Beard. The hair of the beard, moustache, and whiskers, is usually, though not always, of the same colour as the hair of the head, but somewhat shorter, stronger, and more wiry; it is invariably the colour of the hair on the eyebrows. The beard is the distinctive sign of manhood. In women, an incipient beard sometimes appears in the later years of life. Instances also occur of women with a beard almost equal to that of the male sex, the most celebrated 'bearded lady' being Margaret of Parma, regent of the Netherlands (1559). The beard is generally luxuriant in persons of the Slavonic and Celtic races. The aborigines of America, who are naturally almost beardless, make themselves entirely so by plucking out the hairs of the beard. In early times the beard was considered by almost all nations a sign of strength and an ornament of manhood, was carefully cherished, and even regarded as sacred. Among the Turks, Arabs, Persians, and many other nations, the removal of the beard was, and is yet to a very great extent, regarded as a severe punishment, and an extreme degradation. The Moslems, who are accustomed to swear by the beard of the prophet and by their own, carry combs constantly about with them for the purpose of dressing the beard. It is common to do so immediately after prayers, the devotee remaining on his knees during the operation. The hairs that fall out are then carefully picked up and preserved for entombment with their owner when he dies; frequently he himself deposits them beforehand in his destined tomb. The ancient Jews did not dye their beards, but the practice was common among the Arabs and Persians. The Arabs dyed the beard red, not only because dye of that colour (being merely a paste of henna leaves) was easily obtainable, but because it was an approximation to golden yellow, the colour recommended by their prophet Mohammed, who hated black, the colour the Persians preferred. The red beards of some of the suite of the sultan of Zanzibar caused no little surprise on the occasion of his visit to England in 1875. The Persian kings are said to have interwoven their beards with gold thread. It is customary among the Turks to anoint the beard with perfume, and to smoke it with incense. The Jews also anointed their beards. The Moslems commonly clipped their whiskers, the Jews did not. The Egyptians shaved their beards except in time of mourning, when they let them grow. They sometimes, however, wore false beards of plaited hair, varying in form and length with the rank of the wearer. In Greece the beard was universally worn till the time of Alexander the Great, who ordered shaving, that the beards of his soldiers might not be laid hold of by their enemies in battle. Shaving was introduced among the Romans about 300 B.C. Pliny says Scipio Africanus was the first Roman who shaved every day. Subsequently, the first day of shaving was regarded by the Romans as the entrance upon manhood, and celebrated with great festivities. Under Hadrian, the beard was again allowed to grow, and this fashion prevailed till the time of Constantine the Great, when it was discontinued. Amongst the ancient West Goths and Burgundians, the removal of the beard was a sign of servitude, or loss of honour; nobles wore long beards. In the time of Charlemagne, the upper classes wore at most a moustache, while the common people cherished a full beard. The wearing of the beard, shorter or longer, was usual amongst the gentry from the 10th till the 12th century; subsequently throughout the middle ages the higher ranks shaved closely. Peter the Great compelled shaving in Russia by imposing a heavy tax upon the beard, and further, by having the beards of all whom he found wearing them plucked out by the roots, or shaved with a blunt razor. The beard was commonly worn in France till the time of Louis XIII., when, because the monarch was young and beardless, the fashion changed at the court and throughout the kingdom. A similar change took place in Spain on the accession of Philip V. The English wore beards for a considerable time after their invasion of Britain; and the beard appears to have been general among the people at the time of the Norman Conquest. But the Normans not only shaved themselves, but compelled the conquered to do so likewise; and many of the English chose rather to leave the country. It would appear, however, from sculptures on the tombs of kings and nobles, that not very long after the Conquest some of the Normans adopted the custom they had prohibited among the vanquished. Edward III. is represented on his tomb in Westminster Abbey with a very long beard. In the time of Elizabeth, beards were of the most varied and fantastic cut; and Taylor the 'Water-poet' satirises the extravagance of beards prevailing in that and the succeeding reign.
Under Charles I. were worn the moustache and peaked beard, familiar through Vandyke's portraits; in Charles II.'s reign moustaches only were worn; and the practice of shaving the whole face soon became general all over Europe. Among the clergy, too, there has been great diversity in the matter of beard-wearing at different times and in different countries. One is apt to associate the beards of the reformers with their Protestant tenets; but, as a matter of fact, all the popes were bearded from 1523 to 1691. Nowadays the clergy of the Eastern Church go bearded; of the Western, closely shaven. In the Anglican Church many of the inferior clergy have long worn beards; but Bishop Ryle of Liverpool (1880) was the first bearded prelate for many a day. The Worcestershire militia claims to have been the first English regiment to adopt the moustache, in 1798, and to have borrowed the idea from the Austrian service. The growth of the full beard dates in France from the capture of Algiers (1830), in England from the Crimean war (1855). In France during the second empire, moustache and 'imperial' after the manner of Napoleon III. were usual. For a good while a beard was regarded by some of the continental governments as a badge significant of democratic sentiments, and as such was interfered with by police regulations. Certain nations, such as Poles and Hungarians, usually grow only moustaches. Side-whiskers were long an especially English characteristic. Of late the tendency is to leave the individual to choose what particular portion of his face he will shave or leave unshaven. Physicians recommend that the beard should be allowed to grow on the chin and throat in cases of liability to inflammation of the larynx or of the bronchiae; and moustaches and whiskers are reckoned useful for prevention of toothaches and nervous diseases of the face. The beard is itself liable to the same diseases as the hair of the head, and to a peculiar disease (mentagra) occasioned or kept up by shaving, and consisting in a bark-like exudation from the inflamed sebaceous glands of the hair. See BARBER, HAIR.