Beard and haircut laws by country

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Secular (as opposed to religious) laws regulating hairstyles exist in various countries and institutions.

Contents

Present laws

India

Out of respect to their religion, Sikhs are allowed to grow beards in the Indian army. Soldier Sikh LI INF of the Indian Army practices aim during MALABAR 2006.jpg
Out of respect to their religion, Sikhs are allowed to grow beards in the Indian army.
Admiral D.K. Joshi of the Indian Navy with designer stubble. DK Joshi official portrait.jpg
Admiral D.K. Joshi of the Indian Navy with designer stubble.

In the Armed, Paramilitary and Law enforcement forces of India, male Sikh servicemen are allowed to wear full beards as their religion expressly requires followers to do so. However, they are specifically required to "dress up their hair and beard properly". [1] In December 2003, the Supreme Court of India ruled that Muslims in uniform can grow beards. [2] [3]

Non-Muslims and non-Sikhs serving in the Indian Army or the Indian Air Force are not permitted to wear beards. However, Army personnel on active duty are sometimes exempt from facial hair regulations for the duration of their tour of duty if their deployment makes it difficult to shave. Indian Navy personnel are allowed to grow beards with the permission of their commanding officer. [4] Exceptions for other religions are made in the case of special forces operatives like the Indian Air Force pilots, the Indian army's Para (Special Forces) soldiers and the navy's MARCOS commandos, who are allowed to grow beards. [5] Non-Sikh personnel are allowed to grow whiskers and moustaches, with the only regulation being that they "will be of moderate length". [1]

Iran

In a stated attempt to preserve the culture of the country and combat cultural imperialism, the Ministry of Culture in 2010 published a journal of Iranian male hairstyles approved by the ministry. [6] It further banned barbers from cutting some hair styles for men, including ponytails, mullets and spikes. [7] [8] In 2007, the authorities closed more than 20 barbers' shops that did not comply with the rules. [9]

North Korea

Radio Free Asia reported in 2014 that the North Korean government had a recommended list of 18 hair styles for women and 10 hair styles for men, and that some colleges had recommended male students model their hair after Kim Jong-un. [10] However, Dr. Katharine H.S. Moon, Wasserman Chair of Asian Studies at Wellesley College, refutes these claims, stating that, "There's no evidence that their hairstyles must follow totalitarian regulation," and that she had personally witnessed a wide variety of hair styles, including hair dye, while visiting Pyongyang in 2013. [11]

Tajikistan

Beards are discouraged by the government for most men in Tajikistan in a stated effort to battle radicalism. Only clean-shaven men can apply for a passport. Beards are often forcibly shaved off by police officers. [12] [13] [14]

Thailand

Male Thai police and military personnel, as of 2017, are required to wear a hairstyle known as the "904 cut". The style means shaving the sides and back of the head, leaving just a suggestion of hair on top. The corresponding hairstyle for female police officers and female soldiers, in case of long hair (shoulder level), must keep their hair in a bun with the proper color of ribbon and net (black, dark brown or navy blue). [15]

School dress codes in Thailand have long mandated earlobe-length bobs for girls and army-style crew cuts for boys. It is not uncommon for teachers to cut the hair of students deemed to be in violation of the frequently arbitrary[ clarification needed ] code. [16]

Past laws

Albania

During his regime, Enver Hoxha banned all hair longer than 4 cm (1.6 in) for men, as well as all beards. No man could enter the country whilst wearing one of the banned hair styles. [17] [18]

British North America

Long hair for men was illegal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony starting in 1634. [19]

China

The Han Chinese first Ming dynasty emperor Zhu Yuanzhang passed a law on mandatory hairstyle on 24 September 1392, mandating that all males grow their hair long and making it illegal for them to shave part of their foreheads while leaving strands of hair which was the Mongol hairstyle. The penalty for both the barber and the person who was shaved and his sons was castration if they cut their hair and their families were to be sent to the borders for exile. This helped eradicate the partially shaved Mongol hairstyles and enforced long Han hairstyle. [20]

In Qing dynasty China, all male subjects of all ethnicities were required to wear their hair in a long braid and to shave the front of their scalp. Those who resisted were subject to execution for treason. All Chinese men stopped sporting the Queue braid tonsure hairstyle, in favor of short western hairstyles, following the collapse the Qing Dynasty in the 1910s which was succeeded by the Republic of China.

Czechoslovakia

Following the Prague Spring of 1968, Western 1960s counterculture inspired the Mánička subculture amongst Czechoslovak youth. The long hairstyles associated with this was discouraged and suppressed by the authorities, who saw it as a subversive Western cultural influence.

Japan

A 19th-century samurai with a chonmage Samurai hand colored c1890.jpg
A 19th-century samurai with a chonmage
A Japanese barbershop in the 19th century Two Japanese barbers; to the left, one is shaving his client Wellcome V0029727.jpg
A Japanese barbershop in the 19th century

In the Edo period (1603–1867) of Japan, the Tokugawa Shogunate passed orders for Japanese men to shave the pate on the front of their head (the chonmage hairstyle) and shave their beards, facial hair and side whiskers. [21] This was similar to the Qing dynasty queue order imposed by Dorgon making men shave the pates on the front of their heads. [22] During the fourth year of the Meiji period in 1871, Emperor Meiji issued the Dampatsurei Edict which abolished the chonmage hairstyle. As a result of the decree which was issued as part of the Meiji Restoration, all Japanese men were forced to chop off their topknots and switch to short Western hairstyles in addition to switching to Western clothing. The chonmage was abandoned along with the samurai class in the 1870s, as a result of the Meiji Restoration and modernization of Japan. However, this decree/edict abolishing the chonmage hairstyle did not apply to sumo wrestlers as they are permitted to continue sporting chonmage into the modern era. [23] [24]

Russia

As part of his drive to modernise and Westernise Tsarist Russia, Peter the Great imposed a beard tax in 1698 to encourage Russian men to shave off their beards. Men who kept their beards but refused to pay the tax were forcibly shaven.

Singapore

There was a national ban of long hair for men in Singapore; the reason was the growth of hippie subculture worldwide. The law has since changed and nowadays, men can display any kind of hairstyle.

South Korea

In 1973, South Korea under Park Chung-hee introduced the Minor Offenses Act which limited the length of hair for males and mandated a minimum length of skirts for females. There are no specific definitions of acceptable hair length, and violators were often taken to police stations and had their hair cut against their will. [25]

Vietnam

The Han Chinese referred to the various non-Han "barbarian" peoples of north Vietnam and southern China as "Yue" (Viet) or Baiyue, saying they possessed common habits like adapting[ clarification needed ] to water, having their hair cropped short and tattooed. The Han also said their language was "animal shrieking" and that they lacked morals, modesty, civilization and culture. [26]

When Han Chinese ruled the Vietnamese in the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam due to the Ming dynasty's conquest during the Ming–Hồ War they imposed the Han Chinese style of men wearing long hair on short-haired Vietnamese men. Vietnamese were ordered to stop cutting and instead grow their hair long and switch to Han Chinese clothing in only a month by a Ming official. Ming administrators said their mission was to civilize the unorthodox Vietnamese barbarians. [27] A royal edict was issued by Vietnam in 1474 forbidding Vietnamese from adopting foreign languages, hairstyles and clothes like that of the Lao, Champa or the Ming "Northerners". The edict was recorded in the 1479 Complete Chronicle of Dai Viet of Ngô Sĩ Liên in the Later Lê dynasty. [28]

See also

General

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hairstyle</span> Style of hair, usually on the human scalp

A hairstyle, hairdo, haircut or coiffure refers to the styling of hair, usually on the human head but sometimes on the face or body. The fashioning of hair can be considered an aspect of personal grooming, fashion, and cosmetics, although practical, cultural, and popular considerations also influence some hairstyles.

A beard is the hair that grows on the jaw, chin, upper lip, lower lip, cheeks, and neck of humans and some non-human animals. In humans, usually pubescent or adult males are able to start growing beards, on average at the age of 21.

<i>Chonmage</i> Traditional Japanese mens hairstyle

The chonmage (丁髷) is a type of traditional Japanese topknot haircut worn by men. It is most commonly associated with the Edo period (1603–1868) and samurai, and in recent times with sumo wrestlers. It was originally a method of using hair to hold a samurai kabuto helmet steady atop the head in battle, and became a status symbol among Japanese society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teeth blackening</span> Custom of dyeing ones teeth black

Teeth blackening or teeth lacquering is a custom of dyeing one's teeth black. It was most predominantly practiced in Southeast Asian and Oceanic cultures, particularly among Austronesian, Austroasiatic, and Kra–Dai-speaking peoples. It was also practiced in Japan prior to the Meiji era, as well as in India. It was also performed among some groups in the Americas, most notably among the Shuar people of northern Peru and Ecuador.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Vietnam</span> Culture of Vietnam

The culture of Vietnam are the customs and traditions of the Kinh people and the other ethnic groups of Vietnam. Vietnam is part of Southeast Asia and the Sinosphere due to the influence of Chinese culture on Vietnamese culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bun (hairstyle)</span> Type of hairstyle

A bun is a type of hairstyle in which the hair is pulled back from the face, twisted or plaited, and wrapped in a circular coil around itself, typically on top or back of the head or just above the neck. A bun can be secured with a hair tie, barrette, bobby pins, one or more hair sticks, a hairnet, or a pen or pencil. Hair may also be wrapped around a piece called a "rat". Alternatively, hair bun inserts, or sometimes rolled up socks, may also be used to create donut-shaped buns. Buns may be tightly gathered, or loose and more informal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pigtail Ordinance</span>

The Pigtail Ordinance was an 1873 law intended to force prisoners in San Francisco, California to have their hair cut within an inch of the scalp. It affected Qing Chinese prisoners in particular, as it meant they would have their queue, a waist-long, braided pigtail, cut off. The proposal passed by a narrow margin through the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1873 but was vetoed by the mayor. An identical version of the law was enacted by the California State Legislature in 1876 and was subsequently struck down as unconstitutional in 1879.

Topknot may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shenandoah (beard)</span> Beard style

A Shenandoah, also known as an Amish beard, a chin curtain, a Donegal, a Lincoln, a spade beard, or a whaler, is a style of facial hair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rattail (hairstyle)</span> Tail-like hair style

A rattail is a hair style that is characterized by a long "tail"-like element of hair growing downward from the back of the head. The rattail usually hangs naturally; however, it can be braided, treated as a dread, permed, straightened, poofed, or curled with an iron. In some instances, an individual might choose to grow several tails as opposed to a single very long tail. A rattail is characterised by hair longer than the rest of the hair surrounding it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queue (hairstyle)</span> Hairstyle worn by the Jurchen and Manchu peoples of Manchuria

A queue or cue is a hairstyle worn by the Jurchen and Manchu peoples of Manchuria, and was later required to be worn by male subjects of Qing China. Hair on top of the scalp is grown long and is often braided, while the front portion of the head is shaved. The distinctive hairstyle led to its wearers being targeted during anti-Chinese riots in Australia and the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vietnamese clothing</span> Traditional Vietnamese clothing system

Vietnamese clothing is the traditional style of clothing worn in Vietnam by the Vietnamese people. The traditional style has both indigenous and foreign elements due to the diverse cultural exchanges during the history of Vietnam. This all eventually led to the birth of a distinctive Vietnamese style of clothing, including the birth of the unofficial national dress of Vietnam, the áo dài.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Short hair</span> Style of human haircutting

Short hair refers to any haircut with little length. It may vary from above the ears to below the chin. If a man's hair reaches the chin, it may not be considered short. For a woman, however, short varies from close-cropped to just above the shoulders. This varies from culture to culture, in more traditional societies in Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Islamic world, short hair on women means anything shorter than chest length with chest length to elbow length being considered medium-length. However, among more progressive societies with far less structured gender norms, the classic bob is considered medium-length with "short hair" referring to pixie cuts and similar hairstyles. Different styles of short hair include the bob cut, the crop and the pixie cut.

<i>Wakashū</i> Historical Japanese term for adolescent boys

Wakashū is a historical Japanese term indicating an adolescent boy, used particularly during the Edo period (1603–1867). Wakashū status was indicated by haircut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Facial hair in the military</span>

Facial hair in the military has been at various times common, prohibited, or an integral part of the uniform.

The undercut is a hairstyle that was fashionable from the 1910s to the 1940s, predominantly among men, and saw a steadily growing revival in the 1980s before becoming fully fashionable again in the 2010s. Typically, the hair on the top of the head is long and is often parted on either the side or center, while the back and sides are buzzed very short. It is closely related to the curtained hair of the mid-to-late 1990s, although those with undercuts during the 2010s tended to slick back the bangs away from the face.

<i>Hanfu</i> Traditional dress of the Han Chinese people

Hanfu are the traditional styles of clothing worn by the Han Chinese. There are several representative styles of hanfu, such as the ruqun, the aoqun, the beizi and the shenyi, and the shanku.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minh Hương</span> Group of ethnic Chinese

Minh Hương refers to descendants of Ming dynasty immigrants who settled in southern Vietnam during the 16th and 18th centuries. They were among the first wave of ethnic Han who came to southern Vietnam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Braid (hairstyle)</span> Hairstyle formed by interlacing 3 or more strands

Braids are a complex hairstyle formed by interlacing three or more strands of hair. Braiding has been used to style and ornament human and animal hair for thousands of years in various cultures around the world.

Tifayifu was a cultural policy of the early Qing dynasty as it conquered the preceding Ming dynasty. In 1645, the Tifayifu edict forced Han Chinese people to adopt the Manchu hairstyle, the queue, and Manchu clothing. The edict specifically applied to living adult men, who did not fall in the stipulated exceptions. In 1644, on the first day when the Manchu penetrated the Great Wall of China in the Battle of Shanhai Pass, the Manchu rulers ordered the surrendering Han Chinese population to shave their heads; however, this policy was halted just a month later due to intense resistance from the Han Chinese near Beijing. Only after the Manchu captured Nanjing, the southern capital, from the Southern Ming in 1645 was the Tifayifu policy resumed and enforced severely. Within one year after entering China proper, the Qing rulers demanded that men among their newly defeated subjects adopt the Manchu hairstyle or face execution. The Qing prince regent Dorgon initially canceled the order to shave for all men in Ming territories south of the Great Wall. The full Tifayifu edict was only implemented after two Han officials from Shandong, Sun Zhixie and Li Ruolin, voluntarily shaved their foreheads and demanded that Dorgon impose the queue hairstyle on the entire population.

References

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