Editing Beard (section)

===From the Renaissance to the present day===
{{Original research section|date=June 2009}}

Most Chinese emperors of the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) appear with beards or mustaches in portraits.

In the 15th century, most European men in both the church and the nobility were clean-shaven. In the 16th-century beards became fashionable, particularly following the [[Reformation]] where many rulers, nobles and religious reformers grew long beards to distinguish themselves from the usually clean shaven Catholic clergy. By the mid 16th century most Catholic clergy also adopted beards. [[List of popes|Every pope]] from [[Pope Clement VII|Clement VII]] (pope 1523–1534) to [[Pope Innocent XII|Innocent XII]] (pope 1691–1700) would also sport facial hair. Some other beards of this time were the Spanish spade beard, the English square cut beard, the forked beard, and the stiletto beard. In 1587 [[Francis Drake]] claimed, in a [[figure of speech]], to have [[singed the King of Spain's beard]].

During the Chinese [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1911), the ruling [[Manchu]] minority were either clean-shaven or at most wore mustaches, in contrast to the [[Han Chinese|Han]] majority who still wore beards in keeping with the Confucian ideal.

In the beginning of the 17th century, the size of beards decreased in urban circles of Western Europe with the shape also becoming more pointed. By the middle of the century men usually wore a mustache or a pointed goatee. In the later part of the century, being clean-shaven gradually became more common again amongst the upper classes, so much so that in 1698 [[Peter the Great]] of Russia ordered men to shave off their beards, and in 1705 levied a [[beard tax|tax on beards]] in order to bring Russian society more in line with contemporary Western Europe. Throughout the 18th century essentially all upper class and most middle class European men would be clean shaven.<ref>[http://www.answers.com/topic/beard-tax Beard Tax: Information from]. Answers.com. Retrieved on 3 January 2011.</ref>

At the end of the 18th century, after the [[French Revolution]], attitudes began to turn away from the upper class fashions of the previous century particularly among the lower classes. During the early 19th century most men, particularly amongst the nobility and upper classes, went clean-shaven. However the shifts which had begun during the revolutionary period began to creep their way into first the middle and then the upper classes and this included the gradual return of facial hair. This is seen in the 1810s and 1820s with many men adopting [[sideburns]] or side whiskers which gradually grew in size in the ensuing decades. Facial hair also became more common amongst western armies during this period with the 'regimental mustache' becoming a common association with the soldiers of the time. 

This was followed by a dramatic shift in the beard's popularity following the [[Crimean War]] during the 1850s, with it becoming markedly more popular.<ref name="Jacob Middleton 2006">Jacob Middleton, 'Bearded Patriarchs', History Today, Volume: 56 Issue: 2 (February 2006), 26–27.</ref> Consequently, beards were adopted by many monarchs, such as [[Alexander III of Russia]], [[Napoleon III]] of France, [[Franz Joseph I of Austria|Franz Joseph I]] of Austria and [[William I, German Emperor|William I]] of Germany, as well as many leading statesmen and cultural figures, such as [[Benjamin Disraeli]], [[Charles Dickens]], [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]], [[Karl Marx]], and [[Giuseppe Verdi]]. This trend can be also recognised in the United States of America, where the shift can be seen amongst the [[List of presidents of the United States#Presidents|presidents during and after the Civil War]] in the period of 1861 - 1913. Before [[Abraham Lincoln]], no President had a beard;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Z6vCGbf66YC&pg=PA59 |title=Encyclopedia of Hair: A Cultural History | publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |author=Sherrow, Victoria |year=2006 |pages=59 |isbn=9780313331459 }}</ref> after Lincoln until [[William Howard Taft]], every President except [[Andrew Johnson]] and [[William McKinley]] had either a beard or a moustache. Since 1913 when [[Woodrow Wilson]] became president all presidents have been clean-shaven.

The beard became linked in this period with notions of masculinity and male courage.<ref name="Jacob Middleton 2006" /> The resulting popularity has contributed to the stereotypical Victorian male figure in the popular mind, the stern figure clothed in black whose gravitas is added to by a heavy beard. [[File:Gillette advert in the Literary Digest, June 9, 1917.jpg|thumb|upright|Gillette advert in the Literary Digest, 9 June 1917]]

In China, the revolution of 1911 and subsequent May Fourth Movement of 1919 led the Chinese to idealize the West as more modern and progressive than themselves. This included the realm of fashion, and Chinese men began shaving their faces and cutting their hair short.

By the early-twentieth century, beards began a slow decline in popularity. Although retained by some prominent figures who were young men in the Victorian period (like [[Sigmund Freud]]), most men who retained facial hair during the 1920s and 1930s limited themselves to a moustache or a [[goatee]] (such as with [[Marcel Proust]], [[Albert Einstein]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Leon Trotsky]], [[Adolf Hitler]], and [[Joseph Stalin]]). In the United States, meanwhile, popular movies portrayed heroes with clean-shaven faces and "[[crew cut]]s". Concurrently, the psychological [[mass marketing]] of [[Edward Bernays]] and [[Madison Avenue]] was becoming prevalent. The [[The Gillette Company|Gillette]] [[Safety razor|Safety Razor]] Company was one of these marketers' early clients. The phrase ''[[wikt:five o'clock shadow|{{visible anchor|five o'clock shadow}}]]'', as a pejorative for stubble, was coined circa 1942 in advertising for Gem Blades, by the American Safety Razor Company, and entered popular usage. These events conspired to popularize short hair and clean-shaven faces as the only acceptable style for decades to come. The few men who wore the beard or portions of the beard during this period were usually either old, Central European, members of a religious sect that required it, or in academia. This case of affairs would last all the way until the mid to late 1960s.

The beard was reintroduced to mainstream society by the counterculture, firstly with the "[[beatnik]]s" in the 1950s, and then with the [[hippie]] movement of the mid-1960s. Following the [[Vietnam War]], facial hair exploded in popularity. In the mid-late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, beards were worn by hippies and businessmen alike. Popular musicians like [[The Beatles]], [[Barry White]], [[The Beach Boys]], [[Jim Morrison]] (lead singer of [[The Doors]]) and the male members of [[Peter, Paul, and Mary]], among many others, wore full beards or mustaches. The trend of seemingly ubiquitous facial hair in American culture subsided by the beginning of the 1980s.
[[File:Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Evans Hughes]], 11th [[Chief Justice of the United States]] from 1930 to 1941]]
By the end of the 20th century, the closely clipped [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]] beard, often with a matching integrated moustache, had become relatively common. From the 1990s onward, fashion in the United States has generally trended toward either a goatee, [[Van Dyke beard|Van Dyke]], or a closely cropped full beard undercut on the throat. By 2010, the fashionable length approached a "two-day shadow".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2010/03/28/latest-in-facial-hair-the-two-day-shadow/ |work=Chicago Tribune |title=Latest in facial hair: The two-day shadow | first=Alexia |last=Elejalde-Ruiz |date=28 March 2010}}</ref> The 2010s decade also saw the full beard become fashionable again amongst young [[Hipster (contemporary subculture)|hipster]] men and a huge increase in the sales of male grooming products.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://scotsman.com/news/careless-whiskers-why-beards-are-back-in-fashion-1-3224369 |title=Careless whiskers: Why beards are back in fashion |work=scotsman.com |access-date=5 April 2015 |archive-date=8 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150408131506/http://www.scotsman.com/news/careless-whiskers-why-beards-are-back-in-fashion-1-3224369 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

One stratum of American society where facial hair was long rare is in government and politics. The last [[President of the United States]] to wear any type of facial hair was [[William Howard Taft]], who was in office from 1909 to 1913.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/914048/presidents-day-when-was-the-last-time-a-us-president-had-facial-hair-not-in-100-years/ |title=It's been more than a century since a US president had facial hair |last=Kopf |first=Dan |website=Quartz |date=19 February 2017 |language=en |access-date=10 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Stories Behind Everyday Things |publisher=Reader's Digest |year=1982 |isbn=0-89577-068-7 |location=United States of America |pages=36}}</ref> The current [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] JD Vance wears facial hair, but he is the first to do so since [[Charles Curtis]], who served from 1929 to 1933. All aforementioned men have had moustaches, but the last President of the United States to wear a proper beard was Benjamin Harrison; he was in office from 1889 to 1893. The last member of the [[United States Supreme Court]] with a full beard was Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], who served on the Court until 1941. Since 2015 a growing number of male political figures have worn beards in office, including Speaker of the House [[Paul Ryan]], and Senators [[Ted Cruz]] and [[Tom Cotton]]. JD Vance is also the first member of a presidential ticket to wear facial hair since [[Thomas Dewey]] in 1948.
{{-}}
<gallery mode="packed" widths="200" heights="200">
File:Friedrich Engels portrait (cropped).jpg|[[Friedrich Engels]] exhibiting a full moustache and beard that was a common style among Europeans of the 19th century
File:Johann Strauss II (3).jpg|[[Johann Strauss II]] with a large beard, moustache, and [[sideburns]]
File:Thomas Swann of Maryland - photo portrait seated.jpg|Maryland Governor [[Thomas Swann]] with a long [[goatee]]. Such beards were common around the time of the [[American Civil War]].
File:Black and white portrait of emperor Meiji of Japan.jpg|[[Emperor Meiji of Japan]] wore a full beard and moustache during most of his reign.
File:Johannes Brahms portrait (cropped).jpg|alt=|[[Johannes Brahms]] with a large beard and moustache
File:Walt Whitman edit 2.jpg|[[Walt Whitman]] with a large beard and moustache
File:Tolstoy Leo port.jpg|[[Leo Tolstoy]] with a large beard and moustache
File:WG Grace c1902.jpg|English cricketer [[W. G. Grace]] with his trademark beard
File:CheyFidel.jpg|Cuban revolutionaries [[Che Guevara]] (left) and [[Fidel Castro]] (right) with patchy beards
File:Ned Kelly in 1880.png|The [[Ned Kelly beard]] was named after the bushranger, [[Ned Kelly]].
</gallery>