New York Times interviews Wright State expert for story about beards

Christopher Oldstone-Moore, senior lecture of history at Wright State, has spent more than 10 years researching and chronicling facial hair trends and will release a new book, “Brave Face: Beards, Shaving and the Cultural History of Manliness,” this year.

Excerpt

Christopher Oldstone-Moore, author of the 2015 book “Of Beards and Men: The Revealing History of Facial Hair,” maintains that history more than biology establishes meanings for facial hair. “I wonder if the positive effects of beards are a matter of the current cultural preference for beards, and perhaps the idea that bearded men are more mature, confident and reliable is because that is what we are tending to associate with beards these days,” Dr. Oldstone-Moore, a senior lecturer at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, wrote in an email. “Whenever masculinity is redefined facial hairstyles change to suit.”

Read the entire story at nytimes.com