Did you know that beards in Britain have been up and down over the ages? Once only sported by royalty, today sported more by hipsters than anyone else, the beard has certainly gone in and out of fashion over the years. In the past a beard or the absence have been viewed as signs of power, masculinity, strength and even godliness!
Here are 10 cool facts about Beards in Britain:
1. Barbers of the past were also the surgeons. Still to this day you will notice surgeons have the title Mr and Mrs rather than Dr, this is because historically surgeons were barbers rather than doctors. Up until the mid-18th century, the person who shaved your face might also perform minor surgery or draw blood, probably using the same instruments.
2. In the mid 19th century if you were an MP or anyone of importance you were expected to have a beard, moustache or other whiskers. Looking neat then was a sign of femininity.
3. Only 100 years before, it was the complete opposite! Being clean-shaven was seen as the height of manly sophistication.
4. Interestingly, in 1832 Charles Darwin recorded that a group of Fugian natives had taken several; of his shorter, clean shaven crew mates for women.
5. Soldiers serving in India during the time of the British Empire would send letters to their superiors begging them to be allowed to grow beards as the locals would not stop laughing at them.
6. Having facial hair was of so much importance to the Victorians that many men were encouraged to buy false moustaches and whiskers. The army even handed out goat hair moustaches to recruits who couldn’t grow one themselves.
7. One of the reasons facial hair became so popular in Victorian Times was the Crimean War. Many soldiers returned from this war with the moustaches and beards they’d grown to keep out the cold. The Raglan Moustache would have been very common during this time!
8. A very unlikely beard style that we do not think will be making a return today is the Newgate Beard, named after the prison that housed London’s gallows! The face was shaved, but the hair was grown on the neck in the place that a noose would fit. A little too morbid a beard style for us we think!
9. Over the ages some pretty outrageous health claims have been made about facial hair. Including, beards filter air, guard the throat and protect against sunburn. The last of those has been partially proven in recent times, where scientists proved that facial hair can actually have a sun protection factor of 21.
10. At the height of the 19th century beard mania there was even a brief but bizarre fashion for women to tie their tresses under their chins to mimic facial hair!
