Facial hair seems to come and go throughout military history.
The Assyrians cultivated magnificent beards, Alexander is said to have preferred clean-shaven soldiers, Vikings are often depicted as bearded, Napoleonic armies loved their moustaches, the Victorians seemed to embrace every conceivable variety of whiskers, while most twentieth-century armies became almost universally clean-shaven.
Why? Was it fashion, discipline, hygiene, practicality, or something else? Did facial hair ever provide a genuine military advantage—or disadvantage?
Interestingly, we're still debating the subject today, with some modern militaries relaxing beard regulations while others continue to insist on a clean-shaven appearance in the name of discipline, uniformity or equipment compatibility. It seems the issue hasn't gone away after all.
What do you think? Which armies wore facial hair best, and did it really matter?
Oh & I couldn't resist:
YouTube link
experiments at 11x.
