During the Renaissance, the beard was the defining feature of a man
historytoday.com
historytoday.com
Fun fact; often there is a general ban on beards in underground coal mines because the miners need to be able to wear gas masks.
They declined during the early modern period, took off after 1850, went out of fashion in the early 20th century, were common place in the 60's and 70's, and declined again until the recent revival this century.
Another way to look at it is that periodically the somewhat-unnatural act of shaving becomes fashionable.
But yeah those multi blade cartridges are rather bad, not to mention expensive. I've seen a pack of cartridges with 6 or 8 blades each for $7 a piece recently. Not sure how much they last, but my DE blade lasts for months and costs $0.10 a piece... That "investment" in a $15 DE razor will keep paying off forever...
EDIT: that life time estimate is on the basis that I shave like one a week though, if you shave daily you'll go through a few $0.10 blades in a month maybe :)
I get about the same lifespan from a good safety/double edge blade as I used to from a Mach III blade, but with less irritation and lower cost (though my safety razor was unnecessarily expensive so it took a while to actually pay off). I would guess I get 5ish shaves out of a blade before it’s worth it to me to replace it.
Another point for DE, they don't clog on a week's stubble, I had to whack the cartridge I used before on every move. I actually broke the handle eventually.
I do not want to see what my face looks like, now.
If you ever did want to shave your beard, have a professional do it first and then maintain it with your own razor. And try different blades if you go with a double-edge safety razor. GP uses Feather, but Feather blades cut the crap out of my face. I've also used Gillette Silver Blue, which irritate my neck but work pretty well otherwise. And I've settled on Gillette Platinum which work really well for my face even dull.
Another tip is getting the water hot enough to make a good lather. A lot of modern apartment buildings set the water heaters low enough that I can't get a good lather, so I usually have to boil water in an electric kettle and then mix it down to a good shaving temperature.
It's totally worth it.
Finally, rub your stubble to get a sense of which direction your hair grows. Shave with the grain before shaving against it.
If I did shave, I'd probably go with an electric razor. For some years, I just used an electric clipper. I kept both head and face at 2-5 mm.
Anyway, it's not particular to the Renaissance at all.
"The dramatic uses of the sign of Renaissance masculinity par excellence – the beard – reveal how precarious, provisional and potentially groundless the ideology of early modern masculinity was, the very ideology upon which the sign-system of the stage relied. As we look at today’s hipsters – beards, man-buns and tattoos aplenty – we may also wonder what lies beneath the surface of the identities that they construct."
Appears the writer confuses criticism with competence. It's the conceit of modern academia. Yawn.
In conclusion the author encourages us to reflect on the difference between the person and the performance, and hold our assumptions lightly. You are not your beard.
"The dramatic uses of the sign of Renaissance femininity par excellence – the hairdo – reveal how precarious, provisional and potentially groundless the ideology of early modern femininity was, the very ideology upon which the sign-system of the stage relied. As we look at today’s hipsters – hairdos, cardigans and makeup aplenty – we may also wonder what lies beneath the surface of the identities that they construct."
Looking and dressing "right" is hard for some people. Approaching our expectations with a more removed perspective helps, but does tend to sound clinical. For what it's worth my gf complains about this kind of stuff in a way that sounds similar to me, but using somewhat less high-brow language. :)
EDIT: I asked gf what she thought of that paragraph: "meh i don't give shit it's fine." Then I asked if she thought a man could get away with saying it: "probably not on the internet LOL". n=1.
To address it directly, the article was a vehicle for a criticism of the legitimacy of masculine traits without demonstrating any competence in embodying them, making it a petty complaint wrapped in academ-ese.
If gender norms were arbitrary, anyone could be a good man, even a great one, and yet even though this is allegedly arbitrary, there are still so few of them. What the author views critically as "performance" is the effect of their embodiment, just as music is not arbitrary and merely performed, but the effect of the skill of the performer. This trope that masculinity is merely performitive is like saying Rachmaninoff or Arthur Rubinstein were just actors. It's the artifact of a dissociated hall of mirrors worldview that has seized intellectuals who have no grounding in physicality and competence. All I can add is, sure, totally performitive.
Having a critical theory of music does not make one a musician, and playing some show tunes doesn't make you a great one. While the listener is free to like or dislike it, the author's opinion carries about as much weight as any other complaint.
I do agree that a man is certainly not his beard, in fact to have one is a statement that he is more magnificent than his beard, which, given modern grooming concoctions, is a very bold statement to make indeed.
What makes hipsterdom so laughable is that their beards are more remarkable than their achievements. What makes this article laughable is the author can't tell the difference.
I would regret if my views were not presented clearly.
I think that it's mostly about people altering their appearance to influence others.
I don't think it helps to jump to conclusions and start slinging labels. Doesn't advance the conversation. Like if someone expressed some innocuous belief held by republicans and was accused of being a white supremacist because some white supremacists are republicans. That's the death of civil discourse.
By the time I hit 30, I was able to keep a decent goatee, but not a full beard. That didn't happen until a few years later.
Now my wife likes my full beard, and won't let me shave it off. Although she does like me to keep it shorter rather than longer.
Anyway, what's the point of this article? All I see is some woman swinging a gender ideology axe around looking for something to hit with an hazy insinuation or superficial remark. I honestly couldn't care less about hipster beards and no one claims that beards make a man a man, only that beards are a male feature.
That being said, as someone who can't grow a great beard, I'll always have the Romans; can't blame it on gas masks or TV ads back then.
To sell the author's new book.
Hoopskirts were used to represent matronly women in early American theatre: therefore women gathered around these laughable garments as a symbol of their femininity.
EDIT: To clarify, I'm talking about kempt facial hair, which is implied by the context of both the article in question and the comment that I'm responding to. Anyone can be unkempt, but that is never stylish.
I used to keep my beard neat enough with a pair of scissors, a mirror, and few minutes every few days. Then I got a wet-dry trimmer that I used periodically in the shower. Now I'm just growing it out (about 5 months in), and I work a dab of shampoo in occasionally.
Beard maintenance really isn't that onerous. I spend vastly more time grooming my untrimmed whiskers than I ever spent trimming them. Being clean-shaven takes significantly more frequent effort, and though I have no data points, given all the process involved in shaving, it probably takes a lot more time, all-in, too.
EDIT: Phrasing
Yeah sure it’s not a flowing 5 inch beard, but it’s still a beard. Point is, short beards require much less maintenance to consistently look well groomed than shaving every day in my experience.
Also, of course, the growth rate of the beard. I knew a man once who said he used to act in theatre and was often cast as the young lover type, and had to shave during intermission...
- fashion cycles, there was a need for a new one..
- vintage revival, fancy trimmed beards were a big thing in the previous 20s
- young people wanting to make their own shop, so they jump on the bandwagon
Based on the I know and hair dresser in my area, since ww2, it was mostly haircut shops in Paris, almost no barbershops if at all.
I'm a bit confused, do Romanians not typically have their hair cut by a professional or is there another term than "barber" / "barbershop."
He’s talking about hipster barbershops for men with the same decor as you would find in trendy neighborhoods of American cities. The hairdresser is likely to be a man and the price high. These barbershops are a new arrival in Romania (and most European countries). Of course in Romania we have always had our hair cut by a professional, but historically we have relied on unglamorous, hole-in-the-wall establishments where the hairdresser is a woman and the cost (at least for men) is minuscule.
Went to a barbershop once and despite clearly explaining and even showing pictures of what I want it ended up looking so horrendous (and impossible to fix since it looked like it was drawn with a thin pencil) that I decided to just do it myself. I’m very happy with the result and the whole thing takes 10, maybe 15 mins.
Downside: it’s not forgiving if you mess up :).
Across most of Europe, haircut shops and barbershops used to be the same thing all the way to the late 80s.
Independent, rich and alike unemployed people can dress and style themselves however they like. So it's hard to tell.
My friend was the exception - when we were younger she was allowed to work with a lip piercing, but only because she worked at Spencer's!
The best middle ground I found for me was shave once per week. Keeps it short and tidy and shaving isn’t a huge chore because it doesn’t get that long in a week.
This does not mean what you seem to think it means.