Male Hair and Medical Discourse in Clement of Alexandria

Abstract According to Clement of Alexandria, the ideal Christian man kept the hair of his head cut short while cultivating a beard and a hirsute body. This article argues that Clement conceived of maleness as a discrete “nature” that God created with accompanying physiological distinctives—among them patterns of hair growth. Consequently, ethical grooming entailed embracing and maximizing the ways that hair already tended to grow on the male body; actions that seemed to go against “natural” male patterns of hair growth (e.g., shaving, depilation, growing long locks) were seen as a problematic resistance to the design of God as Creator. The force of Clement’s grooming recommendations rests on certain hair states being “natural” or “according to nature.” This essay suggests that Clement drew on Galen’s theory of hair growth in order to justify the “naturalness” of certain behaviors.