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| Mickey with a beard and mustache. Try not to be too jealous of my Photoshop skills. 🙂 |
Yesterday, my family and I visited Disneyland for the first time since the new facial hair guidelines went into effect throughout Disney. Essentially, the appearance guidelines now allow Cast Members to grow out beards. Mustaches were folded into the guidelines several years ago, and the new guidelines allow Cast Members to grow out their beards while not working (on vacation, away at school, etc.).
When the mustache guideline went into effect several years ago, male Cast Members grew out their upper lips, but the guidelines require them to be kept very neatly trimmed. The mustaches are kept so trimmed, they are not very noticeable. Moreover, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of Cast Members who have jumped onto the mustache band wagon. How many people do you really see walking around with mustaches, any way? I think most of us agree, that the only people who really pull them off well include Tom Selleck, Orlando Bloom, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, and perhaps, Borat and Hulk Hogan.
Now the beard guidelines have male Cast Members growing out their whiskers. Beards, I suppose, are a bit more “fashionable.” Ok. Maybe not “fashionable” but more widely seen than just lonely mustaches. While I can’t say I noticed a lot of Cast Members with beards yesterday, the ones I did see stuck out like…well…big hairy beards! I know that the appearance guidelines call for very strict specifications on beard length, quality of the beard (i.e. no patchiness, etc) and the like, but no matter how “manicured” the beard, they all looked very messy.
I know that in the process of loosening up the appearance guidelines to meet with the rigors of evolving fashion, Disney has also made some concessions for women–like the need to always wear pantyhose, the necessity that a woman wear a blazer to her hips if she is wearing pants, etc. In my humble opinion, however, I think the ok on beards was a big mistake. It just doesn’t look right and brings down the overall appearance of the Cast Member.
Now that’s not to say I am against beards and facial hair in “real life,” but there are concessions one makes for his or her job and sometimes those can include things that go along with our personal grooming. When I started at Disneyland, female Cast Members were not allowed to wear red nail polish or eyeshadow. We didn’t love the idea of not being able to wear eyeshadow, but we went along with it because that was what was required of us. In the beginning of my time as a tour guide, we had to wear nylons with our tour guide knee socks. It was silly because we were wearing two layers of hosery with culottes, but did it…because we were told to and valued the fact that we were part of the “Disneyland show.” As on stage Cast Members, we were required to “look our part” and did it because we understood our importance in the overall Disneyland guest experience.
I guess my whole point to this post is how disappointed I am in the new beard guidelines at Disneyland. I think it was a huge mistake that really downgrades the cast appearance. The new guidelines also leave me wondering what general grooming or appearance standards they will let go of next…
What are your thoughts on cast appearance and the new beard guidelines?
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