University of Hertfordshire

This collection seeks to interrogate gender, sexuality, and nationhood through an analysis of facial hair. In a series of essays ranging from the early modern period to the late twentieth century, they explore the socio-political meanings behind the cultivation and removal of facial hair. They demonstrate that styles of hair not only embodied masculinity but were also tied up with questions of colonialism, romance, nature, barbarity versus civility, and virility. Facial hair was a cultural artefact that sent powerful messages about power and sexuality.