Beardless Man is Facing a Dreary Existence
Loss of Virile Hirsuteness Called Civilization’s Menace – Glories of Bushy Adornments Are Recalled
In the 1920s, facial hair saw a sharp decline in popularity – a development that a 1926 New York Times Magazine article called “civilization’s menace.”
The amazingly-named journalist Hollister Noble wrote at the time that this trend reflected something of a feminization of society, occurring alongside the likes of women’s suffrage:
One of the sighs in a vast sea of regrets that reside in the heart of modern man goes up for the passing of the beard. Beyond the shadow of a hair, the beard is doomed. The razor blade of a doubtful progress is stripping the last vestige of facial adornment from the human countenance.
Barring a few bold iconoclasts, the beard has become a badge of senility and decrepit old age. From a stalwart protector of manly chests, this fine growth of hair has degenerated into a sparse and wistful concealer of weak chins.
The trend could also be seen among U.S. presidents. The last one to sport facial hair while in office: William Howard Taft, from 1909-13.
This graph shows men’s facial hair trends from 1842 to 1972. I’ve slightly modified it to add a yellow line at the 1926 mark, when this NYT Mag article was published.
As you can see, while the percentage goes up or down by the year, the 1920s marked the first decade in that dataset where facial hair ever comprised 50% or less of the male population. In 1926, it was hovering right around the halfway mark.
By the end of that dataset, in the 1960s and 1970s, the percentage of men with facial hair only stood around 20%.
Looking up what percent of American men have facial hair today, I’m finding wildly varying results. But it seems reasonable to guess that it’s probably higher than 20% today?
Beards are certainly big in culture right now – from athletes like LeBron James and Steph Curry and James Harden, music acts (particularly rappers) like Drake and Eminem, and politicians on both sides of the aisle like potential 2028 presidential candidates J.D. Vance, Pete Buttigieg, Ruben Gallego, and Chris Murphy.
Beardless Man is Facing a Dreary Existence: Loss of Virile Hirsuteness Called Civilization’s Menace – Glories of Bushy Adornments Are Recalled
Published: Sunday, March 21, 1926