Beard History
This will be a short post, and I am very much biased. Through most of human history, facial hair in males has been a sign of honor and wisdom. Why should it not be so today?
Almost all civilizations including those of Southeast Asia and India have held beards in high regard. A beard was considered a sign of an honorable man. Many social transgressions were punishable by the public shaving of the beard.
There have been two notable exceptions to this in Western society. First, the late Roman Empire, where it was fashionable to be clean shaven except during mourning or some other calamity. Second, the United States in the 20th and 21st Centuries. If you doubt this, ask yourself, who was the last US President to sport a full beard? The answer: Benjamin Harrison in 1889.
These exceptions aside, the beard remains as a visible signal of honor, loyalty and commitment to an ethos. The beard has come back in the last decade or two in the US, and I mean to make it last. And women should be able to have shaved heads without shame. Just saying!
Not that it’s been much of a lesson, but here endeth the lesson on beard history.
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