One Thousand Beards, Allan Peterkin’s “cultural history of facial hair,” aspires to be a quirky yet authoritative overview of the historical and social roles of facial hair. Peterkin, a Toronto psychotherapist and author, has amassed considerable data on a topics ranging from physiological and psychological perspectives on hair growth to the shifting roles of facial hair in world religions and the gay community. It’s a wealth of information, both within the text proper and in a series of marginal notes, some of them several pages in length.

Unfortunately, the reams of information never coalesce into a unified whole. Peterkin is unsure which topics to treat seriously, and information is often explored superficially – the religious role of facial hair, for example, is dispensed with in a breezy handful of pages. Peterkin also seems unsure of his intended readership. While many will appreciate his thorough historical and social overview (the material on the female beard is particularly fascinating), some will likely be alienated by the explicitly sexual nature of the chapter “The Gay Beard,” with its accounts of, and quotations from, homosexual pornography.

More problematic is the book’s repetitive nature. A summary of ancient Roman rituals involving sacrificing a young man’s first hair shavings to the Gods is repeated almost verbatim four times in the text. This is not an isolated occurrence. The two closing chapters aspire to summarize and prognosticate, but instead continue this pattern of repetition (although the beard-care, shaping, and grooming tips are most appreciated).

There is plenty of valuable material in One Thousand Beards. It’s a shame that the reader ends up with little more than frothy shavings.