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The Tangled Business of Facial Hair in Politics

When Presidential Facial Hair Was King

Fashion styles come and go, but facial hair on men hasn't entered the mainstream since safety razors came on the scene. Sure, some of our elected officials have held on to their whiskers, but Presidential beards and mustaches are a distant memory.

In the early days of this great nation, it wasn't uncommon to see Presidential facial hair. But after Taft, the commanders in chief have kept their faces pretty clean. After our conversation with Phil Edwards about political facial hair, we started to wonder:

What if the hipster beards of Brooklyn were the norm for male politicians? What if all the male candidates running for the highest office in the land had elaborate facial hair? 

With this in mind, we've decided to have a little fun with Photoshop and have created a slide show of potential facial hair for each of the candidates*. Please note that even though Dr. Carson has facial hair, we thought he needed just a bit more.

*We didn't want to leave out Secretary Clinton or Mrs. Fiorina, so we've given them hipster eyeglasses and hats.

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