well kept beard. Stubble, however, is not allowed. Full beards are popular among units deployed in Afghanistan, as it is easier to maintain when in the field. This also helps break down cultural barriers between the Danish and the Afghans, as most Afghan men wear full beards. As an exception, soldiers who belong to Den Kongelige Livgarde (The Royal Life Guards) are not allowed to have beards when on guard duty. Additionally, Danish soldiers are not required to have short haircuts. Long hair among male soldiers is rare, however, as it is not seen as "proper" by most soldiers.

Finland

The regulations of the Finnish Defence Forces (Rule 91) prohibit the growing of a moustache or a beard.

France

The sappers ("sapeurs") of the French Foreign Legion 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. Sappers chosen to participate in the Bastille Day parade are in fact specifically asked to stop shaving so they'll have a full beard when they march down the Champs Elysées.

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.

Greece

In the Greek armed forces, it is allowed to wear a beard only in the navy. Neatly trimmed mustaches are the only facial hair permitted in the army.

India

In the armed forces (and police) of India, only Sikhs are allowed to wear beards as their religion expressly requires followers to do so. And they are required to keep it neatly tied in a hairnet or keep it trimmed. 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.

Lebanon

Beards are not allowed in the Lebanese Armed Forces. Only trimmed mustaches are allowed that don't pass the upper lip.

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.

Turkey

Although moustache is very common among the Turkish men, according to the Internal Service Law active personnel is not allowed to grow a beard.

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 or Muslims), 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.

More recently the British Army has been seen sporting a full range of stubble, moustache and beard in Afghanistan where it is considered a sacred duty by men and in an effort to blend in. One in ten soldiers now have some sort of facial hair.

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.

Beard styles

File:Silas Kitto Hocking.jpg

Silas Kitto Hocking, bearded

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 Dyke, unless the moustache 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 Dyke – 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 Nero, 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
• Stashburns - Sideburns that drop down the jaw but jut upwards across the mustache, leaving the chin exposed. Similar to "Friendly Mutton Chops" But often found in south and southwestern american culture.

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

• Abraham
• David
• Guru Nanak
• Ali bin Abi Talib
• Bodhidharma
• God
• Jesus
• Moses
• Muhammad
• Noah
• Odin
• Samson
• Thor
• Väinämöinen
• Zarathushtra
• Zeus
• Brigham Young
• Cesare Bonizzi

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
• Karl Marx - Father of communism.
• James Clerk Maxwell - 19th century physicist who contributed greatly to the area of electromagnetism
• 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.
• Sigmund Freud, Psychologist
• Confucius, Chinese philosopher
• Ben Bernanke – Economist, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
• Robert Brandom - Philosopher

Political and military leaders

• Abdul Aziz Al-Saud – First King of Saudi Arabia
• Abraham Lincoln – Sixteenth President of the United States
• Ali Khamenei – Current Supreme Leader of Iran
• Benjamin Disraeli – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• Benjamin Harrison – Twenty-third President of the United States. The last American president to wear a beard
• Deodoro da Fonseca – First President of Brazil
• Dragoljub Mihajlovic – Serbian military leader of the Chetniks during World War
• Ernesto "Che" Guevara – Argentine revolutionary
• Fernando Lugo – Current President of Paraguay
• Fidel Castro – Revolutionary and Former President of Cuba
• Frederick I Barbarossa – former King of Germany and of Italy, as well as Holy Roman EmperorII
• Giuseppe Garibaldi – Italian military leader
• Guan Yu – Described as "a warrior with a red face and a long lush beard" who lived in the Three Kingdoms era of China
• Hamid Karzai – Current President of Afghanistan
• Ho Chi Minh – Vietnamese Communist and Independence leader and statesman; first president of former North Vietnam
• James A. Garfield – Twentieth President of the United States
• Jed S. Rakoff – Current United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York
• Jonas Savimbi – Angolan military leader of UNITA
• Julian the Apostate – Roman emperor and author of the Misopogon
• Leon Trotsky – Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist theorist
• Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – Current President of Brazil
• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – Current President of Iran
• Manmohan Singh – Current Prime Minister of India
• Mohammad Khatami – Former President of Iran
• Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – Current Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai
• Nicholas II - Last Tsar of the former Russian Empire
• Pedro II of Brazil – Second and last Emperor of Brazil
• Qaboos bin Said – Current Sultan of Oman
• Robert E. Lee – American Civil War Confederate general
• Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar – Castilian nobleman, military leader and diplomat
• Ruhollah Khomeini – Former Supreme Leader of Iran
• Rutherford Birchard Hayes – American politician, lawyer, military leader, and nineteenth President of the United States
• Saddam Hussein in his final (public) episode
• Saladin – Led the Muslim armies during the Crusades and recapturing Jerusalem
• Sam Nujoma – Former President of Namibia
• Samora Machel – Former President of Mozambique
• Shivaji – Founder of Maratha Empire in India
• Stjepan Mesić – Current President of Croatia
• Stonewall Jackson – American Civil War Confederate general
• Ulysses S. Grant – American general and eighteenth President of the United States
• Vladimir Lenin – Bolshevik revolutionary and Former Premier of the Soviet Union
• William Tecumseh Sherman – American Civil War general
• Xanana Gusmão – Former President and current Prime Minister of Timor-Leste
• Yehude Simon – Former Prime Minister of Peru

Artists

• Ansel Adams, photographer
• Samuel Beam, folk musician
• Brian Blessed, actor
• Johannes Brahms, composer
• Eric Clapton, singer and guitarist
• Sean Connery, actor (later on in career; not yet when playing 007)
• Francis Ford Coppola, director, writer, producer
• Amitabh Bachchan, actor (later in career; particularly since he first hosted Kaun Banega Crorepati)
• John Entwistle, from 1971 to his death in 2002
• Jon Fitch, Mixed Martial Artist, UFC Fighter
• Zach Galifianakis, actor, comedian
• Jerry Garcia, guitarist for The Grateful Dead
• Simen Hestnæs, heavy metal singer and bass player
• Andy Hull, singer, songwriter
• Jim Henson, puppeteer, film director, television producer
• Ernest Hemingway, novelist
• Robert Jordan, novelist
• Pierre Kartner, alias "Father Abraham", singer
• Stanley Kubrick, director, producer, writer
• George Lucas, film maker
• Édouard Manet, painter
• Bob Marley, Reggae legend
• George R. R. Martin, novelist, screenwriter, editor
• Billy Mays, pitchman
• Fernando Meirelles, filmmaker
• Georges Moustaki, singer, songwriter
• Mouth, singer from duet Mouth & MacNeal
• Alan Moore Graphic Novelist
• Willie Nelson, singer
• Chuck Norris, actor, martial artist
• Luciano Pavarotti, singer
• John Petrucci, guitar player, songwriter, producer
• Ivan Rebroff, singer
• Rob Reiner, actor-director
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir, painter
• Rick Ross, hip-hop artist
• Demis Roussos, singer
• Julian Schnabel, American painter
• Bud Spencer, actor
• Steven Spielberg, director
• Johann Strauss II, composer
• Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel Laureate, poet, novelist, composer
• Peter Ustinov, actor
• Vincent van Gogh, painter
• Orson Welles, director, actor
• Roger Whittaker, singer
• Scroobius Pip, musical maverick

More musicians

Beards and long hair are popular among metal music fans. Pictured above is Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton.

The 20th century American jazz drummer and bandleader Buddy Rich famously threatened to fire members of his band for wearing beards.[1] 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, Max Cavalera, Zakk Wylde, Scott Ian and the late Dimebag Darrell Abbott have sported beards throughout their life.

Leland Sklar, a prolific session bass guitar player, is noted for his long hair and a long flowing beard. In the 90's,ex-Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic had famously sported a beard.

In more recent years Scroobius Pip, one half of UK Hip Hop/Spoken Word duo dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip, is known for wearing a full beard.

Mark Oliver Everett of Eels wore an extremely large beard during the publicity for their werewolf-inspired album, Hombre Lobo.

Fictional figures

• Ajax, mythological Greek hero
• Dumbledore
• B.A. Baracus
• Ben Kenobi
• Gandalf
• Gimli
• Hagrid
• Heracles
• Papa Smurf
• Perrin Aybara
• Rip Van Winkle
• Santa Claus
• Snake Plissken
• Solid Snake
• Tevye
• The Man with No Name
• William Riker

Gallery

• 
  Zeus with full beard
• 
  Jesus is generally portrayed with a beard and moustache
• 
  Socrates with full beard
• Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji (tenth Guru of Sikhism) with beard and moustache
  Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji (tenth Guru of Sikhism) with beard and moustache
• Zoroaster had a beard
  Zoroaster had a beard
• 
  Leonardo da Vinci had a beard
• 
  Shakespeare with beard
• 
  Karl Marx with beard and moustache
• 
  Charles Darwin in old age
• 
  George Bernard Shaw with beard and moustache
• 
  Rabindranath Tagore Bengali polymath with beard and moustache
• 
  Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal Emperor
• Shivaji, a Hindu king, with full beard
  Shivaji, a Hindu king, with full beard
• 
  Manmohan Singh 14th and current Prime Minister of India
• 
  Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ram Dass
• Khomeini, middle-aged
  Khomeini, middle-aged
• 
  Auguste Rodin (French sculptor) with full beard
• 
  Che Guevara with beard and moustache
• 
  Rip van Winkle with beard
• 
  Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, with beard
• 
  Wise Beard Man with a beard

See also

• Bearded lady
• Beard Liberation Front
• Beards, moustaches and military styles: Military uniforms
• Facial hair
• Five o'clock shadow
• Other facial hair styles: Moustache, Sideburns, Stubble, Chin curtain
• Pogonophobia (the fear of beards)
• Removal/shaping of facial hair: Shaving, Clean-shaven, Barber
• Women and facial hair: Bearded lady, Depilation
• Barbatus, Latin word meaning "bearded"
• World Beard and Moustache Championships
• Joseph Palmer who, starting in 1830, served a year in jail in Fitchburg, Massachusetts for his defense of his beard and his principles
• Goatee

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.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Peck, Harry Thurston, ed. (1898). "Barba". Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York: Harper & Brothers.

External links

• / The Beard Show
• World Beard and Moustache Association
• The Fabulous World of Beards
• The British Beard Club
• All About Beards
• Facial Hair Styles
• World Beard & Moustache Championships
• UK Daily Mail's coverage of the World Beard Championships
• Much ado about a Little Fuzz an essay by the Mail Tribune