# Why did the Puritans shave?



## JM (Dec 31, 2012)

As many of you already know the Puritans were called 'round heads' because they kept their hair cut close and shaved their faces. Was their a theological reason for this? I know they cut their hair to reduce lice infestation but why the face? Was it to reduce lice in the beard?

From what I've read the Anabaptists and others did not shave, most men folk had beards and or facial hair. Was it just the style like Driscoll sporting a mock hawk? 

Thanks.


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## JM (Dec 31, 2012)

It looks like Bishop Laud instructed clergy to keep their hair short so the Puritans stopped cutting it short and grew it out...which makes me wonder why they shave it in the first place. Was it really to get rid of lice?

FileuritanGallery.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## SolaScriptura (Dec 31, 2012)

Probably because they knew that just because God put it on your face doesn't mean we have to keep it there.


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## Gforce9 (Dec 31, 2012)

Probably because they didn't want to become Norseman Moderators on the PB.........It could be true........


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## jandrusk (Dec 31, 2012)

I think they probably wanted to be good stewards of the food God had blessed them with and thought it would not be wise with wearing half of their meals on their beards.


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## JM (Jan 1, 2013)

So shaving to the Puritans is the equivalent to modern Pastors wearing mock hawks...got it.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Jan 1, 2013)

Whether we like to admit it or not, style and fashion do play a part in the way we dress. It can take the form of conformity to the norm or rebellion against the norm. The puritans were human and subject to human behavior just as much as any of us are. I think we do both them and ourselves a great disservice by attaching some type of great spiritual significance to every detail of their lives. Sometimes a beard is just a beard and a bow tie is just a bow tie.


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## Zach (Jan 1, 2013)

And sometimes a beard is the beard that Randy had in some of his old pictures he's shared on the Board, which is certainly not just a beard.


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## jandrusk (Jan 1, 2013)

Zach said:


> And sometimes a beard is the beard that Randy had in some of his old pictures he's shared on the Board, which is certainly not just a beard.



It's more like he duct taped a rug to his chin.


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## Peairtach (Jan 2, 2013)

A godly biblical man like Joseph shaved so why shouldn't they.



> Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.(Gen 41:14,ESV)



The biblical injunction about not shaving was part of the ceremonials, maybe to remind them that they were to be holy in soul as well as "holy" in body and/or that they were a kingdom of priests unto God.



> And the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make himself unclean for the dead among his people, ...........................They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the LORD's food offerings, the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. (Lev 21:1, 5&6, ESV)





> You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
> You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD. (Lev 19:27-28)



There's nothing _morally wrong_ with shaving off your beard or your eyebrows!



> And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.( Lev 14:9)


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## Philip (Jan 2, 2013)

Southern Presbyterian said:


> Sometimes a beard is just a beard and a bow tie is just a bow tie.



But most of the time, they're just cool.


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## Rufus (Jan 2, 2013)

Style.


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## Unoriginalname (Jan 2, 2013)

Philip said:


> But most of the time, they're just cool.


~Mandatory mention of fezs to complete the Doctor Who reference.~

As far as beards go I am of the opinion that they only serve the purpose of hiding an ugly mug and beautiful people like myself show be always clean shaven. The puritans knew how to flaunt their good looks.

Reactions: Like 1


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## KMK (Jan 2, 2013)

JM said:


> As many of you already know the Puritans were called 'round heads' because they kept their hair cut close and shaved their faces.



I assume you are referring only to Puritan males?


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## Peairtach (Jan 2, 2013)

*Jason*


> As many of you already know the Puritans were called 'round heads' because they kept their hair cut close and shaved their faces. Was their a theological reason for this? I know they cut their hair to reduce lice infestation but why the face? Was it to reduce lice in the beard?





> Some of the Puritans, but by no means all, wore their hair closely cropped round the head, or flat, and there was thus an obvious contrast between them and the men of courtly fashion with their long ringlets.[3]
> 
> During the war and for a time afterwards Roundhead was a term of derision[3]—in the New Model Army it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead.[4] This contrasted with the term Cavalier to describe supporters of the Royalist cause. Cavalier also started out as a pejorative term—the first proponents used it to compare members of the Royalist party with Spanish Caballeros who had abused Dutch Protestants during the reign of Elizabeth I—but unlike Roundhead, Cavalier was embraced by those who were the target of the epithet and used by them to describe themselves.[4]
> 
> Roundheads appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the Bishops Exclusion Bill were causing riots at Westminster. One authority said of the crowd which gathered there, "They had the hair of their heads very few of them longer than their ears, whereupon it came to pass that those who usually with their cries attended at Westminster were by a nickname called Roundheads".[3] The demonstrators included London apprentices and Roundhead was a term of derision for them because the regulations to which they had agreed included a provision for closely cropped hair.[4]



Roundhead - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A lot of the Puritans - and also the Parliamentary army - weren't roundheaded at all in hairstyle.


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## PreservedKillick (Jan 2, 2013)

Not all did shave. John Winthrop had a pretty respectable beard. 

John Winthrop - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## PuritanCovenanter (Jan 2, 2013)

My preview for a casting interview on Duck Dynasty. LOL.


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## AThornquist (Jan 2, 2013)

Insert the John Weaver sermon regarding beards here.  (But really, I thought his sermon on the subject was very interesting.)


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## OPC'n (Jan 2, 2013)

Their wives hated beards? lol


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## Andres (Jan 3, 2013)

Unoriginalname said:


> As far as beards go I am of the opinion that they only serve the purpose of hiding an ugly mug and beautiful people like myself show be always clean shaven.



This is generally the answer that men who can't grow beards give.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Martin (Jan 3, 2013)

AThornquist said:


> Insert the John Weaver sermon regarding beards here.



I found it interesting and compelling.


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## JM (Jan 4, 2013)

Two interesting audio posts about beards from a Quaker perspective. Warriors and Longhairs

To sum up: Puritanism = pure evil, Quaker = oats…I mean, Quaker = true lamb like Christianity. Shaving is BAD and marks you as a slave of the State, growing a beard makes you a warrior, independent and a free spirit.


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## Peairtach (Jan 6, 2013)

> Shaving is BAD and marks you as a slave of the State, growing a beard makes you a warrior, independent and a free spirit.



If only it was so easy!


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## Theogenes (Jan 9, 2013)

Peairtach said:


> > Shaving is BAD and marks you as a slave of the State, growing a beard makes you a warrior, independent and a free spirit.
> 
> 
> 
> I do feel more like a warrior, independent and free, when I have my beard...


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## Petty France (Jan 9, 2013)

Heinrich Bullinger is unimpressed by your beard. « Particular Voices


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