Fashions in Shaving and Trimming of the Beard: The Men of the Illustrated London News, 1842-1972 Author(s): Dwight

E. Robinson Source: American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 81, No. 5 (Mar., 1976), pp. 1133-1141 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2777558 . Accessed: 09/09/2013 08:19
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Fashions in Shaving and Trimming of the Beard: The Men of the Illustrated London News, 1842-19721
DwightE. Robinson University of Washington This research notepresents sample-derived measures of comparative frequencies over time (1842-1972) for changing modes in men's facial barbering. Students of the dynamics of taste have been slow to follow up A. L. Kroeber'spioneering demonstration thatshifts in the comparative proportions of women's dressdesignover timehave generally tendedto followalternating directions over long periods whichare notablyconsistent and regularin theirrecurrence. The remarkable similarity of the chronological patternsemerging from my measurements to thosefoundby Kroeberstrongly suggests that theyare common expressions of underlying conditions and sequences in social behavior. The hypothesis thatstylistic changesare subject to common behavioral influences is reinforced now thatthe twosets of data are availableforcomparison. Almost as ifin disregard of thearresting results of A. L. Kroeber's pioneering quantitative study of changing proportional dimensions in women's in whichhe (with Jane Richardson) foundremarkably dress fashions, atregularwaves of approximately no comparable a century's duration, of ornament. tempthas been made to trace fluctuations in otherforms Kroeber measured annualfluctuations in widthand length of skirts, waistlines,and decolletage as ratiosto women'sheights. This reportpresents of a careful of the comparative over time the results sampling frequencies ofmen'schoices of forms ofgrooming their facialhair.It doesnotrecapitulate Richardson and Kroeber'sarticle (1940) but pointsout wherethe present research replicates theirfindings. My data showthatmenare just as subjectto fashion's influence as women.
SOURCE OF DATA AND SAMPLING PROCEDURE

In selecting as forKroeber,was "ease of obdata, the first desideratum, abundant but strictly material which is not onlyfairly taining comparable to century"(Richardson from decade to decade and even fromcentury and Kroeber1940,p. 111). I settledforthe periodof 1842-1972on the
My particulardebt of gratitudeis to Lois Wallace Fenske for her good work in to ProfessorHIirokuni conducting the sample counts.I am grateful Tamura for helpful discussion. Patricia Hall and Linda Van Kirk assisted in preparingthe tables and is mine alone. manuscript. Responsibility
1

AJS Volume 81 Number5

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American Journalof Sociology ground thatthosewerethe yearsof continuous weekly publication of the world'smost venerablepictorialnews magazine,the IllustratedLondon News, the singlesourceof the sample.Although Kroeber'sstudycovered threecenturies, his detailedanalysiswas confined to the last 150 years sampled, a timespan notmuchlonger thanthe 130 yearsof thisstudy. The gentlemen of theNews were,of course, members of a cultural subgroup, mainlyBritish, and nearlyall prominent in one way or another in theirnation'saffairs. This limitation of the sample carriedwithit compensating advantages. We couldbe surethatthemorecrucial socioeconomic characteristics of the subjects,particularly age, occupation, incomelevel, and socialstatus, wouldremain muchthesameovertheyears. My procedure forgathering data was, quite literally, to take a head count,determining forany one year the comparative frequencies of men's choicesamongfivemajorfeatures of barbering: sideburns alone,sideburns and moustache in combination, beard (a category thatincluded anyamount of whiskers centering on thechin), moustache alone,and clean shavenness. To obtaindistinct likenesses, to minimize duplication, and to avoid bias, I excludedpictures of groups(because such pictures oftenobscureparts of facesor show themat angles), pictures of royalty(because the royal family gets morepress coveragethan the averagenewsmaker), pictures illustrating fiction (because fictional timeis notnecessarily contemporary), picturesin advertisements (because modelsphotographed are obviously selectedwithspecial purposesin mind), and picturesof non-Europeans (because individuals of othernationalorigins are oftensubjectto cultural influences unrelated to general Western tonsorial fashion). I did not excludelikenesses of men in uniform. Duringwar years the overwhelming majorityof photographs were of young men in military inservice. Had I excludedthem, I shouldhave runthe riskof compiling verselybiased samples.However,because of the stronglikelihoodthat menare moreinclined theascendant to follow younger styleand to avoid the outgoing, the statistical effect wouldnaturally be to step up the rate of increase of theformer and to accelerate thedeclineof thelatter. I was able to accumulate a considerably greater number of observations morethan measured forevery whorarely yearsampledthanwas Kroeber, of 100 ob10 dressmodelsannually.My aim was to gathera minimum In in each yearby sampling or a six-month a threeservations either period. likenesseswere sparser, the earlieryears (1842-77), because illustrated of observations the averagenumber per annumwas 76. From 1878 on, fellbelow 100 in only two years,1931 and 1933, yearlysamplenumbers with95 and 97, respectively (see Appendix).2
For some years the more zealous compilersexhausted the issues of an entire year. to improve of such erring on the side of generoussamplesis in all probability The effect estimatesfor the years concerned. the frequency
2

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of the Beard Shavingand Trimming

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS OF THE TIME SERIES

of facialhair fashions in the disposition The swings plottedforchanging Kroeberin the of march"as so impressed exhibitas much "stateliness if not more(figs.1, 2). The timeseriesforclean shaving history of dress, and uniformly regularof all the fivecategories is the mostpersistently of clean-shaven menin any year (fig.2). It maybe notedthatthenumber
60% 50% d-1

Sideburns

40%-.
30% 20% _

20% 10%

10%

0%
_ ' I .* ' I ' I I I . ' 1 1 1 ' I I I

10%

. .gs.

and Moustaches ~Sideburns

60% 50%

40%

Bad

510%
20% _

60%

40% 60% 20%

10%
0%

Moustaches

700%

50% 40% 30% 20%

Sumof Frequencies of Menwith Whisker Forms* As Shown Above

10%

1840

50

60

70

80

90

1900

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

as percentiles of yearly samples. Source: Illustrated London ages; dots= frequencies News, 1842-1972.

FIG. 1.-Frequencies of whisker forms,1842-1972. Lines = five-yearmoving aver-

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Journalof Sociology American

90% , I l I I

' I

'

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% '10% 0% 1840 50

Cleanshaven
ofmen'slikenesses) (As percentages

60

70

80

90

1900

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

FIG. 2.-Frequencies of cleanshavenlikenesses

of the sum of those in the fourwhisker is by definition the reciprocal two are directional swingsin clean shavenness categories. The opposite in anas well as by very slight fluctuation marked by extreme longevity, nual ratesof change. up, down,on theone hand,and playing The playing on theother, of ornamentation to shifting style appear to be fundamental in successive preferences eras. typeswereas follows(fig. 1): sideThe peaks of the severalwhisker 1877; beards,1892; moustaches, burns,1853; sideburns and moustache, thatemerges from all thetimeseries, 1917-19.An interesting consideration or is thata longperiodof disappearance exceptthatforclean shavenness, of a styleform seemsto follow its decline.The nearly complete dormancy of meaof the curvesmake it clear thatthe standard procedure patterns suitableto the curvesfrom low pointto low pointis not entirely suring of a mean wave to compare data. However, withKroeber'sfinding simply meaa century, we may computetrough-to-trough lengthapproximating and moustaches as follows:sideburns to arriveat wave lengths surements (1846-1916), 70 years; beards (1840-1960), 120 years; moustaches ofabout 103 years.3 (1850-1970), 120 years; withan averageforthethree When we compareKroeber'swidthof skirtwave, whichrose and fell
of this fashion take into account Sideburns are omittedbecause the measurements only slightlymore than their period of decline (1853-1915). The upward swing in clean shaving,which began in 1886, appeared to peak out only in 1966, which suggests the likelihoodof a far longerwave.
3

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of the Beard Shavingand Trimming between1811 and 1926,and thebeard wave,whichroseand fellbetween 1842 (or very possibly1840) and 1956,we find one of themostremarkable in the entirebody of time-series correspondences measurements (fig.3). Astonishingly, the respective lengths of upswings are 50 yearsand 48 or 50. Each waveoccupieda periodof almostexactly115 years.Withrespect minimum to ranges of variation, skirt diameters of reachedtheanatomical in the years 1811 and 1926, one-fifth approximately of heightof figure having peaked at 105% of figureheightin 1861. (Five-year moving and Kroeber [1940], table 8.) Beard frequencies averages,Richardson roseand fellfrom less than 10% in 1844 to zero in 1957, attaining their maximum of 47% in thefive on 1892. yearscentering I computed the Pearsonian correlation coefficient between the two time series,allowing fordifferent lead-lagintervals because the ups and downs of each series took place at different times,probablya consequence of age differences between fashion models and theprominent menof theNews. An interval of 21 yearsadded to the actual dates of the skirtwidthwave
100%
90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 1823 (actual year) 1934 (actualyear) 10% (Expressed as ratios of height of women's figures)

Skirt Width

20%

/~ |

BeardFrequencies
( As percentages of men's likenesses) |

0%
1840 50 60 70 80 90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 FIG. 3.-Skirt width (1823-1934) and beard frequencyfluctuations(1844-1955), five-yearmoving averages. The time scales of the two curves have been positioned to allow for assumed 21-yearlead in skirtfluctuations possibly related to comparative of subjects in Richardson and Kroeber's population samples for dress youthfulness (see text for further explanation). Coefficient of correlationsfor the two series,r = .867. Sources: skirtwidths (Richardson and Kroeber 1940, table 8); beard frequencies, Appendix.

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American Journalof Sociology coefyieldedthe highest value (Pearson r equals .867) of the correlation ficient.
FASHION FLUCTUATION AND EXTERNAL FACTORS

suggestsa large The remarkable regularity of our wavelikefluctuations of independence events. The innovation of measure from outsidehistorical the safetyrazorand the wars whichoccurred duringthe periodstudied on the timeseries.King C. Gillette's appear to have had negligible effects sales rise in 1905. But by that patentedsafetyrazorbegan its meteoric year beardlessness had alreadybeen on the rise formorethan 30 years, afterand its rateof expansion appreciably seemsnot to have augmented rodeone to fame a greatstylewave,Mr. Gillette ward.Far from initiating in rates alterations and fortune. As to wars,it seemsthat any significant in the timeseriesare due mainlyto sampling of fluctuation error. Beards in frequency the Boer War, 1899-1902, (fig.1) declined markedly during a particularly (fig.2) underwent rapid and WorldWar I. Clean shavenness reflect the unusually probably risebetween1915 and 1922. These changes of younger highincidence menin the sampleforthe periods.High Comor proscribing permitting whiskers, mandsdo, of course,issue regulations but I suspectthattheymerely reinforce theprevailing style.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

of reference, in otherframes suchas architecof styleshifts Measurements and industrial shouldbe undertaken. Also,I would ture,furniture, design, other like to see the present studyexpandedto includemen in countries than Great Britainand to extendthe time span. A follow-up studyof their on the men of the News mightdetermine information biographical to whicholdermencling birthdates and thusprovideclues to the extent to declining modesof whisker grooming. In this report, on Kroeber'sconcernwith has centered my attention of how aesthetic "problems to whichin turnwe styleschangein general, whythey musthave someanswer before we can hope to inquirefruitfully change" (Richardsonand Kroeber 1940, "Conclusions"; italics mine).4 here into the "why" is to subscribeto an explanation My only venture thatpeople consider two suggested by AgnesBrookYoung,who observed notonlythediscarded variants of the typesof fashions uglyor ridiculous: of thepreceding direction ofstylebut eventhefashions current era (Young
interestin the understanding The presentstudy is an outgrowthof a long-standing cited therein). of fashioncausation (see, e.g., Robinson [1963] and references
4

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Shavingand Trimming of the Beard 1937).5 This means that as long as any considerable numberof people who have stuck to a supersededformof personalappearanceare still living, theyoung maytendto avoidsucha modeas old hat. These distasteful associations seem to be safelyovercome only afterthe passage of a century or more.
5Miss Young was concernedwith the shiftin women's preference over time among three categoriesof skirt form: bell shaped, tubular, and full in the back. She found that each type dominated fashionto the exclusionof the other two for approximately a thirdof a century, but she made no attemptat time-series measurements.

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American Journalof Sociology

APPENDIX
TABLE 1. NUMBERSAND PERCENTAGES OF FACIAL HAIR STYLES COUNTED PER YEAR, 1842-1972 Source: Illustrated London News

Year 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915

Months Counted 12 6 6 12 6 6 6 6 12 12 12 12 12 12 6 6 6 6 12 6 6 6 6 12 12 12 12 12 12 6 6 6 6 12 9 12 12 9 12 6 9 6 3 12 6 9 6 6 12 3 3 3 3 12 6 6 6 6 12 3 3 3 6 12 6 6 6 6 12 3 3 3 3 12

Clean No. 18 43 23 31 14 11 18 19 29 25 19 20 19 17 35 21 22 30 14 9 3 6 5 7 12 8 10 8 11 11 8 9 6 20 10 5 11 7 17 13 5 9 10 5 11 2 10 14 24 14 9 12 11 64 49 55 70 93 146 35 39 44 55 102 77 129 66 97 284 96 132 59 71 583

Shaven 7. 49 40 47 46 32 26 25 32 41 25 28 22 22 18 19 16 14 21 16 25 9 12 18 12 20 15 22 14 16 25 17 21 9 12 10 8 11 7 7 13 5 9 10 3 11 2 10 14 10 14 9 12 11 14 1S 13 17 14 18 18 21 23 28 22 22 23 23 25 34 27 38 33 33 34

Moustaches 7 No. 1 2 3 1 4 2 3 3 2 4 1 5 5 6 25 13 12 12 6 3 3 3 3 2 4 2 3 1 5 3 6 0 6 10 13 8 10 21 39 25 25 17 24 60 18 20 25 24 63 18 30 20 13 163 140 159 160 382 470 80 69 88 66 167 154 217 133 157 321 122 140 72 103 1097 3 2 4 2 9 5 4 5 3 4 1 5 5 7 14 10 7 8 7 8 9 6 11 4 7 3 6 2 7 7 12 0 9 6 13 12 10 21 14 25 24 17 24 29 18 20 25 24 26 18 30 20 13 34 42 37 38 57 58 42 37 47 37 37 45 41 46 39 39 43 40 41 48 63

Sideburns % No. 15 51 36 27 21 20 27 23 30 60 37 55 51 45 44 48 74 38 27 14 18 16 8 25 21 18 20 25 19 13 9 14 12 33 26 14 22 13 50 11 15 9 13 38 17 21 15 9 43 21 16 8 8 54 28 40 29 34 37 11 18 7 4 17 11 23 12 10 19 8 2 4 2 0 40 47 47 40 48 46 38 39 42 59 59 59 59 48 25 37 45 26 32 39 55 32 28 43 34 32 44 43 27 29 19 32 19 20 26 21 22 13 19 11 14 9 13 19 17 21 15 9 18 21 16 8 8 11 8 10 7 5 5 6 9 4 2 4 3 4 4 3 2 3 1 1 1 0

Moustache & Sideburns No. % 2 4 3 1 0 3 1 2 4 5 1 7 2 9 17 10 14 6 3 2 2 2 0 6 3 4 3 3 8 7 4 4 6 25 14 11 12 25 39 10 16 7 19 13 11 11 8 4 17 6 5 7 6 26 4 27 31 30 18 6 10 5 3 17 14 18 2 2 21 11 1 0 3 0 5 4 4 2 0 7 1 4 6 5 1 7 2 9 10 8 9 4 4 6 6 4 0 10 6 7 6 5 11 16 8 9 9 16 14 16 12 25 14 10 15 7 19 6 11 11 8 4 7 6 5 7 6 6 1 6 7 5 2 3 5 3 2 4 4 3 1 1 2 4 1 0 1 0

Beards No. X 1 8 11 7 5 7 23 12 6 7 7 7 11 17 55 37 41 58 33 8 7 23 12 18 20 24 10 21 28 10 21 16 35 75 37 29 45 34 124 41 44 58 34 88 43 46 42 49 93 41 40 53 62 168 112 148 134 128 140 59 52 43 67 153 91 150 73 126 195 66 71 36 37 50 3 7 15 10 11 16 32 20 8 7 11 7 12 18 32 29 25 41 39 22 21 46 43 31 33 43 22 36 39 23 44 38 54 46 37 43 45 34 46 41 42 58 34 43 43 46 42 49 39 41 40 53 62 35 34 34 31 19 17 31 28 23 32 33 26 29 26 32 23 23 20 25 17 3

Total Number in Sample (100%) 37 108 76 67 44 43 72 59 71 101 67 94 88 94 176 129 163 144 83 36 33 50 28 58 60 56 46 58 71 44 48 43 65 163 100 67 100 100 269 100 105 100 100 204 100 100 100 100 240 100 100 100 100 475 333 429 424 667 811 191 188 187 195 456 347 537 286 392 840 283 346 172 216 1730

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of the Beard Shavingand Trimming

APPENDIX
Months Counted 3 3 3 6 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 12 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 6 3 3 6 Clean No. 83 90 79 38 197 152 104 56 56 189 47 47 68 58 178 45 68 48 61 239 69 197 91 69 284 90 88 95 94 434 110 91 79 135 243 80 92 116 122 401 104 107 110 74 119 115 165 170 150 151 228 227 153 195 180 168 195 Shaven 33 39 33 38 42 60 57 51 46 47 47 68 52 51 47 62 50 55 55 59 57 67 56 61 62 71 62 63 72 63 73 75 78 73 76 75 76 86 79 78 79 78 74 87 79 81 80 81 83 86 81 83 85 84 83 84
47t

TABLE 1 (Continued)
Sideburns % No. 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 12 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6 1 if Moustache &Total Beards Sideburns 7 No. No. %. 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 5 7 8 48 22 22 12 14 55 14 18 10 2 39 15 10 2 10 20 4 6 4 2 12 5 4 6 6 7 6 5 4 6 12 2 3 2 1 9 2 3 5 0 0 2 6 6 4 5 10 13 4 12 9 13 17 1 3 3 8 10 9 12 11 11 13 14 18 10 2 11 16 9 2 9 4 3 2 3 2 2 3 3 5 5 1 3 4 3 3 4 2 3 1 1 2 2 2 3 0 0 1 3 3 2 3 4 5 2 5 4 6 8 Number in Sanple (100) 242 229 240 100 469 253 182 110 120 405 100 100 100 i11 347 95 110 97 111 436 117 343 136 123 468 145 124 152 148 601 175 124 103 172 333 105 122 153 142 509 133 136 143 100 137 147 203 212 186 183 265 280 185 228 215 203 231

Year 1916 1917 1918 1949 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972

Moustaches No. % 157 134 154 54 218 79 56 42 47 159 38 35 22 51 130 35 32 47 40 177 44 140 41 52 172 50 32 51 48 160 59 28 22 31 78 23 27 35 19 99 27 26 28 21 18 30 32 36 32 27 27 40 28 15 14 18 17 64 58 64 54 46 31 31 38 39 39 38 35 22 46 38 37 29 48 36 41 38 41 30 42 37 35 26 33 32 27 34 23 22 19 23 22 22 23 13 19 20 19 19 21 13 20 16 17 17 15 10 14 15 7 6 9 7

?i

REFERENCES Richardson, Jane, and A. L. Kroeber. 1940. "Three Centuries of Women's Dress Fashions: A QuantitativeAnalysis." Anthropological Records 5 (2): 111-53. Robinson,Dwight E. 1963. "The Importanceof Fashions in Taste to Business History: An Introductory Essay." Business History Review 37 (1-2): 5-38. Young, Agnes Brook. 1937. Recurring Cycles of Fashion 1760-1937. New York: Harper & Row.

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