BEARDS MAKETH A MAN

 BEARDS MAKETH A MAN

In the 16th and 17th centuries, facial hair was a sign of manliness. Being clean-shaven indicated effeminacy.

According to the theory of 'humours' that governed the human body, men were 'hot' and 'dry' and women were 'cold' and 'wet'. During puberty, the male body was thought to heat up, pushing out hair into the face as a form of excrement. Beards were a sign that a man was highly virile and fertile - if you can produce hairs you can produce heirs.

A popular beard was the 'peak de bon' - the small pointy beard sported by Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh. Elizabeth I ran her court as if all courtiers were suitors, thus this style became associated with a man wooing a woman. Catholics tended more towards hair removal, so Protestant reformers deliberately grew heavy beards to differentiate themselves.

Later, beards became smaller and thinner. The 'stiletto' was favoured by Charles I and the cavaliers. A 'swallow tail' was more associated with the clergy, whereas a 'square' or 'spade beard' was popular with soldiers, indicating greater masculinity.
Black hair had connotations that a man's body was too hot and aggressive, and their hair had become burnt. This was associated with king-liness, and the Ottomans. Brown hair was seen as the ideal, while red hair denoted deceptiveness (after Judas's red beard), and blond hair was a young man's privilege. Grey hair was inevitably a sign of an older man, symbolising wisdom but also the degeneration of manliness, which was sometimes a cause of derision.

Source ~ ‘The History Hit Miscellany of Facts, Figures and Fascinating Finds’ introduced by Dan Snow