Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 July 1889 — SMOOTH FACES IN FASHION. [ARTICLE]

SMOOTH FACES IN FASHION.

Latest Whim of Young Men Who Pretend to Be In Style. It is becoming fashionable for men to shave their beards and go around with smooth faoes. This applies particularly to the young men who have been wearing dose-cropped pointed beards and mustaches as long as the points of their beards. It is not considered the best of form for these young men to be seen in a public barber shop. Of course to have their faces constantly smooth they must shave themselves or get shaved somewhere, but there i 3 beginning to be a prejudice against sitting in, line in a public barber shop, just as there has been for some time against sitting on the public bootblack stinds at ths street corners. A man must have his shoes shined, unless he wy rs patent leather or russet shoes, and even then they need some looking after, but he is expected to have the work done in some place where he will not be seen during the process. The recent whim against appearing in the public barb er shops will not hurt the barber shops, any more than the prejudioe agtinst public bootblack stands among the same olass of men has seriously injured the business of the bootblacks. The class es men who pay attention to all these things is not so large as to hurt the trade of more than a dozen places. The theory of the matter is that a man is shaved by his valet, and that every man who can afford to be sufficiently good form to pay attention to all these things has enough money 01 credit to have a valet; or, if he has not a valet, to make a bluff at it. On the same assumption that his man looks after his clothes and shoes is the other assumption that his man also shaves him. No fashionable young man would be seen taking his clothes to his tailor’s to be pressed, and though most of them who have the creases in their trousers frequently renewed, get the work done at their tailor's, they make a pretense of having it done by their man, and to the other duties of this man, in many cases a suppositious being, is added the care of his master's face. ——* f The fashion of the smooth-shaven face is said to have come from the actors. Just as actresses influence the styles of dress of women, actors have been to a less extent influencing the apparel and appearance of a certain class of men. The way of wearing the hair which was prevalent a year or two ago was begun by actors. Almost all actors have smooth faces, especially almost all the actors who pose on the stage, and who attract audiences of women to admire them. The fashion of having a smooth face is just coming in. and it has not yet beeh taken up to a great extent. A man may sacrifice his beard, but if he has a had mouth or face which would be harsh in outline without the curves of his mustache to change it, he will not abandon his present advantages quickly.—New York Sun.