Why Did Men Stop Wearing Sideburns?

Facial hair is enjoying something of a revival in contemporary menswear. While cleanly shaven is still the default choice for many men, just as many these days seem to be opting for beards and or mustaches, and some, for sideburns, which aren’t too popular nowadays, but why so? We’ll discuss why sideburns have fallen out of favor among men and if you can still Rock mutton chops today.

The facial hair that’s in vogue today isn’t quite as voluptuous as the facial hair you might have seen during the Victorian or Edwardian eras, which is to say, roughly the 1820s through the 1920s. One of the most popular styles during these eras was bold and extravagant sideburns. This then raises the question of why we’ve seen such a shift away from sideburns if they were once so popular, especially because beards and mustaches seem to be on the rise again.

What Are Sideburns?

Also referred to as “sideboards” or “side whiskers”, sideburns are a type of facial hair that is grown from the sides of the face running either parallel with or beyond the ears reaching at maximum to just before the chin that can either be grown in conjunction with other facial hair or alongside otherwise clean-shaven looks. This leads to a variety of styles that can range in how boldly they come across from boardroom-friendly to mountain man-ready.

In other words, the relative trimness and neatness will be the primary stylistic factor. As you might expect, trimmed-down styles will be the easiest to pair with contemporary classic menswear. This is because their lower profile and more polished appearance more closely harmonize with the formal aspects of classic menswear.

Meanwhile, more rugged or wild contemporary styles will be more at home in the realm of casual style. However, this wasn’t necessarily always the case, as can be seen from some styles popular in the 1800s, which aren’t exactly informal.

History of Sideburns

It’s impossible to track down precisely when sideburns first became a popular facial hair style. But it’s safe to say that they’ve existed since at least the beginning of recorded history, with early examples being found among artifacts of Mesoamerican, Middle Eastern, and ancient Jewish cultures. However, the facial hairstyle didn’t reach its peak popularity in Western culture until around the mid-19th century.

This is when it became a fashion trend amongst Europeans, North Americans, and South American colonists, from London to San Francisco and Toronto to Mexico City. This was all part of the larger facial hair mania of the mid-1800s when class and status were partly conveyed by how prominent your facial hair was. 

One hypothesis for why sideburns were so popular during this era is that this mass of hair on the side of your head helped to protect your face from the discharge or exhaust of weapons. In other words, as they prevented burns on the side of the face, they became known as sideburns. However, while this seems like an interesting, fun fact, we don’t actually think it’s accurate. After all, firearms had already been in use for centuries by this point, including the just prior 18th century, where clean-shaven looks were much more popular and standardized.

In fact, the term sideburns was first used when referring to the American Civil War General Ambrose Burnside. This Union general was famous for his distinctive facial hair, which became popular and even somewhat iconic during the Civil War era.

Extravagant and bold sideburns only became more popular through the late 19th century, as we guess it was truly lawless in the Old West. Old styles came to be interpreted as a sign of masculinity and power and also a status symbol as you had enough leisure time to properly style them. As such, they became especially popular with dandies, businessmen, and the aristocracy. However, during the early 20th century, men gradually started opting more and more for clean-shaven faces again.

This is often attributed to World War I as putting on gas masks with large facial hair became difficult and military regulations in places like the United States expressly forbade facial hair for troops. With that said, though, not all nations had these provisions, and the French veterans of World War I even came to be known as the “Poilu” or “the hairy ones”.

So, while this may not have been the only factor, practicality does seem to have played a fairly big role and most soldiers returning from war tended to prefer a clean-shaven look around this time. Since about the late 1920s, oversized facial hair hasn’t really been popular within the realm of classic menswear, and sideburns, in particular, have been relatively rarely seen.

Of course, sideburns did see one moment of resurgent popularity again, from the mid-1950s through the 1970s. At this time, longer, more unkempt facial hairstyles became a sign of rebellion among groups like the Beatniks, Greasers, and Hippies. These subcultures started to gain traction against the more mainstream classic styles of the 50s and 60s, as you can see in our style guides covering those specific decades.

These styles were often preferred by those who grew up during this era as being cooler than the clean-cut look projected by their fathers. The trend only grew through the 60s and 70s, but like most trends, it soon came to an end in the 1980s when a more clean-shaven look came to be favored again.

So today, while they are no longer a mainstream sensation, sideburns do continue to be worn by those seeking a rebellious, eccentric, or strikingly unique vibe to their look. Still, they’ve never quite reclaimed that once ubiquitous level of popularity, and we wanted to find out why.

Why Sideburns Fell Out of Favor

1. Declining Popularity of Facial Hair, Generally

It’s safe to say that, like clothing, facial hair can be just as much of a victim to the trends and whims of fashion. For the past 50 years or so, clean-shaven looks have remained the default option for most men with sideburns, along with other facial hair styles more generally being less of the common choice.

With that said, though, some types of facial hair have certainly been making a comeback over the last 10 to 15 years or so. If they happened, we wouldn’t have produced all of this beard-related content. But while handlebar mustaches and lumberjack beards have been seeing their time in the sun again, sideburns haven’t enjoyed that same level of renewed popularity. So, other factors are probably at play here.

2. Declining Popularity of Long Hair

With, again, the potential exception of the last 5 to 10 years or so, long hairstyles haven’t been the default choice for most men. This may mean that longer facial hair styles have also taken a hit, as long facial hair can appear disproportionate with a shorter hairstyle. And this can be especially true for sideburns, as the lion’s main aesthetic isn’t exactly ideal for humans. Instead, many modern hairstyles for men tend to favor a heavily razored-in and tapered-up look toward the top of the head.

You need to look no further than popular television shows like Peaky Blinders and Mad Men to see how these more clean-cut hairstyles have come back into popularity today. Simply put, these hairstyles just aren’t very harmonious with sideburns as you need more volume on the top of your head to balance them out a bit.

While sideburns can be worn with shorter or relatively shorter hairstyles, they require even more careful maintenance to ensure everything looks balanced. And while some men are happy to put in the work to rock this style, it certainly isn’t for everyone. Furthermore, it runs counter to many modern men’s hair trends, which tend to favor either the razored look we mentioned above or a more tussled and unkempt style with an accompanying full beard.

3. The Sideburns Trend Fizzled

As we’ve mentioned several times, facial hair was all the rage in the 19th century. So much so that some men even wore fake sideburns just to fit in. Prominent sideburns haven’t really been popular in the mainstream since the 1960s and 70s. Anytime there’s an extreme and widespread trend, it tends to be heavily associated with the era in which it was popular.

Thus, in subsequent decades, it seems all the more dated and uncool. Of course, some men can’t help but look back and cringe at photos of themselves, their parents, or grandparents in some of these dated styles. Therefore, contemporary men might be disinclined to wear sideburns lest they be mistaken for a time traveler. However, this doesn’t mean that sideburns have to appear old-fashioned.

The trick here is just to avoid overly dated or particularly extreme cuts of sideburns if you don’t want to look like a man out of time. Going for a middle-of-the-road style will help to avoid comparisons to the sideburn styles of the past, ensuring that others don’t notice your sideburns before they notice you.

4. Cultural Associations 

Aside from just looking dated, many of the broader cultural associations of sideburns might also dissuade men today from wanting to wear them. For example, the historical extra bold and thick style of sideburns is now associated with stuffy 19th-century stereotypes of aristocrats, businessmen, or robber baron tycoons of Europe and America.

So, unless you directly prefer a vintage look, this probably isn’t going to be very appealing to the average man today. And while icons of classic style like Gregory Peck and Clark Gable, both rocked sideburns on the silver screen, this was limited to period pieces that took place during specific historical eras. Even more moderate styles of sideburns might still bring accusations that you’re trying to impersonate figures like Elvis, Marlon Brando, or Burt Reynolds.

This is because the strong association between sideburns and the counterculture movement of the ’60s and ’70s has persisted even today. This, of course, is somewhat ironic as now men who wear sideburns of this style might be seen as backward or stuck in the past.

Finally, in this section, sideburns have also been associated with gay men at certain points in popular culture. This can likely be traced to the fact that handlebar mustaches and sideburns were both popular in the gay club scene from the 1970s onwards. Therefore, some men may have avoided wearing sideburns in order to sidestep this particular association.

To this specific point, we’ll repeat what we’ve said many times before here at the Gentleman’s Gazette: don’t let stereotypes prevent you from expressing yourself authentically. We believe that classic style is for everyone. For instance, you could directly embrace the more historical aspect that sideburns can convey, crafting your own dandified vintage-inspired look like Michael Kane in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

5. Difficult Maintenance

The penultimate item on today’s list is difficult maintenance. As we’ve discussed in previous guides, bolder facial hair is something that can be both difficult and time-consuming to maintain properly. After all, there’s a fairly thin line between looking distinguished and like you just came off the set of Cast Away.

All this extra care when shaving and moisturizing means that you’re going to want to have specialty gear on hand like razors, creams, and lotions, and a good deal of expertise in order to properly maintain a clean look. So if they’re going to put in the effort to maintain facial hair, many men today are simply going to opt for a full beard rather than going for just sideburns.

This will give them the benefits of prominent facial hair without any of these specific drawbacks of large sideburns that we’ve already discussed today.

So, you should feel free to grow whatever you think looks best on you, and then let us teach you how to take care of it. 

6. Styling Confusion

Perhaps the most disappointing reason for the sideburns decline is the popular perception that they can only be styled one way. As we hope we’ve illustrated by now, there are many different ways that one can style sideburns, and several of them are certainly harmonious with a contemporary classic look. These sideburn styles aren’t overly long or wild, but they will give you a distinctive and distinguished appearance.

By sticking with neat and moderate sideburns, you’ll ensure that they aren’t heavily associated with any one era, or if you do want to lean into a specific time period, you can certainly do that as well. But when the average person hears the word sideburns, there’s a good chance that they’re going to think of just one style, and that’s the overly bold, overly wild kind.

This association, then, is likely to scare many people away from a facial hair style that can still look good for a great many men if they know how to style and maintain them properly.

Making Sideburns Work with Classic Style

Firstly, we believe that men should be able to express their personality however they like, and this includes the realm of facial hair. So, if you do want to rock a directly vintage look from the Victorian era or the 1970s, more power to you. But if you’re looking for a more contemporary sideburn style that gives you a subtle way to stand out, that’s also perfectly acceptable. In a contemporary setting, then, we’d say that the safest choice is to opt for sideburns that end halfway down to just past your ears.

This will give them dimensions such that they’re noticeable without being too distracting. You’ll also want to pay close attention to how trimmed they are, with a good rule of thumb being that they should be roughly the same length as the hair on the sides of your head. This will ensure that they don’t become bolder than your overall hairstyle and that you can keep up a neat and tidy appearance.

Conclusion

In conclusion, sideburns are a facial hair style that often gets a bad wrap in contemporary menswear. This is chiefly because they’ve been strongly associated with some of the more extreme fashion movements in men’s history, and this has somewhat pigeonholed them in modern people’s minds. However, we think there is still plenty of opportunity to incorporate sideburns into your own personal style, if you so desire.

Are sideburns a style you like to grow out? Let us know in the comments below.

Outfit Rundown

Today, I’m wearing a casual warm-weather outfit that’s good for the 90-degree Fahrenheit temperatures we are currently experiencing here at Gentlemen’s Gazette headquarters in Minneapolis. The central element is, of course, my short-sleeved sport shirt in a turquoise color, featuring a white and dark blue checked pattern. The shirt also has a button-down collar, which reinforces its casual feel.

I’m also wearing a pair of plain slate blue trousers and tobacco brown suede loafers from the brand Scarroso. In the outdoor look, I’m wearing my trusty coconut straw pork pie hat, and I’ve also left the hair product out of my hair today while, of course, I haven’t grown any full-blown sideburns, I have let my stubble grow a bit as well.

Finally, the socks I’m wearing today are two-tone shadow-striped models from Fort Belvedere in gray blue and Prussian blue to harmonize with my trousers. And my shirt and for a fragrance perfect for the warm weather conditions we are currently experiencing, I’ve gone with Azzurro from the Roberto Ugolini collection. It has a light and almost aquatic feel that stays fresh even when it’s warm. So, for the socks I’m wearing today, as well as the Roberto Ugolini fragrance and a wide array of other classic men’s accessories, you can take a look at the Fort Belvedere shop.