2.) Shaving: If you're FW or most 18th century noblemen, I'd say "shaving" is included in cleaning your face. I mean, I could be wrong, but this was not a beard friendly era, the occasional moustache not withstanding, and FW was a hygiene partisan who hated Fritz looking sloppy. My instinct is to assume that lackey did shave him.
I have a possible theory to reconcile your excellent points with the fact that FW only allowed 4 minutes max per day to attend to hygiene matters: we're only talking about 6 weeks, Fritz was only 18, and the age at which men need to shave varies widely. And the internet is telling me that some fair-haired men can get away with not shaving much, if at all, until they're 20.
In other words, Fritz may have been at a stage in his life when he wasn't shaving more than once a month anyway, meaning FW may have not had to account for that when dictating the daily regimen.
And you could see how shaving not being part of the regimen could then evolve into rumors about the prisoner's beard growing wildly (coupled with the trope of the wildly bearded prisoner).
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Citation questions
Date: 2025-03-27 11:59 am (UTC)I have a possible theory to reconcile your excellent points with the fact that FW only allowed 4 minutes max per day to attend to hygiene matters: we're only talking about 6 weeks, Fritz was only 18, and the age at which men need to shave varies widely. And the internet is telling me that some fair-haired men can get away with not shaving much, if at all, until they're 20.
In other words, Fritz may have been at a stage in his life when he wasn't shaving more than once a month anyway, meaning FW may have not had to account for that when dictating the daily regimen.
And you could see how shaving not being part of the regimen could then evolve into rumors about the prisoner's beard growing wildly (coupled with the trope of the wildly bearded prisoner).