Why did the Romans shave their beards ?

[Virilis]

Think about the persians, assyrians, babylonians etc. They must have had lice too and still they often wore long beards & hair.

I think it was mostly a matter of fashion when we think about the romans. Both Hadrian and Julian were recalling those "golden days" of classical greece with their bodily hair. Perhaps those soldier emperors of the third century with their close cropped hair tried to give an impression of a very strict disciplinarian in a period which was very tumultous, kind of "back to basics"...

[Tarbicus]

So for total authenticity, all us reenactors should book a session at the depilatrix for a full B S &C wax??? hock:

I can't find the reference right now, but there's a quotation where an author is disgusted by the idleness and decadent depths soldiers have succumbed to (in the provinces I think), that they don't even have any body hair to show for their lack of time. If you want to portray a workshy fop, get waxing :wink: