Is facial hair out of fashion for US politicians?

[FaxModem1]

Going by the Wikipedia's list of Presidents who have facial hair, the US has not had a President with facial hair since Taft, which was over a century ago. Is facial hair an impediment to getting public office? If so, why? Is that why all Presidents have been clean shaven?

[RogueIce]

Despite what your local college campus might lead you to believe, a lot of people still think that clean shaven is more presentable and professional looking.

I'm sure well trimmed beards and such would not be a complete impediment, but keep in mind most Presidents (and candidates for same) are, well, quite a bit older than our new "yay facial hair" generation still, and would have that mindset in their personal lives, regardless of what their political advisors might say. Maybe in another decade or so we'll see some modest facial hair on major candidates.

[Broomstick]

Two world wars in the early 20th Century when men were either not permitted or discouraged from growing facial hair greatly impacted society's male facial grooming habits, which didn't even begin to loosen prior to the 1960's counter-culture... which group was certainly not winning political elections.

So, yeah, out of fashion for high office for quite some time now.

[Ziggy Stardust]

What we'd really need to do is look at the population of US congressman and senators (and, hell, even governors and other prominent elected positions), not just Presidents. The list of US Presidents (even if we go back a whole century) is such an incredibly small and biased sample that it's fallacious to make any strong claims of broader trends based on it. It's too easy for random statistical blips to create false trends.

Now, that said, I do suspect that there is a bias against facial hair, because it is by and large still considered more professional. But to really "prove" it we would need to look at a much broader sample - essentially, the entire pool of prominent politicians from which US Presidents are typically sampled.

[Knife]

I agree with Broomstick on this, just a series of happenstances within the culture has worked against facial hair for the last 80 years or so. There was a major back lash at those 'damn dirty hippies' in the 60-70 that just furthered the notion of clean shaved is more professional or clean on a generation that spent a lot of time in the military with strict grooming standards.

For a good example, I live in Mormon country though not a part of their culture. If you look at historical pictures in Utah, up until the 1960, beards were everywhere. It was a standard thing for adult males to have a beard, but once the counter culture hit in the 60's, all good little conservative Mormons went clean shaven.

Anyway, proud to have sported a beard of one type or another since 1997 when I got out of the Marines.

[Bedlam]

I think I remember an article about this sort of thing in New Scientist around Christmas. It tends to go in cycles over the years with beards moving in and out of fashion. Although I think they linked it to social movements sporting outward masculinity or not.

[Elheru Aran]

Beards are certainly starting to return as an informal style, but the rule of thumb is still 'clean shaven is professional' in most of the business and political world. Moustaches are OK to some degree, note that the military generally permits a neat moustache. Race also plays a certain part, many African-American professionals for example will sport facial hair of some variety. Note Ben Carson, only candidate AFAIK in the Republican race with prominent facial hair (neatly trimmed mustache/goatee).

I suspect that though for example Rubio and Cruz would avoid growing facial hair in order to forestall possible race-baiting with images of stereotypical Hispanic migrant workers, where moustaches are fairly common.

Paul Ryan is starting to sprout a rather scraggly beard though. So I wouldn't be too terribly surprised to see a few more beards in Congress in the next decade or two. It'll probably never be a really common style though for quite some time, it simply stands out too much and requires a certain amount of maintenance and genetics to really look good. I would expect the more businesslike short beard to be more common than the long Duck Dynasty shag for pretty much that reason...

[General Zod]

Beards appear in cycles, according to a 2012 Slate article.

[Edi]

Beards suit some people and not others. For some people, a neatly trimmed beard may actually lend an air of seniority that would not be there if they were completely clean-shaven. I have a few colleagues at work for who it works this way. For some, it is the other way around and the clean-shaven look conveys the professional, competent look.

Personally, I will always go clean-shaven where possible. "Scraggly" as a description of my beard would be overly generous. Bristly, not thick enough and completely unruly is a good description, and in addition the spacing between individual hairs is, like for my scalp, too wide, which makes for a really horrible end result. Thus, clean-shaven for both head and beard.

[Broomstick]

Native American men also usually have little to no facial hair, so with more race mixing and more men who aren't pure European or African in background there's a certain segment of US men who either can't grow a beard, or only a sparse one, and that percentage is higher than in Europe. A lot of Hispanics - which are the fastest growing minority in the US - have significant Native in their background. That will also continue to skew American facial hair styles towards less rather than more.

[Edi]

Native American men also usually have little to no facial hair, so with more race mixing and more men who aren't pure European or African in background there's a certain segment of US men who either can't grow a beard, or only a sparse one, and that percentage is higher than in Europe. A lot of Hispanics - which are the fastest growing minority in the US - have significant Native in their background. That will also continue to skew American facial hair styles towards less rather than more.

Quite. The funny things is that my body hair grows like a goddamn weed and there is a lot of it, including the beard (despite its sparseness). With the latter the result just looks like a goddamn atrocity and balding unfortunately runs in the family.

[Elheru Aran]

I know for sure genetics plays a part with *me*. I unfortunately don't have much hair above the line of my jaw, so if I try to grow it out I look Amish and slightly ridiculous (not that I've ever actually grown it out very far, a week's worth of stubble tells the story pretty clearly if I tried).

[Patroklos]

It should be remembered that most politicians, even now with exceptions like Obama and Rubio, are generally older trying to look energetic and youthful not the other way around.

Also on the military front, the Navy (the service mostly represented in modern presidential history) did allow beards in the 70s and early 80s. Guess how many Admirals sported them?

[Ziggy Stardust]

I know for sure genetics plays a part with *me*. I unfortunately don't have much hair above the line of my jaw, so if I try to grow it out I look Amish and slightly ridiculous (not that I've ever actually grown it out very far, a week's worth of stubble tells the story pretty clearly if I tried).

I'm the same way. All neck beard if I let it grow out. And it looks like pubes. It's awful. Which is odd because my body hair (and the hair on top of my head) is thick and lustrous.

[Guardsman Bass]

I know for sure genetics plays a part with *me*. I unfortunately don't have much hair above the line of my jaw, so if I try to grow it out I look Amish and slightly ridiculous (not that I've ever actually grown it out very far, a week's worth of stubble tells the story pretty clearly if I tried).

I'm the same way. All neck beard if I let it grow out. And it looks like pubes. It's awful. Which is odd because my body hair (and the hair on top of my head) is thick and lustrous.

Me three on that one. I have great head hair (no balding), but my facial hair is terrible. It looks like pubes, it grows out wiry, and it's just thin enough so that a beard doesn't hide anything (like a weak chin) that a beard usually does when it grows well on people. It doesn't even make for good stubble.

[Patroklos]

My beard grows in great...

Except for a small noticable bald spot on the right chin. It ruins everything.

[His Divine Shadow]

Native American men also usually have little to no facial hair, so with more race mixing and more men who aren't pure European or African in background there's a certain segment of US men who either can't grow a beard, or only a sparse one, and that percentage is higher than in Europe. A lot of Hispanics - which are the fastest growing minority in the US - have significant Native in their background. That will also continue to skew American facial hair styles towards less rather than more.

Quite. The funny things is that my body hair grows like a goddamn weed and there is a lot of it, including the beard (despite its sparseness). With the latter the result just looks like a goddamn atrocity and balding unfortunately runs in the family.

It's funny, I am 34 but my beard growth is still thickening. I'm not growing one, just noticing it because I am lazy about shaving, and that despite the fact that these things should have been set in the early 20s, it's still changing.

[Ziggy Stardust]

It's funny, I am 34 but my beard growth is still thickening. I'm not growing one, just noticing it because I am lazy about shaving, and that despite the fact that these things should have been set in the early 20s, it's still changing.

Yeah, I didn't start getting my chest and shoulder hair until late 20s.

Man, even for a bunch of naked half-monkeys our bodies are pretty fucking weird.