In this blog I would like to discuss the various styles of male facial hair that have started becoming prevalent again on contemporary men. I do not want to confuse this with shaving, how to shave or razor burn prevention, but rather what exactly is a chin curtain? What is the difference, or is there a difference, between chin whiskers and a goatee? What are the cultural or religious influences in how men wear facial hair? We know that beards have kept our faces warm since prehistoric days but when exactly did styling our facial hair begin? Further updates on this blog will include illustrations and pictures showing the different shapes, styles and some general historical information. I think we have all seen pictures from history of various beards, and long moustaches? Abraham Lincoln made famous the chin curtain, Joseph Stalin with his walrus moustache, each a identifiable characteristic that was used in political cartoons and publications.
It started when I was standing looking in the mirror one morning with a face full of shaving cream holding a razor. I recalled my early youth, watching my father go through the ritual of wet shaving every day. Always the same procedure, and always the same style - totally clean with modest sideburns. Turning his face back and fourth, slow steady strokes, making taught his neck sticking his jaw out then periodically banging the razor on the side of the sink - swishing it in the water to clear it out. I do not ever remember seeing my father with a beard, or a moustache, or any sort of facial hair other then the two day stubble after a weekend. I was a senior in high school repeating those same movements and strokes to my own face. I watched as a simple moustache transformed my appearance starting something that has become a personal trademark that people connect to me.
Twenty years later a group of my co-worker (male co-workers, I say male because we do not tend to include females in facial hair conversations), and I were commenting on how we all sported the same style moustaches and how in some cultures it is a sign of manhood to have a certian style of facial hair. Hollywood has shown Italian men with a hairy, very full bushy upper lips, yet Asian and Oriental depictions show very thin precise markings. Middle Eastern cultures have men with full beards, or a derivations therof, deeply rooted in relgious convictions. Jewish males also have shaving and facial hair restrictions lending to a tradition that is identified throughout history.
I do not recall which co-worker it was but he remarked that we should all try to style our facial hair to something unique and see how people react to us, no matter how "out there" it might appear. After a few weeks our results and reactions were varied. We had one sporting and anchor, I was wearing a combination "lamb chops" and circle beard and our third cohort was fashioning a horseshoe around his upper lip. We found that once the initial outline was established, two or three subsequent shaves careful to follow the outline, made our style stand out. Reactions were for the majority positive. My immediate family was very receptive and I have since fashioned my facial hair to be something unique that is largely influenced by the weather. A face full of whiskers keeps a face warm when the cold wind bears down. No matter the style I wear, my trademark thick moustache remains.
Future updates will hopefully (participants willing) include real pictures of different facial hair styles and some information about the men that wear them. Please feel free to post comments or your own facial hair style with a little history about it.
Picture source located at http://www.ftmguide.org/facialhair.html More pictures can be seen on that site along with other useful information regarding facial hair styles.
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