When I started out with the beard I found the whole culture behind bearding with message boards, beard products and even bands fascinating and slightly confusing. So I bought a book or two on beards and bearding to get some directions around beardland, which have since spawned into a small but proper new section in my library. I thought I´d share that with you guys and write a short beard literature (beardrature?) review on my favourite books.


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Title: The Facial Hair Handbook
Author: Jack Passion
Publisher: Jack Passion LLC
Genre: handbook
 
This is basically a one-stop handbook for all things beard growing and grooming related. You can definitely tell that there is a lot of real-life experience behind the different suggestions – as it covers the psychological topics of bearding like “how to start growing a beard while staying employed” or “post traumatic shave disorder” alongside the more standard “how to trim” and “how to wash your beard” that other handbooks cover as well. It also gives some pointers to subjects as different as thinning beard hair or eating with a bigger beard. The writing style is concise and sometimes tongue in cheek – fun to read. 





Title: One Thousand Beards – a cultural history of facial hair
Author: Allan Peterkin
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Genre: socio-historic essays plus tidbits and (brief) grooming advice

 This is a very unique book, as it is (almost) the only work tackling beards from a historical and sociological angle. It is split into 13 different sections, each looking at a different beard aspect in the form of a medium length essay – i.e. “the religious beard”, “the antique beard” or “the medical beard”. It will also veer into the sociological and psychological aspects of bearding in chapters like “The unconscious beard”, “the gay beard” or “the regulated beard” - which the author, a Toronto based psychiatrist, handles really well. The book is interspersed with more or less well-known (and sometimes surprising) beard quotes, pictures and illustrations. The writing style is academic yet fluent without being dumbed-down, very enjoyable.  





Title: Beard
Author/Photographer: Matthew Rainwaters
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Genre: portrait photography

This is a small format picture book featuring portrait photos of participants of the World Beard and Moustache Championships 2009 in Alaska.  I am not really qualified to judge photography, but the style is visually quite appealing to me as someone who can´t tell lens flare from photoshop. The WBMC 2009 was featured in an episode of “Whisker Wars”, so if you enjoyed the series you will find a few familiar faces. The most interesting aspect for me was the
depiction of a truly wide range of different facial hair styles, from the wildest manes to the most finely sculpted moustaches.

 



Title: The Gentleman´s Guide to Beard and Moustache Management
Author: Chris Martin
Publisher: The History Press
Genre: handbook/gift book

A really nice gift and/or small format coffee table book. It comes in a sturdy hardcover and covers the history of beards, famous bearded men, how to choose a beard style matching your face, moustache styling, etc. With the wide range of topics covered it doesn´t go into detail as much as the other books, but it is a nice quick read and would be my first choice as a gift for someone beard interested. 





Title: The Bearded Gentleman, the style guide to shaving face
Author: Allan Peterkin, Nick Burns
Publisher: Arsenal Pulp Press
Genre: handbook

This is the second handbook that I really enjoyed. Like the Facial Hair Handbook, the style guide will give you an overview about the ins and outs of growing and maintaining a beard. Unlike the Jack Passion Handbook it emphasizes all the common and uncommon different styles how a beard and/or moustache can possible be worn and how to trim and maintain them. So if you are unsure how you want to wear you face-warmer this book could be a big help. 





Title: The Gigantic Beard that was evil
Author: Stephen Collins
Publisher: Jonathan Cape
Genre: graphic novel

Finally something entirely different. I think weekilter posted something about this book and after reading a review I went ahead and bought it. It´s a graphic novel about an office clerk living in a sheltered world on an island where life is regulated and maintained; and so is his life until a hair on his face starts to grow and grow and step-by-step the unruly beard hair brings chaos into order, both for himself and the islanders around him. I can highly recommend this book. The artwork and storytelling are stunningly beautiful and achieve a strong visual and emotional impact with very minimalistic means.


FAQs

-I just want a guide to growing and grooming, which one is best?
The Facial Hair Handbook or The Gentleman´s Guide to Beard and Moustache Management. The Handbook focuses more on the different aspects of how to grow a beard, the Guide on which style to choose and how to maintain it, both are good.

-I want to do something academic; do you have a literature recommendation?
Get One Thousand Beards – a cultural history of facial hair, it has an extensive and well structured literature appendix.
 
-That´s too many books, which ones do you really recommend?
The gigantic beard that was evil and one thousand beards for being really unique. The other books are handy, but you can look at nice beards and get grooming tips online.

-That´s not enough books, what else is interesting?
Those are my favorites but send me a pm, maybe I can help you.
 

I have written a bit about different beard products here:
moustache cups and mugsbeard brushes and combs
beard literature | simple homemade beard oil

my beard journey | my bart * aber herzlich beard oil | Bartöl store (external link, not affiliated with or endorsed by beard board)
Last Edited By: dantes May 12 14 9:15 AM. Edited 1 times.