Facial Hairy History

1840s US Dragoon Officer. The Dragoons

were allowed to wear a moustache while the

infantrymen were not.

Part of creating some of the magic of a Living History interpretive experience is the ability to sell your performance, whether 3rd or 1st person interpretation. Few things ruin a visit to a historical site than an interpreter who has some sort of anachronism that destroys what I call "the magic". These things are typically sloppy oversights like wrist watches or using modern accessories, non-period tattoos, modern clothing made to look "old-timey", but they can also be things like modern expressions. All of these very true of 1st person interpretation. Most places are careful to dress interpreters appropriately; some give workshops on use of language, such as regional speech, writing, or deportment. Emphasis is on reducing the modern to put the visitor in that time period. I applaud those efforts. Anything to make that time period come alive to the visitor will only enhance the experience.

One's appearance is critical in these situations. As we start to look into this, I wish to acknowledge my biases: I am a man and my opinions and observations come from that vantage point and in this case the topic is almost entirely a male issue. But this is not to say that anything I am about to launch into does not apply to the lady Living Historian. I will try to make this topic apply to ladies as well but my topic I wish to get into this month is the use of facial hair. Perhaps a survey of hair stylings both male and female will be a topic I can get into in a later blog post. 

Meanwhile, I got the idea for this month's topic of facial hair from a book I recently purchased but it was a topic I wanted to cover early on in my first conceptions of the blog. So here is the back-story. I like to self improve. One of my favorite self-improvement sites is Art of Manliness. It is a tremendous site full of how-to's and skills and disciplines. Most of it is solid gold. Some of it is ambivalent. A woman can enjoy the site too; it is by no means a "boy's only club". I was listening to one of the podcasts earlier in 2014 of a previous episode where they featured the writer of One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair, Allan Peterkin. You can find that podcast here. As a fan of "facial sculpture", I listened in with keen interest and resolved to get the book at some point.

Allan Peterkin is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto and has written on facial hair in other books. I got the book thinking it would help me be a better interpreter and help me understand a bit of why I beard and hoping for detailed trends describing when styles arose and fell out of favor. One Thousand Beards is a cultural history written by a psychiatrist, so it was not as historical as I would have liked. His writing style is entertaining but I was frustrated with his lack of chapter citation (Though he does have a bibliography, I just wish I knew what source he used to back up his claim in parts!). He wrote this categorically, covering topics such as facial hair in the medical world, the religious world, the business world, feminine facial hair, and the post-modern world, to only name a few of the chapters. Even though it was copyrighted in 2001, this was a fourth printing but already felt dated. It is a good book to read about facial hair up until the end of the 20th century, though there were some errors. For example, he observes that between Lincoln and Harrison, the only president to lack facial hair was Andrew Jackson. While it is true the Andrew Jackson generally didn't beard, Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln and he was clean shaven. He also mixes up the Civil War coming before the Mexican-American War. However, this is not a strict book review but a closer look into what facial hair means to a time period and the people who lived it and also the people who portray historical periods.

1940s French Foreign

Legionnaire. The Foreign

Legion is one of the few

WWII units that were

initially allowed to keep

their facial hair throughout.

To the historical interpreter using Living History demonstration as as interpretive method, this book starts as a point of research into what you should look like when creating a historical persona. If you are not portraying an actual historical character, you many want to create a historic persona. Start with, "What is my persona?" and go from there. Are you portraying upper class or lower class? A trade? Do your research and see what your persona would have worn on his face at the time. Your religion or your sovereign, if not both, dictated your facial style until about the 19th century. Sometimes the lower classes has whatever was opposite of whatever the upper classes were wearing. For example, if you were a captured soldier and now a slave, you might be shorn as a symbol of your status. Or maybe your class was too poor to shave. If you were upper class, the rules might be different, such as if your king had a certain style of beard, you might follow suit as an act of loyalty. If your bishop thought the beard was devilish, you made sure you shaved before going to church. The 19th century was a golden age of facial hair popularity. Unfortunately by the Great War, facial hair was in decline because facial hair did not create a good enough seal for users of gas masks. Since then most militaries have banned them, with the exception of the small moustache. With the 1960s, facial hair returned only to fade into moustaches of the 1980 but the 1990s onward have been the largest resurgence of facial hair in a hundred years. 

1860s US Infantry Officer. Officers tended to wear facial hair

with more frequency than the enlisted soldiers.

Visual resources are probably the best and easiest way to see what that time period thinks about facial hair. If you see a photograph with a decided lack of facial hair, you can reasonably assume that facial hair was not acceptable. If you see a painting with Roman style T beards and fabulous hats, maybe that might be something you might wear. If there is a mix, you can probably get away with whatever. Depictions come with their own set of pitfalls, such as, is the artist being expressive and imaginative with their depiction, or is this historically accurate? Are the photographs or paintings being staged and for what purpose? Articles and descriptions can be hard to find. Fortunately, Peterkin's book has a bibliography and identifies some of the pertinent articles and notable quotations throughout the pages. 

Facial hair in today's society is a result of previous trends, opinions, feelings, and perceptions, just as it was in any time period. Depending on the style and length of the facial fuzz, it can mean just about anything. Facial hair has been much more acceptable in the public eye today than it has since the 1980s, the last great facial famine. Recently, "Lumbersexual" entered contemporary slang, referring to hipsters with sizable beards and rugged outdoor themes in their clothing style. The novelty handlebar moustache is a trendy thing, for some reason. Even invading women's apparel and accessories. Bearding also comes with societal consequences. This affects not just Living Historians going about daily life. Many established professions will not allow any facial hair whatsoever, despite sometimes having famous practitioners who bearded in previous eras. Some will only allow a small moustache. So the pursuit of historical accuracy for a hobby or a historical portrayal could limit real opportunities. Just be aware that what appears to be a trivial decision could have serious consequences. 

Mid-19th century Faro dealer. From my Faro

website

Why do I beard? I do it for many reasons. Since I was a teenager I found the goatee (chin beard) or the Van Dyke (chin beard and moustache) to be appealing. So I adopted that style and have had some form of facial hair since graduation. As a historical interpreter with an enthusiasm for living history, I wear facial hair to better portray my Civil War soldier persona so I will on occasion style my facial hair based on how I feel in shaping a portrayal. But at present, I am not doing any interpretation and probably will not do it for a while. But is that all? Right now it is February; I've had my growth since September as winter protection for my face. Having hair on my face helps keep it warm, and me by extension. I recently trimmed my moustache hairs back quite a bit. I did that because I was getting tired of them ending up in my mouth and catching embarrassing crumbs. I suppose that when it is time to start interviewing for jobs, I will need to shave. Peterkin cites a Sunday Times (London newspaper) under cover investigation where a man goes to a job interview with a fake moustache and beard and without. The man was told that he was rejected while wearing the beard because he had a beard and that he should get rid of it (page 142). Certainly dressing and grooming like a professional is going to be part of my overall strategy once I am in a position to go after my career as a historical interpreter.

Think about your own thoughts and feelings about facial hair for a moment. What are the reasons for those feelings? Were your thoughts and feelings influenced by television or movies? Music? Religion? Personal experiences? Our own thoughts and
 perceptions, not just of facial hair or grooming for that matter, but for a range of similar topics, affect each other in a larger web of perception. What we do to ourselves that defines ourselves as our outward selves, such as grooming, or dress, or props we possess add to the mix of greater perception and personality. So in this sense,we are not only products of our times, but we are actively creating further perceptions based on our identities and influenced by our actions. 

Whoa. Heavy, huh? To wrap, I think overall grooming styles needs to be researched and understood and if you are courageous, to pattern yourself based on a historical style that understates your commitment to making the right historical impression on your visitors, and that is something both men and women can do.

Blogger 2015. Happy Febru-Hairy!