Facial hair in the 1940's and 1950's

Notch 6 posted:

Looking through O. Winston Link photos for some research I noticed something that I consider unusual. Just about everyone in both Steam Steel and Stars and The Last Steam Railroad in America are clean shaven. Is this something that was widespread during the period or was this something that was standard on the railroad?

Just my opinion but, I believe that a LOT depends on the climate that the photos  were taken. The men of the western railroads tended to have more "full facial hair" due to their sever, and long  winters. While many more of the eastern railroaders that were photographed in the summer, i.e. warmer climate, were mostly clean shaven.

Help this young whipper snapper understand. 

Thanks,

Derek

Beards and other facial hair goes through phases of popularity: it just wasn't popular in the 40s and 50s. You can see this absence of facial hair in many other photos from the era. 

I think there may also have been different standards for dress and appearance in those days.  Many companies, late into the 1970s, had policies regarding facial hair.  Many sports teams or leagues didn't allow it and neither did many employers.  I can't speak for the railroads but I wouldn't be surprised if there's someone on here that has a copy of a "uniform dress and appearance code" for one or another or the railroads that could enlighten us.

The reason I have worn a mustache since the day I marked up as a brakeman and ever since, having changed careers, is because I look like the monkey in Curious George children's literature without it.  There was no "dress code" on the Frisco...you could find every look conceivable on our board during the 80's.  This applies to hats and headwear as well.

Look at movies shot in the 40s and 50s.  Nearly every man is clean shaved and most wore a suit with a tie to work.  I have a photo of my grandfather hoeing his garden in a suit and tie.  Most women wore hats in public.  It was just the style of the day.  

As a young boy, my parents made me wear a suit and tie whenever we went on a trip - especially a train trip.  NH Joe

Notch 6 posted:

Looking through O. Winston Link photos for some research I noticed something that I consider unusual. Just about everyone in both Steam Steel and Stars and The Last Steam Railroad in America are clean shaven. Is this something that was widespread during the period or was this something that was standard on the railroad? Help this young whipper snapper understand. 

Thanks,

Derek

Just simply put, "those were the good old days."

There was a pres on the SP who wanted upper staff to wear hats.  Straw in summer, felt in winter.

Suits.  In summer. No A/C.  In Houston....  And no one got heat stroke.

My dad wore a suit and fedora everyday until his retirement in 1987.  Carried a briefcase too.  He was shocked when women started wearing sneakers on the train, and carried their heels in their bag. 

Also:  tattoos were only seen on sailors and marines.  and never on officers.

Jon

I was born in 1942, and lived in the NYC metro area. Facial hair in men was sometimes seen as a moustache, but hardly ever as a beard. Tom Dewey ran for President in the last '40s in a VERY close election. Many say he lost because of his moustache. My uncle Gene had the only one I can remember.

He looked like the guy on the wedding cake...

Jon

I used to work for Gillette.  As they tell it, Gillette got the contract to supply the military with razors during WW1 and WW2, so the GIs got into the habit of shaving and the clean shaven look caught on when they returned home.  That was also the era that Gillette and other companies were making improvements to the safety razor system so it was easier and easier to get a good shave at home.

My understanding, and I could be wrong, is that facial hair for American men was largely influenced by WW1 and WW2.  Particularly WW1, you need to be clean shaven for a gas mask to work.  Being clean shaven was simply a fact of life for that generation, and as for the mainstream, a mustache was the exception.  

Dominic Mazoch posted:

There was a pres on the SP who wanted upper staff to wear hats.  Straw in summer, felt in winter.

Suits.  In summer. No A/C.  In Houston....  And no one got heat stroke.

Was that Benjamin Biaggini (who I believe was one of the last SP Presidents before it was acquired by the UP) or someone earlier?

New Haven Joe posted:

Look at movies shot in the 40s and 50s.  Nearly every man is clean shaved and most wore a suit with a tie to work.  I have a photo of my grandfather hoeing is back garden in a suit and tie.  Most women wore hats in public.  It was just the style of the day.  

As a young boy, my parents made me wear a suit and tie whenever we went on a trip - especially a train trip.  NH Joe

"'most wore a suit with a tie to work"

Looking at the photos of the time you would think everyone was working all the time. Looking at the pictures in the Ron Hollander book of all the people looking at trains they all had suits and ties.

Facial hair, like so many fashions, is cyclical.  As noted above, it was mostly out of fashion in the '20s through the '50s in the US.  My parents both abhorred facial hair and were very frustrated that I grew a mustache in the '80s (my upper lip hasn't seen daylight since December of 1981).  I had to wait till I was 18 (well, almost:  I got to start a little early because I needed one for my part in our high school musical the next spring).

I haven't seen my upper lip since 1977.   I also wear a beard because I have a very strong chin,  both of them.  ;-) 

Fortescue, for his part, prefers the clean-shaven look.  

Mitch 

The 40's and 50's were definitely clean shaven years. The only beard I remember on TV was Gabby Hayes on the Hopalong Cassidy show.

In the early 60's some of us college students grew beards. Shaved when I worked for a bank but grew one again when I started grad school in the late 60's. My daughters never saw me without one until I lost my hair due to chemo. Its back now.

I took a look at all my O scale men on my layout and not one of them had any beards!  . might have to rethink about that...  (lol)  daniel

When I was growing up in the 1940's I once asked my mother why men didn't wear beards like during the Civil War.  She replied that she thought beards were unsanitary!