Masculinity of Belonging: Cultural Interpretations of Facial Hair and Shaving in Twentieth-Century Britain and the United States

Historians have come to understand that respectable masculine deportment is never simply a matter of fashion. The management of the body and clothing serves to establish collective identities and affirm cultural ideals, particularly with respect to gender. In spite, however, of an impressive and burgeoning literature on masculinity and the body, the role of hair has been almost entirely overlooked. This paper addresses this oversight with the first-ever historical analysis of the role of facial hair in the formation and expression of masculinity in twentieth-century Anglo-American culture.  By examining a variety of visual and written sources, the paper will argue that the shift away from the popularity of beards towards mustaches and finally clean-shaven faces at the turn of the twentieth century reflected a trend away from a masculinity of autonomy towards one defined by belonging. The authority of men was less and less rooted in individual strength of mind and body, and more in the collective manhood of the sports team, corporation, military unit or nation. The lively discussion in literature and the periodical press about the social significance of mustaches and shaving illuminates a collective effort to define the appropriate boundaries of manly deportment, and underscores the pressure placed on men to find manliness in belonging and conformity rather than self-assertion.