Back in 2000, Disney made a rare change to their longstanding dress code by allowing male employees to come to work with mustaches. Up until then, the park expected all male workers to show up fresh-shaven and baby smooth, just like Prince Charming.
Allowing mustaches seemed like an odd choice then, and does so even more now. Disneyland is famous for its fastidious dress code (unnatural hair colors, tattoos and piercings are anathema to their brand), but since when is a mustache more appropriate than a beard?
Sure, Walt Disney wore a mustache; same with Tom Selleck and the Monopoly man, but mustaches are also associated with smarmy club owners from the 1970’s, and for any non-hipster under the age of 65, they’re sharply out of style. Beards, on the other hand, call to mind woodsiness, Brett Keisel, “The Old Man and the Sea” and Santa. Why draw a line? It’s still hard to say.
Now, 12 years after legalizing mustaches, Disney is giving another inch—correction — another quarter inch — to its male employees. Starting February 3, men will be allowed to show up to work with a beard or goatee, so long as the hair doesn’t exceed one forth of an inch in length. Soul patches, however, are still strictly banned at Disney, as they should be everywhere. The L.A. Times explains Disney’s follicular culture:
The same is true if the omnibus driver looks like Howie Mandel. We’ll look forward to seeing what they start allowing in 2024. Maybe muttonchops, or very short haircuts for women.