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Inside pg. 1
Before the School Bell Rings, Let’s Talk About Guardianship
pg. 2
Amazing Facts About the Sun
Tap Into Something Bigger at the 2025 Treasure Coast Brew Fest
pg. 3
The Next Chapter of Our Story Needs a New Voice
Almond Butter Skillet Blondies
pg. 4
Beards Were a Victorian Health Hack
SMOG, SOOT, AND STUBBLE
Step aside, antibiotics! In the smog- choked streets of 1850s London, where chimney smoke clung to every surface and a “fog” could linger for months, doctors championed a fuzzy solution. The prescription? Grow a beard. Not just any beard, but big, bushy, chest- brushing beards that could rival a lion’s mane. Their advice made it seem like thick, woolly beards were a frontline defense against disease. As London’s population surged past the one million mark in the mid-1800s, so did its coal consumption. Residents warmed their homes and powered the city with coal, releasing dense plumes of smoke that clung to the damp air. These weren’t your average winter mists. In 1873, one thick smog event blanketed the city, contributing to hundreds of bronchitis-related deaths. Another hung around for four months in 1879, plunging London into darkness. Victorian physicians, caught between outdated theories and the dawn of germ science, believed thick beards could filter the
noxious air swirling through the city. With coal smoke saturating the sky and mysterious illnesses lurking in every cough, they saw the beard as a barrier and a natural air purifier, trapping invisible enemies before they reached the throat or lungs. Public speakers were even told their beards would soothe strained vocal cords! Men were reassured that their whiskers could keep sore throats at bay. But here’s the ironic twist in this follicular fairy tale. Modern research paints a less noble picture of the beard. According to dermatologists and ecologists, those bodacious beards trap bacteria, food particles, and even play host to tiny squatters (aka ectoparasites). What the Victorians hailed as a filter functioned more like a germ motel! So, while the beard boom of the 1800s was well-intentioned, it might be best remembered as a moment when style, “science,” and smog collided and the beard won (if only temporarily).
How Bountiful Beards Became Victorian Air Purifiers
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