Welcome back to another episode of the Art of Manliness podcast! In this edition, we talk about the history of beards and facial hair with Allan Peterkin, author of 1000 Beards: The Cultural History of Facial Hair. Find out why popes are beardless, what psychologists have said your beard unconsciously says about you, and why politicians don’t have beards anymore.
You can buy a copy of Allan’s book from Amazon.
For excerpts of the book, check out Falcon Motorcycles.
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Great post – I feel so enlightened
I enjoyed this latest podcast. I have one point of disagreement though. I have worked for major US banks for the past decade and have worn a beard for the last 3 years with no problems. In fact I have noticed that facial hair and even full beards are about as common in the banking industry as in any other walk of life.
Hmm, unfortunatley I was taught to never trust a man with a beard! To this day I don’t really go for facial hair even though you can’t really get much manlier that a good old handle bar mustache.
Fortunately my four year old daughter shares none of my misconceptions about facial hair and is always entreating her dear papa to grow a beard so that she can “snuggle up to it.” The thought makes me shudder but each to their own taste!
Just found out about those podcasts – a pleasant change of pace.
Shaving done right is a lost art – most men I see walk around with a not-so-neat stuble… Same goes for beards. Most men look uglier, though some manage to actually achieve a better look through using a beard. – for example to appear less fat than they are…
Anyways – keep ‘em coming,
Yavor
For me i dont really like bearded guys, maybe the just shaved the other look, but not a full beard.
As a kid around 5 or 7 I remember being very fascinated by my father’s facial hair. He use to have this mustache and pork chop side burns which now later in life I realise was his throwback from the 70’s. I have never seen him without them for the entirety of my life, and would often imitate him in the morning as he shaved and groomed. To me it was one of his defining traits that made me say, hey thats my dad! Along with the multitude of life lessons love and respect he shared with me and my family.
As for myself I tried to emulate him in as many ways as I can including facial hair. I never quite got the handle of those big ole side burns but from a teenager into adulthood I have always groomed my facial hair from a little stubble when into first appeared into a full beard to this day.
I use a brush and cup with natural soap to shave with like the old days! If you put some aloe in it, you will have the best shave you have ever had! I will never go back to disposable again! Keep the beards! But keep them neat!
I find it funny that it was said that in the banking industry facial hair is seen as a no no. I say I find it funny because the top man in charge of our top financial institution, The Federal Reserve, sports a mighty beard!
i am wearing a beard.
i am using a 5-blade vibrating razor and hot water – steel and very hot water, no soap, nothing else.
i get the same “cutting”-rate, but more control over the “beard-line”.