Facial hair - or pogonotrophy is a phenomena found in humans - usually men.
It is a secondary sex characteristic - the primary being the genitalia and, but the secondary are other characteristics that demonstrate the sex of an animal, for example, the male mandarin duck's plumage, a peacock's tail, the horn of a narwhal.
Facial hair starts during puberty, usually between ages 11 and 20. Hair begins to grow around the groin, under the arms and then creeps up on to the face. The top lip comes first, starting on the outside edges and moving inward.
But why do we have facial hair?
Well, hair has many thermodynamic properties - if you were to look at it under a microscope you'd see its composed of coils of keratin - the thing that makes hair, nails and harder bits of skin. These coils mean the hair can act like a spring, stretching to over 150% of its own length and still return to normal.
It is also permeable and holds water. It acts as a very good thermal conductor and aids transfer of heat away from the body.
It also moves the sense of touch off the skin and into the air, as follicular nerves detect movement of air.
But why do humans have so little body hair compared to primates?
There are two explanations:
1) National selection: Those with less hair have fewer parasites and live longer, therefore breed more and pass their hairless genes on.
2) Sexual selection: The younger (and therefore the more hairless) a potential mate looks the more likely we are to feel protective over it. Thus the more hairless choices in the human pack are more likely to breed and have hairless children.
This is called neotemus or pedomorphism and is common in a lot of animals, including humans whereby they deliberately appear younger to seem less of a threat and increase the chances of one of their own species - or even a different species to look after them.
Facial hair grows when testosterone is released into the system.
BEARDS
Grows on the chin, cheeks and neck. It grows faster in the summer as the body produces more dihydrotestosterone which is the most powerful hair-growing hormone.
The Ancient Egyptians grew patch on their chins and dyed them with henna. Some women, with beard envy, also wore false gold beards called a postiche.
Adam Olearius in the 1630s wrote of what was then Persia (now Iran): That when the King executed his steward, he was sad afterwards, saying, "What a pity that a man possessing such fine mustachios should have been executed." Which goes to show how important facial hair was back then.
Or maybe it was just the steward had no other redeeming feature.
The Ancient Greeks viewed it as virile and if you saw your friend you would often touch their beard instead of say, shaking their hand. The Greeks loved beards and Spartans were even punished by having their beards shaved.
Then Alexander the Great comes along and gets scared because soldiers are being killed on the battlefield left, right and centre. Enemy soldiers were using the beards as leverage to yank down the head and decapitate the hapless victim. Alex ordered his army to shave. And started a revolution.
Not in the army, they were good soldiers and did what they were told, but across the world where shaving suddenly became very fashionable, Old Aleey G had started a trend.
Many were horrified by the turn of events - previously a beard was a symbol of your manhood. But it was popular. Even Aristotle was at it, much to the chagrin of other philosophers as many of the deep thinkers thought a beard was a symbol of their profession. It gives rise to the idiom, "The beard does not make the sage." Which I think Aristotle would be comforted by.
In Rome they also shaved. Mostly because the Greeks didn't and they wanted to distinguish themselves. When a Roman boy reached the age of maturity, he'd be given a toga instead of the tunic he wore in his youth. And he was ceremonially shaved, the hair put into a box and burned in sacrifice to the gods.
In 1705, Peter the Great (a different the Great this time, keep up), wanted Russian society to be more like the further developed Western world. He saw this as being presentable and clean-shaved. So he passed a beard-tax: if you wanted a beard now you had to pay for it.
If you did pay the ransom you were rewarded with a special coin to present to officials that challenged your hairy chin. On one side it was inscribed with an eagle. On the other, in true Russian fashion, was a picture of a beard and the phrase, "The beard is a superfluous burden."
But it wasn't even the first beard tax. Henry VIIIth started one, and what's more his daughter Queen Elizabeth I carried it on! Under this tax, only beards over 2 weeks' growth were taxed a percentage based on your cultural position.
MOUSTACHES
...Only really started appearing around 300BC. In technological terms, they were technically achievable from about 9500BC with a piece of sharpened stone, but nobody really was into the idea, according to portraits we've found, until 300 BC.
The best moustaches around the world are judged by the World Beard and Moustache Championships. There are several catagories:
-Natural: No styling products or false supports. Length is restricted to 1.5cm beyond the upper lip.
-English: Minimal styling products, no length limit, preferably as long as possible and brushed into a centre parting.
-Dali: Straight, waxed, arching or pointing up or down
-Imperial: Small and busy with the tips pointing up.
-Freestyle: Everything else.
There is a difference between a beard with a moustache and top, and not. Most people assume the goatee is like David Brent, but actually the goatee only refers to the chin. If you add a moustache to it, like Ricky Gervais did, it's actually called a Van Dyck.
The Religious Implications of Facial Hair
In Greece, Zeus and Poseidon have beards but Apollo doesn't.
Christ has a beard, but curiously on most crucifixes there aren't chunks missing where the beard was plucked by his tormentors.
In Hinduism, Shaivite ascetics have beards as they aren't permitted to own anything, including a razor.
In Islam the prophet Muhammad declared growing a beard was Summah, therefore necessary to get into heaven.
In Judaism it is forbidden to shave with a blade or razor and the Torah forbids pressing a sharp blade against the skin. However, in the modern world, scissors or an electric razor can take their place.
The Zohar is the head of the Kabbalah movement and claims the hairs of his beard are the channels of energy that flows from above to the human soul.
