Why do Military Service men and most government employee have no facial hair?

It the 1700's it seems men took pride with having facial hair . What happened why we do not see men with facial hair in the Military services and other areas of governmentWhy do Military Service men and most government employee have no facial hair?
It looks more professional and respectable.Why do Military Service men and most government employee have no facial hair?
So many reasons come to mind. Here's a few unmentioned ones:





* The military is all about killing individuality and creating a group. Hair, including facial hair is a very individual way of expressing yourself so it has to go.





* Facial hair along with longish head hair can result in two types of appearances. One is that you end up looking like a ghetto maggot bum which would make the unit look like a bunch of drunk scrubs with no life. The other is where you look like some fancy model who likes posing for pictures more than cutting through leaves and branches with a bare knife. Instead of having to deal with these and other extremes in appearance the military just cuts the damn hair off and makes everyone look the same--clean cut.





* Some may not be able to grow facial hair as well as others. This would create unnecessary awkwardness especially among teens. You fight with your muscle and brains not your hair and nails.





Plus all the other reasons people mentioned and more
Our grooming standards started in WWI. Living in a hole in the ground packed like sardines and surronded by rats gave the men lice. So the US being the last to the war saw this and made the men buzz cut their hair so they couldn't get lice. They made them shave with issued Gillett disposable razors so they could seal their gas masks. The clean shaven look got popular after WWI among the civilian population as well and they bought the same gillett razors they used in the war.





Now a days it has some practical purpose. If you ever lived in the woods or desert it helps to have short hair, and we still have gas mask. It is also for professional military appearance, and tradition. There can still be relaxed grooming conditions for practical purposes such sharing common ground with the locals by growing out a beard but this is usually for Army Special Forces (Green Berets) because it is their specialty to train indiginous forces.
Since the military part is already answered above I will answer for the government employees. Most government employees are obese, balding desk jockeys whose idea of a workout is getting up to go get coffee. Its not that they aren't allowed to grow facial hair, its just the translucent peach fuzz on their upper lip is hard to notice.
Most people dont realize this but there is a method to the madness. We have certain grooming regulations for a couple reasons. The biggest one is professionalism we are a professional Armed Forces and its unsat to look otherwise, when you are out in the field its very unhygenic and last it looks just plain nasty to have beards and everything else the last thing you need to do is get to combat and not be able to see because your hair is to long or get into a hand to hand fight and have your hair pulled.
In the 1700's they did not have Gas Attacks, thus worrying about putting on a Gas Mask was irrelevant. We do have grooming standards for a reason


1: look professional


2: to put on a gas mask without the hair breaking the seal thus allowing gas into the mask.





Military members can have facial hair ';mustache'; but it is not allowed to go past the lip nor past the crevasse of your mouth.





Later on
Because beards are not allowed in the military and there are strict rules about mustaches.
Facial hair against the regulations. Cant even have long sideburns.
The only military people with facial hair now is the guys in SOCOM.
large facial hair blocks a gas mask from properly sealing, it is just a common sense regulation.
clean cut, cmon now.