I as in Initiation

Circumcision, tattooing, the ordination of priests – it is customary in different cultures worldwide to carry out the admission of the young man into the circle of adults by means of a solemn ritual. Sometimes, the first shave serves as such a rite of passage from child to man. It is called “Keshanta” by the Hindus, and “Barbatoria” was its name in ancient Rome. When Octavian, later Emperor Augustus, invited to a public festival paid for from the state treasury on the occasion of his barbatoria in 39 BC, he not only demonstrated his adulthood but also his claim to power. Even today, the first shave is a special occasion – and it can become a special moment of communion between father and son. What the son learns about shaving from his father is more formative than any advertisement or blog, as a study commissioned by Mühle has shown. Like father, like son.