Concerning Beards
February 28, 2021 2:13 AM   Subscribe

Dr Alun Withey, an historian of medicine and the body, has been researching pogonotomical matters - see, for example Beard Fashions and Class; To Dye for! Colouring the Beard in the 19th Century; The ‘Toilet Arts’: Men’s Personal Grooming and Advice Literature in the 19th Century; Barbers and Shaving in the Eighteenth Century and Shaving the Dead in Irish Folklore. Moreover, Dr. Withey's recent book Concerning Beards: Facial Hair, Health and Practice in England, 1650–1900 is available electronically as a free-to-download open access edition.

An additional link - a gallery of antique razors in the collection of Zak Jarvis.
posted by misteraitch (7 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
That antique razor like is sooo cool! Nice Sunday post!
posted by Dhertiiboi at 4:55 AM on February 28, 2021


This reminds me that I forgot to shave this morning.
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:30 AM on February 28, 2021


Zak's got quite the collection of malkies (Malky [→ Malcolm] Fraser: razor) there. Better collected than used for fighting, as they used to be in Glasgow. I love the way that the early blades were stamped “Indian Steel”, as Sheffield and Glasgow hadn't yet appropriated enough technology to gain the reputation for quality steel. Shades of the Dindigul locks post from a couple of months back.
posted by scruss at 5:59 AM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]


Cathedral beard: that's a good phrase. Although I think mine is longer than that, from what I find.
posted by doctornemo at 8:42 AM on February 28, 2021


I thought we had reached peak beard five years ago, but that wave has still not crested.
posted by fairmettle at 2:55 AM on March 1, 2021


fairmettle, I am playing my part.
posted by doctornemo at 5:54 AM on March 1, 2021


This is reminding me that I've always been clean-shaven because I once tried growing facial hair and one side of my moustache grew faster than the other one. I never figured out why, and gave the whole thing up as a bad project.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:10 AM on March 1, 2021


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