The Ginger Beard Man

A friend recently brought the National Beard Registry to my attention. The Registry's founding aim is 'to encourage men in all walks of life, from every continent, to resist conformity, corporate culture, and androgyny by embracing the beautiful, unique and utterly personal habit of growing a full beard.'

There's even a World Beard and Moustache Championship!

A quick search on Wikipedia provided the following follicular gems:

Ancient Egyptians associated facial hair with mourning. With the exception of a pencil-thin moustache or goatees, they generally found beards unattractive.

The nations in the east generally treated their beards with great care and veneration, and the punishment for licentiousness and adultery was to have the beard of the offending parties publicly cut off. They had such a sacred regard for the preservation of their beards that a man might pledge it for the payment of a debt.

The Persians are fond of long beards. We read in Olearius' Travels of a king of Persia who had commanded his steward's head to be cut off, and on its being brought to him, he remarked, "what a pity it was, that a man possessing such fine mustachios, should have been executed," but added he, "Ah! it was your own fault."

Apparently, the following styles are officially recognised beard-forms:

• Full - downward flowing beard with either styled or integrated moustache
  
• Chinstrap - a beard with long side burns then comes forward and end under the chin resembling a chinstrap, hence the name.
  
• Goatee - a beard formed by a tuft of hair on the chin, in some cases resembling that of a billy goat
  
• Garibaldi - wide, full beard with rounded bottom and integrated moustache
  
• Royale (or impériale) - is a tuft of hair under the lower lip. This is also known as a "soul patch" or "flavor saver"
  
• Stubble - a very short beard of only one to a few days growth
  
• Van Dyck - a goatee accompanied by a moustache
  
• Verdi - short beard with rounded bottom and slightly shaven cheeks with prominent moustache

Reminds me of an episode of the topical BBC quiz 'Have I Got News For You' where Paul Merton was asked to provide a caption for an image depicting a rather traditional looking Muslim gentleman with a violent magma-orange henna-dyed beard sporting a Jinnah cap standing at a bar.

The caption: "Barman! I ordered a ginger beer!"