Journal Opinion March
9, 2022
“Not many years ago it was hardly respectable to wear a
beard; but the beard movement is in, resisted and ridiculed at first, has
conquered, and it grows more and more the fashion to grow on the face as full a
covering of hair as can be coaxed out.” Burlington Weekly Free Press, April 11,
1879
This column explores how American men cared about beards and
hairstyles over the years.. Vintage newspapers, the internet, and local
interviews provided material for this piece.
Christopher Oldstone-Moore’s book Of Beards and Men provided me a
valuable insight into the topic’s history.
While the men of the
earliest colonial period often wore heavy beards, they cut their hair short as
it was considered “safe and godly.”
In the 18th century, the colonial elite often wore elaborate
wigs or powdered their hair. Ordinary
men rarely did either and, if they kept their hair longer, it was pulled back
and tied.
In the new century, President Thomas Jefferson set a new standard
avoiding the wig. This casual style and shorter hair was adopted widely. Men of
fashion kept shorter cropped hair, often using an oil or pomade to create a
look of “tamed wildness.” As hair was washed infrequently, housewives began to
create covers to protect furniture from staining.
By the late colonial period, beards had disappeared in
settled areas. Beards and long hair were
considered signs of uncouth backwoodsmen and ran counter to community
norms.
Leaders such as Ethan Allen, Jacob Bayley and Thomas
Chittenden all of Vermont, and John Stark and John Langdon both of New
Hampshire were all clean-shaven. At least as far as shaving was concerned, they
shared in “the code of gentlemanly good manners.”
Most U.S. Presidents and the governors of New Hampshire and
Vermont before the 1850s did not sport beards. In 1834, one magazine published,
“An unshorn chin has a degenerating aspect, is only, if at all, excusable in
the lowest laborer and mechanic.”
Few men dared to wear a beard. For some there were severe consequences. When
Joseph Palmer of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, went to church with a beard in 1830,
he was denied communion. He was determined to assert his right to be contrary.
Later, he was assaulted by a group of men equally determined to shave him
forcibly. He resisted but was charged
with unprovoked assault.
Shaving was performed by straight or cut-throat steel
razors. Men would sometimes go to a barber for shaves as those that tried it
for themselves often suffered cuts. In the 1830s, advertisements appeared for
personal razors, razor strops to keep instruments sharp, shaving brushes, and
soaps.
In the 1850s, there was a new beard movement. The New York “Home Journal” observed, “Go
where you will, the full, flourishing, ferocious beard presents itself!”
The beard was associated with manly dignity, authority, and
good health. Some believed that the beard and mustache filtered bad air,
“helped the body maintain its electrical balance,” and retained “vital energy.”
There was some opposition to this beard movement. In 1860
the St. Johnsbury Caledonian carried the story of one woman’s crusade against
bearded men. She said the idea of kissing one was disgusting and that “only
brigands, pirates, filibusters, and professional executionists” wore
beards.
The political and military stereotypes of the rest of the
19th century reflected this beard movement.
Virtually every President from Lincoln to Wilson sported a beard,
mustache, or bushy sideburns. Every officer
in both armies in the Civil War displayed the same. Union General Ambrose Burnside’s
great whisker-mustache combination is the basis for the term “sideburn.”
During the period, governors in New Hampshire and Vermont
mirrored the beard movement. This included Bradford’s Roswell Farnham, governor
in 1880-1882. The Caledonian suggested that bearded men were “more likely to be
trusted.” There were suggestions that the popularity of the manly beard was a
reaction to the women’s rights’ movement.
In the 1890s, Bradford’s Union Opinion featured special
illustrated editions on local communities. Of the three dozen local business
leaders pictured, all had facial hair.
There is no doubt that they felt full beards gave men increased status,
respect, and power over non-bearded men.
In addition to following fashion trends, there were men who
grew beards to provide warmth to their face during winter months, hide a
receding chin, an overly youthful countenance, counterbalance a receding
hairline or other facial feature, or because of lack of access to shaving
implements or services. Shaving is painful for some men and growing a beard
gives an excuse for not shaving.
One person told me her grandfather shaved with a straight
razor until his hands became so shaky that he had to give it up and grow a
beard.
There were also different norms among ethnic groups
regarding hair. Native Americans were
genetically pre-disposed against heavy beards. How hair was worn often
distinguished one tribe from another. For religious or cultural reasons,
Jewish, Sikh and Muslim men may follow rules regarding their hair and beards.
Amish men let their beards grow once they are married, but do not grow
mustaches.
These differences from the white majority have, over the
years, led to discrimination and bias. When, in the 19th century, Chinese male
immigrants arrived with their traditional queue or pigtail, it was a source of
ridicule and regulation.
Prior to the 20th century, barbers learned their trade by
being an apprentice to a master barber.
The first barber school opened in 1893, and, in 1897, Minnesota became
the first state to license barbers. That
same year, an act to regulate the practice of tonsures, i.e. barbering, in New Hampshire was considered “inexpedient
to legislate.” No similar law was discussed in Vermont for decades. Now, both
barbers and barbershops are licensed by state governments.
Barbershops were primarily male bastions. Usually one or two
chair operations, with customers thumbing through magazines or newspapers while
waiting their turn. It was not unusual for the walls to be hung with photos of
sports or war heroes or prized hunting trophies. Conversation included talk of
sports, politics, and local gossip. If your barber didn’t know what was going
on, it probably wasn’t worth talking about.
Men often had their
favorite barber who knew how they liked their hair cut and kept a standing
appointment. When shaving was common,
there might be racks of personal shaving mugs. Bottles of bay rum or other
aftershave lotions were available. In
the 1880s, haircuts were5 or 10 cents and a shave for 3. One towel might be
used repeatedly, resulting in a concern over the transmission of diseases.
At first, barbershops were open every day. Around 1880,
pressure against Sunday businesses increased and both states passed Sunday
closure legislation.
The role of barbers changed with the invention of the safety
razor, first as a single-edge and then, in 1904, as a Gillette double-edge. It
promised one could “save time and money by shaving yourself.”
Cakes of shaving soaps were replaced by tubes of soft soap
for home use. In 1919, shaving cream became available and was obtainable in
pressured cans in 1949. Some men no longer needed shaving cream. In 1930, Joseph Schick offered the first
electric or dry razor.
The history of local barbers includes the names of scores of
men. As they were rarely included among
the lists of prominent businessmen, it is difficult to know exactly how long a
particular barber practiced or how popular they were. Still, a few stalwart
examples emerge.
Fred Kenyon purchased
a shop in Bradford in 1876 and practiced until his death in 1898. He advertised
that he also cut ladies’ and children’s hair. When he was suffering from la
grippe or influenza, it was reported, “the appearance of the male portion of
the community shows Fred’s sickness in their faces very plainly.”
Frank P. Sherwell had a shop in Well River as early as 1900
and was still barbering in 1930. H.E.
Prescott operated “Bradford’s Old Established Barber Shop in the early
1900s. His shop was adorned with the doe’s
head, “a beautiful example of taxidermy.”
Clifford Bassett’s
barber career began on Woodsville’s Central Street in 1914. He took over the shop in 1917 and continued
until 1954. Over the years, he employed
other men in his shop. He also sold
washing machines and appliances. Upon
his retirement, John Avila brought him out.
Elmer “Bus” Flanders opened a shop in East Corinth in 1939
and one in Fairlee in 1953. He operated
both until 1981, a year before his death.
As a young man, I was one of his faithful customers.
I switched my loyalty
to George Hinman who operated a shop in Bradford’s Chimes Building. It was
there that I was informed that Carolyn Martin, who worked in the dental office
across the street, was a sweetheart and should be married. I followed my barber’s advice.
Lawrence Clark had a barbershop in Bradford for 28 years. He
had taken over from Frank DeCosta, who ran a shop on the south side of the
Bliss Hotel building. In 1978, he moved his shop near his home in Bradford
Center. His son, Larry has been a barber
in Wells River for 27 years.
Often as a cost-saving measure, family members provided
haircuts for loved ones of all ages. I have heard seniors say that a parent cut
their hair throughout their childhood. Through the 40s and 50s, my Dad cut the
hair of the four Coffin boys. Songwriter Michael Kelly Blanchard’s song
captured that practice.
“Daddy cut my hair.
Didn’t care for style. He’d just
snip and snip, then sweep it in a pile. I could not keep still, but he would
understand. Some things are just known
between a boy and a man. Right there in the middle of our kitchen’s cluttered
floor.”
Some children got to go to a real barber. The late Richard
Miller of Topsham recalled a 1924 trip to East Corinth’s barber Antony Foisy.
The barber had migrated from French Canada in 1918 and owned his own shop
overlooking the Tabor branch.
A board was placed
across the arms of the barber chair, and little Richard was lifted up and
draped in an “itchy piece of cloth.” Foisy chewed tobacco and, occasionally,
sent a stream of brown juice toward a cuspidor in the corner. “He would pick up
a comb and shears and very businesslike would get on with the cutting of my
hair.”
At the beginning of the 20th century, the beard movement
began to wane. After 1903, there were repeated references in Vermont newspapers
to a handsome man as one who was clean-shaven.
As there were shifts among business and community leaders, other men
began to abandon their beards for economic or social advantages.
In 1912, one article raised the health concern that “every
curl and wave of the beard has bacilli.”
It was suggested that men with beards should avoid kissing babies and
that doctors with beards were a possible danger to patients.
Between that time and the mid-1960s American men were
clean-shaven. With the exception of the Clark Gable type mustaches, facial hair
was uncommon. Short haircuts like the crew cut were common. In the main stream, there was a deliberate
campaign against beards, including in hiring practices.
However, some groups began to use hairstyles to express
rebellion against prevailing cultural standards. The long, loose hippie style, afros of the
Civil Rights movement, skinheads, and punks with spiked mohawks all defied the
mainstream’s neatly groomed styles.
Resisting their Dad’s haircut, younger men began to have
their hair styled longer. They were more likely to have that done by women
hairdressers. There were men who clung to their beard throughout the period,
but they were in the minority.
Now, everywhere I look, I see men with beards. From
mustaches and mutton chops to long beards, men are sporting facial hair. Once
again, three-day stubble seems to be fashionable. That same spirit of
individual freedom is reflected in hairstyle from shaved heads to manbuns.
The totalitarian regime of North Korea has ordered that all
men must sport an approved hairstyle. Little variation is allowed. While I have
never sported any but a traditional hairstyle, it’s great to live in a nation
where variety reflects personal style and freedom.
If readers have a favorite barber who is not mentioned or a
good barber story, they may use this site’s comment function and submit
it.
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