Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
    A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
    A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
    Ebook90 pages37 minutes

    A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management

    By Chris Martin

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Do you know how to trim your whiskers properly? With beards and moustaches more popular than ever, this delightful little book sets out to answer this pressing question. And if a trim is not required, then it will show you how to wax, polish and maintain your face furniture so that it is always in tip-top condition. Alongside these manly grooming tips is a guide to famous facial-hair aficionados, from Karl Marx to Des Lynam; a breakdown of styles; and a perambulation through hirsute history, including an explanation of why the beard was considered sacred by the ancient Greeks and slovenly by ancient Romans. So whether it’s the Handlebar or the Chevron; the Goatee or the Spade – peruse this book for hints and tips of how to handle your facial fuzz.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherThe History Press
    Release dateJun 6, 2011
    ISBN9780750952385
    A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
    Author

    Chris Martin

    CHRIS MARTIN is this very moment endeavoring to become himself, a somemany and tilted thinking animal who sways, hags, loves, trees, lights, listens, and arrives. He is a poet who teaches and learns in mutual measure, as the connective hub of Unrestricted Interest/TILT and the curator of Multiverse, a series of neurodivergent writing from Milkweed Editions. His most recent book of poems is Things to Do in Hell (Coffee House, 2020) and he lives on the edge of Bde Maka Ska in Minneapolis, among the bur oaks and mulberries, with Mary Austin Speaker and their two bewildering creatures. 

    Read more from Chris Martin

    Related to A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management

    Related ebooks

    Fashion For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Romans Dressing The Part

      May 30, 2022

      Romans Dressing The Part
      7 min read

    • Article

      Getting Started

      Sep 1, 2022

      Getting Started
      2 min read

    • Article

      Medieval Life

      Dec 21, 2023

      Medieval Life
      5 min read

    • Article

      Scribe

      Aug 15, 2019

      Scribe
      1 min read

    • Article

      A Testament to Survival

      Sep 1, 2020

      A Testament to Survival
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Europeans Take Over

      Mar 2, 2020

      ANYONE RIDING A horse automatically feels “superior” to people who are not riding horses. They feel that way because they are looking down on the pedestrians, knowing that the pedestrians will always get out of their way. On a horse, one “naturally”

      10 min read

    • Article

      Mullets Through The Ages

      Oct 3, 2021

      If your mullet ever cops a bit of flack from judgy relatives (or those who think the cut is just for bogans and young ne’er-do-wells) hit them with its historic bona fides. Ancient Greek poet Homer is credited with the first written mention of the st

      5 min read

    • Article

      Horse Brasses

      Aug 6, 2021

      Horse Brasses
      2 min read

    • Article

      Hairstyles in History

      Nov 1, 2022

      Hair is great for keeping your head warm. But why stop there? It can be a work of art too! Here’s a peek at some of history’s great moments in hairstyling. In the time of the pyramids, Egyptians wore their hair oiled and braided—or not at all. Wea

      2 min read

    • Article

      Thames Treasure Hunters

      Nov 7, 2019

      Thames Treasure Hunters
      8 min read

    • Article

      Evolution Of The Knight

      Mar 27, 2020

      Evolution Of The Knight
      9 min read

    • Article

      Dark Fashion

      Jan 4, 2019

      Dark Fashion
      9 min read

    • Article

      England, Our England

      Jun 8, 2018

      England, Our England
      9 min read

    • Article

      Irish Folklore

      Mar 21, 2024

      Irish Folklore
      10 min read

    • Article

      A Call To Arms

      Nov 23, 2022

      A Call To Arms
      4 min read

    • Article

      Horns Of Plenty

      Nov 15, 2023

      Horns Of Plenty
      5 min read

    • Article

      Deadly Fashion

      Aug 10, 2023

      Deadly Fashion
      7 min read

    • Article

      Unmasking Mythical Monsters

      May 13, 2021

      Unmasking Mythical Monsters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Fine-feathered Crows

      Mar 1, 2022

      Fine-feathered Crows
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Giant-sized Enigma

      Mar 14, 2024

      A Giant-sized Enigma
      2 min read

    • Article

      Putting A Face To A Name

      Feb 12, 2020

      Putting A Face To A Name
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Confusion of Camels

      Jul 1, 2019

      A Confusion of Camels
      4 min read

    • Article

      Written In The Dam

      Jul 26, 2023

      Whatever its future in Britain, the beaver has a considerable, if distant past here. It is one of our lost species. A score of place names indicate its former native presence, notably Beverley in East Yorkshire and Beversbrook in Wiltshire. Once plen

      2 min read

    • Article

      When In Rome!

      Nov 17, 2022

      When In Rome!
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      A Gentleman's Guide to Beard and Moustache Management - Chris Martin

      Introduction

      THERE IS an old proverb that says it is manners that make a man. While a solid command of your Ps and Qs may cut it during tea with your grandmother, in the real world we all know that facial hair is the true mark of the alpha male.

      Beards and moustaches distinguish men from boys and – mercifully – men from women. They create a direct and hot-blooded connection with our dinosaur-wrestling ancestors and demonstrate a dedication to personal style that would leave Beau Brummel speechless.

      The Oxford English Dictionary defines the verb ‘to beard’ as ‘to boldly confront or challenge someone formidable’ and in this book we’ve done just that. We have defied slovenly convention to raise an overflowing glass to the noble art of pogonotrophy. In these pages you will find beards that define the spirit of adventure and academia that made men great, and moustaches of such sophistication that they could make even the most hard-hearted of ladies swoon.

      Whether you favour a French Fork, a Donegal, an American Standard or a Fu Manchu, beards and moustaches – be they waxed or natural – make a powerful statement about the kind of man you are.

      We offer you these grooming secrets in the hope of ensuring that a new generation of hirsute gods will walk the earth once more.

      A

      Short History

      of Facial Hair

      FOR AS long as man has grown facial hair, the beard has been with us. Join us now as we take a journey through the history of pogonotrophy throughout the ages.

      PREHISTORIC &

      NEOLITHIC BEARD MAN

      One likes to think that when our earliest ancestors crawled from the primordial ooze, they wore a Goatee at the very least. Our earliest records of the state of men’s faces probably come from cave paintings. Unfortunately, the representations of human beings found in these ancient images are usually symbolic, so we don’t really know if prehistoric man wore a beard or not. But as these early artists took great care to describe every element of the world around them and there are no drawings of stone razors, mud shaving foam or twig hair tongs, it seems safe to assume that early man was bearded.

      Around 300 BC man started shaving with flint. Indeed, archaeologists have found evidence of men using a variety of unpleasant tools to remove their whiskers, including clam shells and sharks’ teeth. This must have been extremely tricky and frankly quite painful. Nonetheless, a formal portrait from ancient Iran from around this time shows a man with a magnificent moustache riding a horse while – no doubt – wincing from screaming razor burn.

      ANCIENT & CLASSICAL WORLD

      In the early classical civilisations we first see the deliberate styling of a man’s facial hair, from an unruly and unchecked growth hacked at with sharpened stones, to a refined symbol of manhood, wisdom and prestige.

      In the Homeric epics of ancient Greece beards were celebrated and portrayed as a badge of virility. When asking for royal favour, it became a form of entreaty to touch the beard of your king. A smooth face was condemned as a sign of effeminacy to the point where the terrifying macho Spartans took to punishing those they considered to be cowards by shaving off their beards.

      The ancient Egyptians, on the other hand, were a bit on the fey side and didn’t much care for face fuzz. Copper and gold razors used by the pharaohs have been unearthed in Egyptian tombs. While it may have been fashionable to be soft-cheeked, to give the Egyptians their effeminate due they did at least try to enhance the hair they did have on their chins – usually with henna-based dyes or plaits laced with gold thread to show their ranking in society. Ultimately, the only beards that were really valued by the Egyptians were fake ones, and queens, kings and sometimes even sacred cows took to wearing ornate chin covers fashioned from precious metals, known as postiches.

      Luckily the two next great civilisations to come along – in Mesopotamia and Persia – were far more in tune with their bearded selves. Their upper classes grew their beards long and took great pains to style them, using special oils and heated tongs to create long patterned tresses and decorative ringlets.

      ANCIENT MACEDONIA

      Such unchecked growth in the popularity of beards could not continue, and by the time of Alexander the Great it would all go wrong. Legend has it that the Macedonian custom of shaving the face smooth was introduced when Alexander was preparing to fight against the impressively bearded Persians. When one of his officers brought him word that the army was ready for battle, Alexander promptly decreed

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1