A close-shaven history of the beard

The beard: It’s gone in and out of fashion over the millennia and alternately been associated with kings and commoners, criminals and scholars, soldiers and hippies. It can be close-trimmed or bushy, carefully waxed into impossible configurations, or left wild and uncombed. Throughout the history of beards, only one thing was ever consistent: People have always had strong opinions about them.

Hair removal has been around a long time, and our collective mental image of a hairy, unkempt caveman isn’t necessarily accurate. According to Almanac.com, cave paintings from more than 30,000 years ago depict men without beards, and archaeologists have uncovered artifacts that suggest hair was tweezed with shells or shaved with blades made from flint.

Fast forward to 3,000 BC, when purpose-made metal razors were all the rage in Egypt. In the Egyptian heat, most Egyptian men opted to remain clean-shaven, but pharaohs distinguished themselves from commoners with long false beards, usually sculpted from metal. Even Queen Hatshepsut adopted the practice after she assumed the throne, and many contemporary depictions show her in women’s clothing and with a long false beard.

Ancient illustrations of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC) commonly show him with a flowing beard and mustache to match. According to PBS, Confucius insisted that the body was a gift from one’s parents, and should never be modified, whether by shaving, cutting hair, tattooing skin, or trimming fingernails.

For Norse Vikings, beards were a source of pride, expected of all men and maintained through meticulous daily grooming. Viking hygiene routines were famous throughout medieval Europe, earning the indignation of contemporary chroniclers who worried (often not unreasonably) that the bearded and soap-obsessed Vikings would seduce Christian women.

During the late 17th century, beards fell dramatically out of fashion in Europe, thanks to Peter the Great’s “beard tax” in Russia. While mustaches remained acceptable, beards didn’t stage a return until the end of the Crimean War in 1854, when returning war heroes all sported beards.