Somewhere from the deep, dark recesses of my son’s mind emerged the comment that he has never seen in movies or TV programmes a single Native American character with facial hair. His comment made me realise that I haven’t either.
Can anyone explain why this might be so?
From Google (“native american”+“facial hair”) I learned it’s a popular myth that N.A.s can’t grow facial hair, but that that belief is false…
see
http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/kman/the_idea_of_race.htm
Some tribes have more than others.
Sorry, hit submit too soon. I meant to add, so the filmmakers/TV show producers may just be playing to that belief.
I figured it might be something like that Caesar’s Ghost, as in other respects portrayals of Native Americans on film and TV seem to have been based on popular stereotypes (at least until very recently). Chest hair also seems to have been notably absent in those same portrayals.
I can see why it’s a widely held belief. I live smack in the middle of Oklahoma with a very large Native American population and I can’t think of a single person I know to be NA that has any facial hair.
My friends who are say that they can grow it (slowly), it’s scraggly and patchy and generally pretty pathetic so they don’t bother trying.
Leonard Peltier has a moustache.
Having lived in and travelled in New Mexico, Arizona, and Mexico - among other places - here are my (not necessarily scientific) observations.
Unmixed Native American men tend to have sparse facial and body hair. Instead of a full bushy beard and thick mustache, there is usually sparse chin hair and a rather thin mustache. Chest and arm hair is either thin or non existent. I think many North American Indian men in the past plucked or shaved any facial hair, but Indians in Mesoamerica (Mexico, Guatemala, etc.) often let it grow - and it’s still very thin.
I would argue any Native American with rather thick facial or body hair is most likely mixed at some point in his ancestry. Of course not all Native Americans were homogenous at the time of the conquest, and ther are probably exceptions somewhere.
I am 1/4 Indian, and while I am light skinned, I can’t grow much of a beard…just a goatee and mustache…no decent cheek hair. Most men in my family are similar. But we are still far hairier than most “fullbloods”.
That sounds like an Anal Cunt song title.
My ex-husband is 1/4 Cherokee and that pretty much describes his facial hair. However he could manage a pretty good mustache - it just took forever. He only had a few chest hairs & little other body hair - none on arms and legs.
They may use it with my blessing 
It was probably seen as unattractive in N/A 's history and as a result, men with facial hair were “bred out” of the population. In other words, genetics and/or selective breeding. I’m sure there is more to it, but off the top…sounds like a good answer!
Uh . . . yeah.