Nowadays, every man decides on his own how to look better: be with a beard or clean-shaven. Many people prefer to appear cultured, friendly, rather than aggressive and pretending to male superiority. And the classic version of the beard can now be considered a rather rare occurrence.
Why do you need a beard?
In the era of primitiveness, the lower part of the face overgrown with hair was the main sign of the difference between a person and a primate and indicated the male gender.
With the onset of puberty in men, hair grows on the cheeks and chin, which grows rapidly. If you do not shave for several years, then the beard will reach an impressive length.
For many years there have been discussions: why does a man need a beard? Many believed that she protected the primitive male hunters from the cold in the winter, in the summer she helped to hide from the heat. This hypothesis looks true only from one side: a beard can be a means of cooling, but not warming. In fact, facial hair is a sign of gender.
Sign of authority
The beard was once considered a symbol of strength and masculinity, even sacred. The ancient Egyptian pharaohs had to apply them in order to appear majestic and wise at solemn ceremonies. The stronger sex could swear by his beard.
The ancient rulers spent a lot of time decorating and caring for it: they painted, braided and curled, decorated with threads of gold or gold dust, which testifies to the importance they attached to it.
Can you be beardless?
Once upon a time, most men could not imagine themselves without a beard, the thought of parting with it seemed just tragic. Shaving her is an insult to God or a terrible shame.
But from among the passionate bearded defenders, clean-shaven men stood out in ancient times. The first razor was made of flint, later iron ones began to appear, and the Aztecs, who lived in the center of the American continent, made them from volcanic rock.
There was even a conflict over the beard in Ancient Egypt. Evaluating a man as a symbol, the Egyptians attached great importance to her. Members of the ancient Egyptian elite often shaved with gilded razors adorned with precious stones. The priests considered the signs of animals to be hair growing on any part of the body. But at important events, the Egyptians from the upper class put on beards.
As a military style, shaving was introduced to the ancient Greeks and Romans. As a sign of complete obedience to God, priests and adherents of the foundations of different religions sacrificed their beards.
Alexander the Great ordered his soldiers to shave their beards before the battle in order to prevent the enemy from taking an active seizure. Shaved Roman soldiers thus distinguished their soldiers in battle from their bearded barbarian enemies.
Fashion and rules
Gradually, shaving became a fashionable phenomenon in Rome, due to a shortage of barber, it was necessary to bring them from the island of Sicily. Barber shops were in great demand among the Roman inhabitants. The famous commander Scipio shaved three times a day, and the great Julius Caesar did it on his own, fearing to trust the servants.
For a long time, people adhered to fashion in different ways: some maintained the appearance of a shaved face, others - on the contrary. After the split in the 11th century, the Christian Church, in order to distinguish it from the Orthodox, Catholics left their face without a beard.
It even happened when the fashion for this masculine identity could change by the decision of the ruler. For example, once the French, respecting their king, who covered a terrible scar on his chin, also grew beards. And the Spanish subjects went about shaved, because one of their masters could not manage to grow a beard.
Religious orders about shaving over time began to introduce rules that involved punishment if they were not followed. Some were forbidden to shave, others were punished for violating the established requirements for the regularity of this procedure.
There were times when only people who paid a considerable tax for it could boast of a beard. Thus, in the era of Queen Elizabeth of England, she was a symbol of prosperity. And it happened that men who wanted to wear a beard had to show courage and stubbornness.
And yet, over time, shaving has become a habit for the stronger sex. Beards remain in societies with a patriarchal view of men, or in groups of religious fanatics that control a person's appearance.
Decree of Peter I
Everyone in Russia knows the personality of Peter I, a strong man, capable of doing things unusual for everyone. At the end of the 17th century, the Russian tsar, by his decree, ordered all boyars, merchants and other people to cut their beards. As the legend says, he himself, with the help of an ax, deprived his boyars of their permanent attribute - a beard. For the Russian people, this event seemed like a real collapse, they took their beards so seriously, so indignation flared up among the people. But Peter I did not confine himself to this innovation: then came short caftans, cut-off sleeves, coffee and tobacco.
