Why did doctors shed their facial hair

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Our previous blog was a gallery of medical personnel with flowing beards. These flowing beards, a sign of wisdom till late 19th century, slowly faded away. Yet, facial hair did not disappear all of a sudden. In keeping with the times, doctors did wear various moustache and beard styles, before becoming clean-shaven in mid 20th century. Facial hair may be a personnel choice, but it is often a herd behaviour amongst peers and professions.

Elaborate moustaches

Moustache are facial hair between nose and upper lip. In 19th century it was fashionable to sport lone moustaches. These probably grew with military virtues of the day. If beard was wisdom, moustache was valour. Many famous personalities had their own styles, and another gallery follows.

Mutton-chops
Wilhelm Griesinger (1817-1868) was a German Neurologist and Psychiatrist. He sported a moustache that merged with side-burns. This style is called mutton-chops
Werner Von Siemens (1816-1892) was an Electrical Engineer, and a contemporary of Griesenger. He founded Siemens, a company that manufactures many medical equipments today. Elaborate side-burns were a popular style in his times.
Hilaire de Chardonnet (1839-1924) was a scientist who worked with Louis Pasteur. Depicted here to show another version of the mutton-chops.
Handle-bars
Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra (1816-1880) was an Austrian physician and a pioneer dermatologist. He sported a handlebar moustache, that have thick hair with upturned ends. Later Russian leader Stalin had a similar look.
Ignaz Semmelweis (1818-1865), was an Austrian-Hungarian Obstetrician who pioneered hand-washing. A friend and colleague to Hebra, he also had a handle-bar moustache, with prominent side-burns.
Alfred Fournier (1832-1914) was a french dermatologist, and a venereologist. A scrotal abscess “fournier’s gangrene” is named after him. Another handle-bar moustache, with upturned ends.
Constant Levaditi (1875-1953) was a Romanian Neurologist and a Virologist. This postage stamp has him with a moustache, however his later appearance was clean-shaven.
Walrus
William Osler (1849-1919) was a Canadian Physician and one of the founders of John Hopkins. He trained under Rudolf Virchow, before he moved to McGill Canada. He sported a Walrus moustache, that have thick, bushy whiskers that droop over the mouth
Zapata
Arnold Theiler (1867-1936) was father of Veterinary Science in South Africa. In this image, he has a long (Zapata) moustache and a chin-beard.
Paul Langevin (1872-1946) was a French Physicist. He was a student of Pierre curie. He also sported a Zapata moustache. Langevin had an affair with widowed Marie Curie, which was talk of the Paris tabloids in 1911-13
Chevron
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965), a missionary French medic, born in then German territory always sported a thick busy Cheveron moustache. It is a natural style, that needs minimal grooming, and derives its name from Cheveron logo
Beards are out an clean-shave is in

In 1914-18 came the first world war. This war involved extensive chemical warfare, and many soldiers had to wear gas masks. As beards obstructed with the masks, it was mandated that all should shave. While military moustache remained, many soldiers returned back from war with a clean shaven look. After the second world war, Nazi toothbrush moustache became infamous and disappeared.

Like acceptable social-looks, facial hair have a history of rise and downfall. In 19th century, growing a beard was also a remedy for acne and sore throats. Later we discovered that facial hair harbour more bacteria. So while majority of male doctors stopped sporting any facial hair, some persisted. Clean-shaven look was now dominant.

Jean Charcot (1825-1893), French Physician. When his contemporaries had elaborate facial hair, he was clean-shaven
Harvey Cushing (1869-1939), an American Neurosurgeon
Egnaz Moniz (1874-1955), a Nobel Prize winning neurologist from Portugal
Indian Physician Dwarkadas Kotnis (1910-1942) worked in China.
Victor Chang was an acclaimed cardiac surgeon. He pioneered heart transplantation in Australia. Chris O’Brien was a Cancer surgeon. Victor died in 1991 and Chris in 2009. See blog on Australian medical legends
…and COVID took its toll

By the year 2000s, facial hair in medical community were making a comeback. This must have prompted a study, that concluded that men in operating rooms should be asked to shave, as they shed more bacteria even when they wear a mask. In 2016, a set of bearded surgeons tried to prove that it is not so, and beards should be allowed. A a spirited debate in 2017 issue of Scientific American is worth a read. However, COVID seems to have changed some equations again.

I came across an interesting 2021 study from UK. At the beginning of COVID pandemic, more than a quarter of doctors had facial hair. Barring six, all shaved off their beards and moustaches during the initial months of pandemic. This was because all of them had to wear tight-fitting masks, and not having facial hair was desirable. Some reported that shaving their beards and moustaches was a traumatic experience. We do-not know, how many of them grew their hair back.

2 comments

  2. Sir so interesting topic elaborated nicely remarkable useful information for new generation a lesson to plan their looks like this information Sir

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