Presidential Facial Hair

It truly runs the gamut. On one extreme, Rutherford B. Hayes could easily have been a member of ZZ Top. On the other, Dwight Eisenhower seemed to have more hair in his eyebrows that he did anywhere else.

Ike – am I right?

But, what I want to know is, Are there any patterns here? Is one look more popular than others? How has that changed over time? Let’s take a look …

Well, one way to do that is to simply look at the subject over time. Now, there are a couple of ways to do that as well. One that might be particularly effective, though, is a pie chart (of all things! – I’ll explain).

In this particular instance, try and see the pie as the 250+ years our country’s been in existence. Just start at 12 noon and then follow the clock to the current day, at 12 midnight:

See! Works pretty well, doesn’t it?

A few thoughts come immediately to mind …  First, there is definitely a preponderance of clean-shaven gentlemen. That said, there are also, however, definitely some other patterns mixed in as well. Do note, though, that they never quite sweep the boards, with the clean-shaven almost always popping in here and there.

So, here are what I see as the main periods of presidential facial hair:


The Wig Ascendancy – Excuse the pun, as these guys are all Federalists or Democrat-Republicans. And who I’m talking about here are basically the first four presidents – Washington through Madison. Now, all of them are clean-shaven as well, but those powdered wigs are just so dang interesting that I had to give them their own sub-category. That first clean-shaven guy who gets tagged on there at the end? That would be James Madison. 

NOTE: Debated putting our current chief exec here, but made the tough call and called him clean-shaven.

Makes a good Halloween costume as well

The Era of Good Whiskers – Well, I’m not sure two guys really make an era, but whiskers are pretty darn interesting as well, so what the heck. And, here, I’m referring to John Quincy Adams and Martin Van Buren, with poor Andrew Jackson getting sandwiched between them.

Though no one rocked ‘em like ol' MVB

The First Great Clean-Shaving – Our first dynasty. Twenty whole years, from 1841 to the start of the Civil War, and from William Henry Harrison to James Buchanan, and all without any interruption.

Love the curls, Franklin Pierce

The Bearded Age – This time period starts, of course, with Abraham Lincoln. Few people know, though, that Lincoln only grew his chinstrap right before being elected, and at the instigation of an 11-year-old girl. Perhaps it had an influence, as beards would rule for 32 more years, ending only in 1893, with the fully-bearded Benjamin Harrison. The only real outliers in this period were the clean-shaven Andrew Johnson and the mustachioed Grover Cleveland.

Rutherford Z Topp

The Mustachioed Era – Interestingly, Cleveland starts our next era as well (being our only president with multiple but non-consecutive terms will do that for you). Others with furry upper lips include Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. The outlier here is the extremely clean-shaven William McKinley.

But only Taft’s turned up at the end

The Second Great Clean-Shaving – And this is what we’re all used to. Indeed, it’s been more than a 100 years ago since any president dared to rock any facial hair. From Woodrow Wilson on, there have been no whiskers, mustaches, or beards. 

I dunno – I think ol’ Woody shoulda kept it

And, here, just to blow your mind, is how that all shakes out in more traditional pie chart form: