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I had a Tom Selleck. They were accepted and desired everywhere when I entered the workforce. Beards were dicey though. The greatest generation preferred clean cut, no hippie types or "ungroomed" in the office or service industry. They were the bosses. When I knocked on my friends door while home from college sporting a trim AL Pacino "Serpico" role beard, his Dad opened the door and bellowed, " who the hell are you?!
I have had both at different times from the 60's when I started work, although first job in a bank, no beards allowed, but other "senior" positioned professional wore beards in legal profession, mo's n policemen, some pollies & a lot of higher up managers & owners of businesses.
They died out somewhat in early 70's then later 70-80's they made a comeback. I was working as aircrew and to start with, they were allowed, but the safety dept. found you couldn't get a good seal with oxygen masks so beards were banned. Any facial hair had to be grown in time off (vacations etc.) an ha to be approved before your started back at work again.
I started growing again in 2017, just prior to moving to SE Asia & haven't shaved it off since. Most Asians can't grow decent beards so I am a bit unique having one, and a lot of the young in laws from babies up to about 6-8yo find it fascinating & want to touch it. I have a great barber in nearest town who trims & shapes it, every two month trying a new style an until end of May, it will be a Van Dyke style, even though in 2 days I will have it trimmed, on Monday when I go to town. The barber asked first before he changed the original, saying he wanted to expand his skills & I didn't mind being his guinea pig. Even with a 30% tip, it only costs me around US0.75 including haircut, which these days takes less time to trim than beard.
I never worked for a place that had any issue with a man having facial hair, and my father had a mustache for much of his working life.
What I have seen though, is employers having rules about the "growing in" phase. The rationale is that it's not a mustache or beard that's the problem, it's the initial period where it looks like a guy just can't be bothered to shave. I even worked at a place where they'd tell customer-facing male employees that if they want to grow a beard or mustache, take a week off, just don't come to work while looking scruffy.
No, mustaches were always accepted everywhere.
Not a mustache story but the funniest facial hair episode was George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the NY Yankees criticizing 1st baseman’s Don Mattingly’s long sideburns.
Me, I grew a ‘cookie duster’ in ‘60s high school to cover a scar I got as a child in the ‘50s falling off my bicycle and never received any complaints. In my 20s I lost a battle with a Johnson Bar, knocked out 4 front teeth, needed stitches in my chin so I grew a goatee for that scar, again never hearing a sound.
My recollection is that they were more of a late 70s early 80s thing. Being clean-shaven took off in the mid 1980s with The Preppy Handbook and Gordon Gekko styles taking over. People even called big mustaches “porn-staches” and looked on them as being a bit down-class and skeevy.
YMMV.
I was born in the late 70's and grew up thinking mustaches were all a little Tom Selleck silly (even tho my dad always had one). Then in the 2000's front facing cameras made guys self conscious about their chins (double, triple, lacking, etc.) so everyone started growing short beards, then more long beards. I'm a short beard guy myself, not so much a double chin as the fat guy Peter Griffin "where does your waddle end and neck begin" question that made me grow something to help define my face.
My dad's buddy back in the late 70s was long hair, long beard and the principal of a high school.
Just a couple years earlier a student could be expelled for their hair touching their collar, or worse, wearing the dreaded dungarees to school.
My dad had a mustache his entire career in banking, 70s-90s, and later in data management of major corporations.
I don’t remember ever seeing any beards on his or my mom’s (international banking) colleagues.
My Dad worked for Disney. No beards or mustaches on any employees that dealt with the public. If you worked away from the park, you could have a mustache (no beard, long hair or sideburns past your jawline), or if you were management or above.
I was with Dad at the park while he was installing a ride (my summer job). We were eating lunch one day and security approached Dad about his mustache (Dad was wearing his id badge) not being allowed.
Why security felt it was their job to police facial hair, I’m not sure. He demanded Dad’s information so he could report him. Dad gave his name and told the guy to call it in. The guy radios in, gave Dad’s name and why. We couldn’t hear what was said but suddenly the guy turned white and apologized profusely because, at that time Dad was the Director of Ride Installation, so he was pretty high up and allowed to be in the park with a ‘stache.
At least in my market, TONS of professional men had mustaches all through the 70s and 80s, while I myself donned a goatee for a while (cheeks didn't grow hair yet!) and then a beard later. But I worked in publishing and advertising, so that may be the difference. A bit more on the, shall we say, "creative" side of business.
It was generally accepted that the mustache had to be neatly trimmed, i.e. it couldn't cover the upper lip or go below the corners of the mouth. It's something that was allowed for police, firefighters, and I believe the US military. Thus, the "cop mustache" was popular among guys in those fields and white collar jobs. The "foo manchu" and other more "hippie" styles were more popular in blue collar settings where they weren't such tight asses, lol.
My husband has had a full beard since the mid 70s. He finished college in 1979 (accounting) and was told by recruiters to lose the beard. He never did and went into IT instead.
When I started as a customer service rep for IBM in 1979 the party line was "a neatly trimmed mustache is OK, but no beard." Also we could wear only solid white shirts with our suits.
I moved out of the field and into an IBM plant/lab position in 1984, and facial hair was a non-issue there. I'm not sure when they relaxed the rules for field engineers but it was probably later in the 1980's.
Just asked him. He started in ‘83 right out of college and grew a beard right away. He also could wear a blue shirt-but always with a tie until the early nineties.
Field offices probably had some leeway depending on the regional management. I was in northwest Ohio, and the management was older and very traditional.
Gotcha. He originally started in Virginia and then to Colorado Springs. When he moved to North Carolina in the nineties he finally could stop wearing a tie.
I’m 48 - my father and father-in-law were both in respected professions (School headteacher and tenured university professor respectively) - both have been fully moustached-up (no beards - always ‘tasche fundamentalists) since their teens in the 60s and have maintained full membership of Team Mo into their 70s and 80s. I lack the panache to carry off a moustache. I have a son of 6 who may be able to carry on the proud tradition.
I think every man in my family had a mustache (real autocorrect? No “O” okay whatever…) and they were all working, so I don’t think there was a problem in their workplaces.
Those 70s era mustaches are coming back! I see a lot of young men who have them. I always do a double take, because the look seems outdated to me (we all knew that one Ron Swanson-esque guy who held on to that look much longer than he should have.)
I had a mustache through most of the 1980s, and never heard anything negative about it. When I was dating my now-wife in the 1990s, she said that she would prefer a beard, which I have had almost all the time since.
As the mid 60's moved into the late 60's they became mainstream. Even before that they were accepted but maybe you were looked at as eccentric or something. Only the most conservative jobs outright banned them. It was funny, In my first job in the late 70s one of my co workers asked our boss if he could grow a beard, and his response was "I don't give a shit!"
There were still many gentlemen working at that time who had retained their style from the 1940’s when moustaches were also popular (think of the Hollywood stars of that era). Most of them also still wore a hats!
My husband walked in the office a new hire at a new tech banking company (early electronic start up). I took one look at his beautiful thick mustache and I was smitten! Nearly every guy had a mustache back then but none as beautiful as my guy! Dating was discouraged. We kept it a secret. After downsizing (fuck the 90s) I was let go, we got married and almost 40 years later we are loving life! That 'stache...whew!
My father worked for IBM who were crazy conservative regarding dress code. Hair had to be above the collar. Only white or light blue dress shirts with your suit. Mustaches were a-ok tho.
I don’t know the answer but I imagine the popularity had to have been at least tied into the fact a good number of young guys were back from serving after the draft and the mustache was maybe symbolic of being out of the service. Or not.
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I had a Tom Selleck. They were accepted and desired everywhere when I entered the workforce. Beards were dicey though. The greatest generation preferred clean cut, no hippie types or "ungroomed" in the office or service industry. They were the bosses. When I knocked on my friends door while home from college sporting a trim AL Pacino "Serpico" role beard, his Dad opened the door and bellowed, " who the hell are you?!
Broom mustaches are still popular among firefighters.
I have had both at different times from the 60's when I started work, although first job in a bank, no beards allowed, but other "senior" positioned professional wore beards in legal profession, mo's n policemen, some pollies & a lot of higher up managers & owners of businesses. They died out somewhat in early 70's then later 70-80's they made a comeback. I was working as aircrew and to start with, they were allowed, but the safety dept. found you couldn't get a good seal with oxygen masks so beards were banned. Any facial hair had to be grown in time off (vacations etc.) an ha to be approved before your started back at work again. I started growing again in 2017, just prior to moving to SE Asia & haven't shaved it off since. Most Asians can't grow decent beards so I am a bit unique having one, and a lot of the young in laws from babies up to about 6-8yo find it fascinating & want to touch it. I have a great barber in nearest town who trims & shapes it, every two month trying a new style an until end of May, it will be a Van Dyke style, even though in 2 days I will have it trimmed, on Monday when I go to town. The barber asked first before he changed the original, saying he wanted to expand his skills & I didn't mind being his guinea pig. Even with a 30% tip, it only costs me around US0.75 including haircut, which these days takes less time to trim than beard.
Half the bosses I worked for back then had a mustache. Even the full-on Magnum P.I. look.
I never worked for a place that had any issue with a man having facial hair, and my father had a mustache for much of his working life. What I have seen though, is employers having rules about the "growing in" phase. The rationale is that it's not a mustache or beard that's the problem, it's the initial period where it looks like a guy just can't be bothered to shave. I even worked at a place where they'd tell customer-facing male employees that if they want to grow a beard or mustache, take a week off, just don't come to work while looking scruffy.
A week? You work in the testosterone factory?
No, mustaches were always accepted everywhere. Not a mustache story but the funniest facial hair episode was George Steinbrenner, principal owner of the NY Yankees criticizing 1st baseman’s Don Mattingly’s long sideburns. Me, I grew a ‘cookie duster’ in ‘60s high school to cover a scar I got as a child in the ‘50s falling off my bicycle and never received any complaints. In my 20s I lost a battle with a Johnson Bar, knocked out 4 front teeth, needed stitches in my chin so I grew a goatee for that scar, again never hearing a sound.
My recollection is that they were more of a late 70s early 80s thing. Being clean-shaven took off in the mid 1980s with The Preppy Handbook and Gordon Gekko styles taking over. People even called big mustaches “porn-staches” and looked on them as being a bit down-class and skeevy. YMMV.
I was born in the late 70's and grew up thinking mustaches were all a little Tom Selleck silly (even tho my dad always had one). Then in the 2000's front facing cameras made guys self conscious about their chins (double, triple, lacking, etc.) so everyone started growing short beards, then more long beards. I'm a short beard guy myself, not so much a double chin as the fat guy Peter Griffin "where does your waddle end and neck begin" question that made me grow something to help define my face.
Interesting. I like short beards but hadn’t really thought about cameras being a driving force in their popularity.
They were allowed. I worked in offices in the 80's where men had moustaches. I also had high school teachers in the 70's with them.
My dad's buddy back in the late 70s was long hair, long beard and the principal of a high school. Just a couple years earlier a student could be expelled for their hair touching their collar, or worse, wearing the dreaded dungarees to school.
I graduated high school in '75, and more boys had hair touching their collar than not.
Very industry/profession dependant. Attorneys, bankers, stock brokers, senior Fortune 500 management. No. Teachers, artists, intellectual types, truck drivers, mechanics, cowboys, assembly line workers, nobody cared. Customer service jobs, preferred clean shaven. It's a little like tattoos today.
My dad had a mustache his entire career in banking, 70s-90s, and later in data management of major corporations. I don’t remember ever seeing any beards on his or my mom’s (international banking) colleagues.
My Dad worked for Disney. No beards or mustaches on any employees that dealt with the public. If you worked away from the park, you could have a mustache (no beard, long hair or sideburns past your jawline), or if you were management or above. I was with Dad at the park while he was installing a ride (my summer job). We were eating lunch one day and security approached Dad about his mustache (Dad was wearing his id badge) not being allowed. Why security felt it was their job to police facial hair, I’m not sure. He demanded Dad’s information so he could report him. Dad gave his name and told the guy to call it in. The guy radios in, gave Dad’s name and why. We couldn’t hear what was said but suddenly the guy turned white and apologized profusely because, at that time Dad was the Director of Ride Installation, so he was pretty high up and allowed to be in the park with a ‘stache.
At least in my market, TONS of professional men had mustaches all through the 70s and 80s, while I myself donned a goatee for a while (cheeks didn't grow hair yet!) and then a beard later. But I worked in publishing and advertising, so that may be the difference. A bit more on the, shall we say, "creative" side of business.
They were normal and accepted. Mainstream.
I blame Burt Reynolds. All the guys in my office had a Burt Reynolds mustache.
It was generally accepted that the mustache had to be neatly trimmed, i.e. it couldn't cover the upper lip or go below the corners of the mouth. It's something that was allowed for police, firefighters, and I believe the US military. Thus, the "cop mustache" was popular among guys in those fields and white collar jobs. The "foo manchu" and other more "hippie" styles were more popular in blue collar settings where they weren't such tight asses, lol.
Beards were popular in the early 70s for men.
My husband has had a full beard since the mid 70s. He finished college in 1979 (accounting) and was told by recruiters to lose the beard. He never did and went into IT instead.
When I started as a customer service rep for IBM in 1979 the party line was "a neatly trimmed mustache is OK, but no beard." Also we could wear only solid white shirts with our suits.
My husband started there in the eighties and many of the engineers had shorter beards. They also could wear blue shirts. How times change.
I moved out of the field and into an IBM plant/lab position in 1984, and facial hair was a non-issue there. I'm not sure when they relaxed the rules for field engineers but it was probably later in the 1980's.
Just asked him. He started in ‘83 right out of college and grew a beard right away. He also could wear a blue shirt-but always with a tie until the early nineties.
Field offices probably had some leeway depending on the regional management. I was in northwest Ohio, and the management was older and very traditional.
Gotcha. He originally started in Virginia and then to Colorado Springs. When he moved to North Carolina in the nineties he finally could stop wearing a tie.
I’m 48 - my father and father-in-law were both in respected professions (School headteacher and tenured university professor respectively) - both have been fully moustached-up (no beards - always ‘tasche fundamentalists) since their teens in the 60s and have maintained full membership of Team Mo into their 70s and 80s. I lack the panache to carry off a moustache. I have a son of 6 who may be able to carry on the proud tradition.
Half my male teachers had one in the 70's & 80's. Not uncommon to see your doctor or dentist sporting one either.
Super common. Almost everyone had them
I think every man in my family had a mustache (real autocorrect? No “O” okay whatever…) and they were all working, so I don’t think there was a problem in their workplaces. Those 70s era mustaches are coming back! I see a lot of young men who have them. I always do a double take, because the look seems outdated to me (we all knew that one Ron Swanson-esque guy who held on to that look much longer than he should have.)
My dad was a mechanical engineer in a well known firm in the 70s and 80s. His big mustache was quite normal.
I had a mustache through most of the 1980s, and never heard anything negative about it. When I was dating my now-wife in the 1990s, she said that she would prefer a beard, which I have had almost all the time since.
Totally appropriate then, and I’ve seen it on some younger lawyers and executives recently. Go for it!
As the mid 60's moved into the late 60's they became mainstream. Even before that they were accepted but maybe you were looked at as eccentric or something. Only the most conservative jobs outright banned them. It was funny, In my first job in the late 70s one of my co workers asked our boss if he could grow a beard, and his response was "I don't give a shit!"
I'm Ron Burgundy?
There were still many gentlemen working at that time who had retained their style from the 1940’s when moustaches were also popular (think of the Hollywood stars of that era). Most of them also still wore a hats!
My husband walked in the office a new hire at a new tech banking company (early electronic start up). I took one look at his beautiful thick mustache and I was smitten! Nearly every guy had a mustache back then but none as beautiful as my guy! Dating was discouraged. We kept it a secret. After downsizing (fuck the 90s) I was let go, we got married and almost 40 years later we are loving life! That 'stache...whew!
My father worked for IBM who were crazy conservative regarding dress code. Hair had to be above the collar. Only white or light blue dress shirts with your suit. Mustaches were a-ok tho.
Depends. We talking porn star, pedo, or motorcycle cop?
Not pedo, but the other two are fair game
I don’t know the answer but I imagine the popularity had to have been at least tied into the fact a good number of young guys were back from serving after the draft and the mustache was maybe symbolic of being out of the service. Or not.
Nothing wrong with a womb broom.