The elimination of hair from those parts of the body where it is less
beautiful than a nude skin, is only one of the functions of Sexual
Selection. Another equally important function is the preservation and
elongation of the hair in a few places for ornamental purposes.
“We know from Eschricht,” says Darwin, “that with mankind the female as
well as the male fœtus is furnished with much hair on the face,
especially round the mouth; and this indicates that we are descended
from progenitors of whom _both sexes were bearded_. It appears,
therefore, at first sight, probable that man has retained his beard from
a very early period, whilst woman lost her beard at the same time that
her body became almost completely divested of hair.”
A long beard serves, to some extent, to protect the throat, but a
moustache serves no such use, and it seems therefore more probable that
beards as well as moustaches were developed in man for ornamental
purposes, as in many monkeys (see, for some very curious pictures of
bearded monkeys, _Descent of Man_, chap. xviii.) But why should women
have lost their beards while men retained theirs? Because of the
importance of emphasising the secondary sexual differences between man
and woman, on which the degree of amorous infatuation depends. The
tendency of evolution, as we have seen, has been to make the sexes more
and more different in appearance; and as man chooses his mate chiefly on
_æsthetic_ grounds, he habitually gave the preference to smooth-faced
women, whereas woman’s choice, being largely based on _dynamic_ grounds,
fell on the bearded and moustached men, since a luxurious growth of hair
is commonly a sign of physical vigour. Hence the humiliation of the
young man who cannot raise a moustache, and the reciprocal horror of the
young lady who finds the germs of one on her lip. Both are instinctively
afraid of being “boycotted” by Cupid, and for ever debarred from the
pleasures of mutual Romantic Love.
Women are quite right in dreading hair in the face as a blemish, for it
is not only objectionable as a masculine trait, but also as a
characteristic of old age, a hairy face being quite a common attribute
of aged females. But with men the case is different. Though women may
still be often influenced in their amorous choice by a beard, it is not,
as just pointed out, on æsthetic grounds; and it is indeed very dubious
if the beard can be accepted as a real personal ornament. True, the
ancient Greeks respected a beard as an attribute of maturity and
manhood, but their ideal of _supreme_ beauty was nevertheless an
unbearded youth: Apollo has neither beard nor moustache. The ancient
Egyptians had a horror of the bearded and long-haired Greeks. “No
Egyptian of either sex would on any account kiss the lips of a Greek,”
and whenever the Egyptians “intended to convey the idea of a man of low
condition, or a slovenly person, the artists represented him with a
beard” (Wilkinson). Similarly, in the second edition of his _Anatomy of
Expression_ (1824), Sir Charles Bell wrote that “When those essays were
first written there was not a beard to be seen in England unless joined
with squalor and neglect, and I had the conviction that this appendage
_concealed the finest features_. Being in Rome, however, during the
procession of the Corpus Domini, I saw that the expression was not
injured by the beard, but that it added to the dignity and character of
years.”
These two sentences contain the whole philosophy of beards. The
expression of character is not injured, but rather increased by a beard;
but if it conceals the fine features of youth it is objectionable. There
are men whose faces are too wide, and whose appearance is therefore
improved by a chin-beard; and there are others whose faces are too
narrow, and who consequently look better with side-whiskers. But in a
well-shaped youthful masculine face a beard is as great a superfluity,
if not a blemish, as in a woman’s face.
Now, since the faces of civilised races are undoubtedly becoming more
beautiful as time advances, it is comforting to know that,
notwithstanding female selection, the beard is gradually disappearing.
Very few men are able to raise a fine beard to-day, even with the
artificial stimulus of several years’ daily shaving; and the time, no
doubt, is not very distant when men will go to the cosmetic electrician
to have their straggling hairbulbs in the chin killed. This may produce
an inherited effect on their children; and the always smooth-faced
mother, too, cannot but exert some hereditary influence on her sons as
well as her daughters. The women, in turn, will inherit some of the
superior æsthetic Taste of the men, and begin to see that there is more
charm in a smooth than in a bearded face; while there will still be room
enough for those sexual differences in facial Beauty which feed the
flame of Love.
The following newspaper paragraph, though it may be a mere _jeu
d’esprit_, is amusing and suggestive: “A Frenchman sent a circular to
all his friends asking why they cultivated a beard. Among the answers 9
stated, ‘Because I wish to avoid shaving’; 12 ‘Because I do not wish to
catch cold’; 5 ‘Because I wish to conceal bad teeth’; ‘Because I wish to
conceal the length of my nose’; 6 ‘Because I am a soldier’; 21 ‘Because
I was a soldier’; 65 ‘Because my wife likes it’; 28 ‘Because my love
likes it’; 15 answered that they wore no beards.”
Moustaches are much more common to-day than beards, and it is barely
possible that they may escape æsthetic condemnation, and survive to the
millennium. Persons with very short upper lips or flat noses, it is
true, only emphasise their shortcomings by wearing a moustache; but in
broad faces with prominent noses a well-shaped, not too drooping,
moustache is no doubt an ornament, relieving the gravity of the
masculine features and adding to their expression. As Bell remarks:
“Although the hair of the upper lip does conceal the finer modulations
of the mouth, as in woman, it adds to the character of the stronger and
harsher emotions.” “I was led to attend more particularly to the
moustache as a feature of expression,” he says, “in meeting a handsome
young French soldier coming up a long ascent in the Côte d’Or, and
breathing hard, although with a good-humoured, innocent expression. His
sharp-pointed black moustache rose and fell with a catamount look that
set me to think on the cause.”
Young men may find in Bell’s remarks a suggestion as to how they may
make the moustache a permanent ornament of the human race. The movements
of the moustache are dependent on the muscle called _depressor alæ
nasi_. By specially cultivating this muscle men might in course of time
make the movements of the moustaches subject to voluntary control. Just
think what a capacity for emotional expression lies in such a simple
organ as the dog’s caudal appendage, aptly called the “psychographic
tail” by Vischer: and moustaches are double, and therefore equal to two
psychographic appendages!
Sexual Selection would not fail to seize on this “new departure” in
moustaches immediately in order to emphasise the sexual differences of
expression in the face, and thus increase the ardour of romantic
passion. A few days ago I came across an attempt in a German paper to
explain the meaning of the word Flirtation. The writer derives the word
from an old expression meaning to toss or cast about. This he refers to
the eyes, and thinks that the proper translation of Flirtation is
_äugeln_, _i.e._ to “make eyes.” We, of course, know that flirting is a
fine art which includes a vast deal besides _äugeln_; but “making eyes”
is certainly one of its tricks. Now, is it not probable that by and by,
when young men will have properly trained their _depressor alæ nasi_,
they will look upon the making of eyes as a feminine attribute, and,
instead of winking at their sweethearts, express their admiration by
some subtle and graceful movement of the moustaches? This would
obliterate Darwin’s assertion that Love has no special means of
expression.