# Native Americans - why no facial hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572 "2002-12-30T00:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/1 "2002-12-30T00:00:02Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/2 "2002-12-30T00:05:40Z")
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](http://www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/kman/the_idea_of_race.htm) Some tribes have more than others. ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/3 "2002-12-30T00:06:57Z")
Sorry, hit submit too soon. I meant to add, so the filmmakers/TV show producers may just be playing to that belief. ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/4 "2002-12-30T00:32:03Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/5 "2002-12-30T00:37:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Harry\_Lime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Harry\_Lime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry_Lime)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/6 "2002-12-30T03:14:21Z")
Leonard Peltier has a moustache. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/7 "2002-12-30T05:40:19Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/8 "2002-12-30T06:21:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Harry Lime \* > \*\*Leonard Peltier has a moustache. \*\* That sounds like an Anal Cunt song title. ---
**Author:** ![soulburnz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@soulburnz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulburnz)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/9 "2002-12-30T06:57:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arden Ranger \* > \*\* 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. \*\* 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. ---
**Author:** ![Harry\_Lime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Harry\_Lime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry_Lime)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/10 "2002-12-30T07:18:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Badtz Maru \* > That sounds like an Anal Cunt song title. They may use it with my blessing 😃 ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/11 "2002-12-30T07:31:31Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/native-americans-why-no-facial-hair/145572/12 "2002-12-30T10:27:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by t-keela \* > \*\*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.