From Ancient Egypt to Modern Men: The Epic Tale of Beard Balm
EGYPTIANS
At sunrise in the Egyptian desert, bearded shadows rise from the sands. Men venerated their beards almost as much as their hieroglyphs. Sadhu leader in the Western Desert of Egypt. Men anointed their beards with fragrant oils such as myrrh, frankincense, and beeswax in inviolable rituals. As each oil dripped upon the beard, the chill desert air caused the droplets to glisten like tiny, mystical rainbows.
ROMANS
The Romans, too, kept their whiskers in tip-top condition. Beards were political statements as well as manly symbols, and Roman men drew them out with olive and castor oils to make them sleek and silky. Their facial fur was subject to combing with ivory and bone combs to keep it more Julius Caesar than jungle barbarian. The quest for the perfect beard is as old as mankind itself.
MIDDLE AGES
Noblemen and knights carried them like status symbols during the Middle Ages, but even then, political and religious prevailing winds occasionally made the style controversial. (Pope Gregory VII ordered priests to maintain their beards; Henry V told his noblemen to strike a clean-shaven, civilized pose.) Yet even then, beards remained as sturdy as stone castle walls.
18TH CENTURY
It was a favourite of the womanizer Casanova, marketed in the 1700s by the Frenchman Antoine Bérard. His ‘Pomade Divine’ was a salve that moisturized, healed and tamed everything from skin to hair, and developed through several generations of secretive Bérard women into a beauty bible essential to every French woman’s kit. Initially a skin saver, it became a universal beauty-bag hero.
19TH CENTURY
By the mid-1800s, beards had returned, and the men to don them could not be nicer: Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Karl Marx. Facial hair was back: it was, once more, the insignia of intellectual and aesthetic defiance, uniting the minds of two worlds.
20th Century
The razor’s heyday of the mid-20th century was followed by the great beard revival of the 1970s, which famously flew the banner of counterculture. Musicians and beatniks grew their whiskers long, and while they occasionally wielded spray and tools to keep them under control, dandruff and split-ends were tolerated. During the ‘80s and ‘90s, beard balm was a must-have for aficionados.
21ST CENTURY
The beard is the one piece of male grooming that is currently all the rage, and modern balm – argan oil, shea butter and coconut oil fused with pure essential oils and organic botanicals – can tame any beard into something to be proud of. A swipe of balm can keep your beard looking good, lustrous and healthy enough to meet the day.
CONCLUSION
From the beautiful allure of the desert sands in Egypt to the busy metropolitan streets of today, beard balm has always been more than just a styling aid. It is an age old tradition, a statement as two sides of the same coin and the ever present companion to every respectable bearded man. If you’re on the lookout for something to help your beard stay tamed, without compromising on it’s look and feel, check out the Wicked Beard Company.
Stay Wicked!
