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Hello, After retiring from the military I decided I would do something that I had been unable to do for over 25 years due to regulations and grow some facial hair. I was able to grow a serviceable Vandyke beard (what the average person refers to as a goatee) that I kept neat and well trimmed. After about 3 months I was called to be on the HC and was informed informally that I should shave my beard off. I wasn’t thrilled but came up with a workable compromise. I would grow the beard for the three weeks that I wasn’t directly involved with the HC then shave it off for HC meeting and visits. So last month I fellow High Counselor (we are not High Councilmen any more – Does that mean that women may soon be called to HC? The times they are a changin right?) shows up to HC meeting rocking a full Grizzly Adams type beard for “Movember.” I asked him after HC meeting if anyone said anything and he said no. So I thinking maybe this month I don’t shave and see what happens. My question to you all is if anyone knows of any official Church policy either written or spoken over the pulpit that prohibits facial hair in any capacity ? I have never seen or heard anything other than the “unofficial” gossip policy that Bishoprics, HC, SP etc aren’t supposed to have facial hair because none of the Brethren do.
Any help here would be appreciated as I think today is the day I show up to HC with the beard intact.
Thanks.
ghostman wrote:I have never seen or heard anything other than the “unofficial” gossip policy that Bishoprics, HC, SP etc aren’t supposed to have facial hair because none of the Brethren do.
No facial hair for temple or veil workers. I asked an acquaintance about it when I noticed he’d shaved about 11-12 years ago when there was a story about it in the Salt Lake Tribune. He denied it but later in the day came up to me and said it was true but they’d been told not to talk about it. I have a beard and my wife likes it so for me that trumps looking like the brethren which is one of the reasons I was told for the ban.
The temple worker demand is the exception that proves the rule. There is no other formal restriction of which I am aware. Everything else is local leader dependent – part of that blasted unwritten order of things that gets over-extended by well-meaning members. I have facial hair and have been questioned on it more than once by TBM family (that feel that our familial relationship allows them to get nosy :lolno: ) As the youngest member of the management team for my employer, I feel that my facial hair makes me look older and helps with respect. No one has said anything hurtful, just given me the equivalent of sideways glances.Thanks Gents. HC meeting is soon. I will let you know how it goes. I have seen bishopric members with full beards. This policy is one of those cultural myths. My mother in law used to tell my wife that I would never be allowed to serve with the youth if I didn’t shave. Have been serving in ym presidencies for 4 years now, in 2 different stakes. All through differing forms of beards and mustaches. I have a feeling that beards on temple workers might be a temple specific rule. Different presidencies will website different policies which may or may not be imaginary. For example read up on the FMH poll regarding temple baptism policies in regards to menstruation.
If there’s one thing that gets me disproportionately riled, it’s the facial hair issue. It’s one of the things that convinces me that some of our practices are simply that, practices. It reminds me that sometimes the “philosophies of men” can still be an influence. The no-beard policy is purely the cultural prejudice of western leaders who were primarily raised in the military loving state of Utah during the 60s. There is no doctrinal basis anywhere at all.
My dad was called as a Bishop some years ago. He had grown a beard from his late teens. The SP told him in the interview that he would have to shave before being sustained. My Dad looked him straight in the face and said, “then you will have to call someone else.” Result? Our Ward had a bearded Bishop
I quite often grow a beard. Especially over the winter. I enjoy it as a mild statement of intellectual and emotional independence.
mackay11 wrote:My dad was called as a Bishop some years ago. He had grown a beard from his late teens. The SP told him in the interview that he would have to shave before being sustained. My Dad looked him straight in the face and said, “then you will have to call someone else.” Result? Our Ward had a bearded Bishop
My dad did the same thing when called as a counsellor in a bishopric. He’s had at least a moustache for his entire adult life, and did during his time in the bishopric.
:clap: Facial hair and white shirts…perhaps the most telling sign of pharasicial influence within the Mormon church. I hope Jesus doesn’t make his second coming anytime soon…it might get ugly down at that COB. Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
cwald – Where is the “love it” button when I need it. :thumbup: mackay11 wrote:My dad was called as a Bishop some years ago. He had grown a beard from his late teens. The SP told him in the interview that he would have to shave before being sustained. My Dad looked him straight in the face and said, “then you will have to call someone else.” Result? Our Ward had a bearded Bishop
An old SP of mine told my qourum of 20ish elders that he always left it up to the newly called bishopric members what to do with their facial hair and that they invariably elected to shave it off. He indicated that it must have been the spirit working with each man individually, but it could also have been the pullings of organizational culture to conform.
My mum used to be very good like that. “I know you’ll choose to do the right thing” we invariably did too. Well it ended up being a non-event. The SP looked and one of his counselors looked at with slightly chagrined looks but that was the extent of the feedback. Not a word was said. Guess I will keep the beard. 
:ugeek: will have to do.My friend’s dad was called as bishop of my former home ward, and he wore a neatly trimmed full beard the whole time he served. He was one to push the envelope. When the SP asked him in a PIP if he read the scriptures every day, he told him that wasn’t any of his business. Then to be snarky he said, “I read all 4 standard works back to back on the last day of the year. What difference does it make?” They didn’t release him, though. Good help is hard to find. Plus, he’s truly an awesome guy. We’d all be lucky to have a bishop like him. In the 1980s there was a guy who did youth conferences and he said that facial hair was a symbol of free love / hippies / anti-authoritarianism, and that’s why the church didn’t like it and why no good Mormon man would have facial hair or a mustache. He also said rock music was Satanic. Coincidentally, he was selling copies of his own music in the hallway after this little speech.
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