History Main / PermAshAve

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Kurt Hummel is, naturally, [[{{Bishonen}} incapable of growing facial hair.]]
* An interesting female example that shows you should take the term "reality" show with a grain of salt, the women of ''Series/{{Survivor}}.'' The men will develop a full Jesus beard while on the island, but most of the women tend to stay fairly smooth-legged throughout.

* ''Series/{{Angel}}'', being a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], doesn't grow hair. In ''After The Fall'' though, he becomes human again and he has to start shaving again.
** Oddly enough, [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E10Amends one episode]] of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' shows Angel sporting a mustache in the past. Though it could have been fake.
* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean remains clean-shaven during the year in purgatory while Castiel grows a beard.

*** This was most common in the Hartnell era, which frequently left the crew in place over weeks or months, like undergoing a quest on the hostile planet Marinus or trekking through Skarosian caves or across China, and ran the end of one adventure directly into the beginning of the next (the '60s tie-in novel ''Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks'' went out of its way to include a scene where the Doctor gave Ian a futuristic electric shaver to explain this).
*** Season 12 (with the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Harry) also involved a long sequence of events linked directly into each other over a period of weeks or months with TARDIS access lost near the beginning - not only do the Doctor and Harry remain perfectly smooth-faced while stuck in a Skaro war-zone but Harry's sideburns even get an obvious trim during a teleportation.
*** The Fourth Doctor might qualify generally - the general idea behind his look is that, unlike his predecessor, he now has a relaxed attitude about his personal appearance, wearing scruffy old clothes and with uncut MessyHair (that Creator/TomBaker refused to let the makeup artists comb between scenes as he felt it would be out of character for the Doctor to do so). Yet he never betrays a hint of stubble, and his sideburns are always beautifully groomed. We know he's capable of growing a full beard, as he wears one when artificially aged in "The Leisure Hive". Either he's deliberately cultivating the careless look, or this trope's in play. "The Masque of Mandragora" does slightly lampshade it by showing us his shaving room - an otherwise fully functional console room that works better than his main one.
*** Leela, a NubileSavage in a very short skirt, also keeps her legs perfectly shaved in a variety of horrible situations and long before she has any opportunity to know what a razor even is (though as her culture is a FutureImperfect version of Western culture, female body hair beauty stigma might have evolved into a cultural taboo for her people).

* A rare female aversion in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''; while stranded on an island in "Island Adventure", Sadie begins to grow some visible stubble on her legs. Oddly played straight with Lars in the same episode, who shows no stubble on his face or anywhere else. Even the hair on the sides of his head, which he presumably has to shave to keep his mohawk-style hairdo, [[ImprobableHairstyle shows no signs of growing]].

* 99% of the time in manga/anime where there is [[MaleFrontalNudity male nudity]] or there is a [[MrFanservice shirtless fanservice guy]], the adolescent to early 20s male characters are anatomically free of body/facial hair. The reason their bodies are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glabrousness glabrous]] is usually because they are [[{{Bishonen}} young]] and or [[{{Shonen}} boyish]] in contrast to [[{{Seinen}} older matured men]], who may or may not have developed body and facial hair.

* In most adaptations of ''Film/TheManInTheIronMask'', the eponymous prisoner is clean shaven under his mask ... even though his strictly enforced condition leaves it mysterious how he was ever supposed to get a shave under there (or a haircut, for that matter).

* Most characters in ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' are perma-shaven; however, of particular note is Elan, who not only lacks a beard to better contrast with his [[EvilTwin brother]]'s [[BeardOfEvil goatee]], but due to circumstances, has wound up explicitly unable to grow facial hair.

* A number of young Asian men tend to have no facial hair, or slow-growing hair so that a good shave lasts for days if not weeks.

* Also an EnforcedTrope for anyone working in a Fire Department. The SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) -REQUIRES- that the wearer be clean-shaven (except for a mustache) in order to obtain a tight seal so that the toxic environment can't get into the mask (and suffocate the wearer). The Military does the same thing with MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear to protect soldiers from NBC environments. One bit of stubble in the wrong place can mean the difference between you getting out of the situation, or going home in a (sometimes very small) box.

Of course it's just as commonly {{justified|Trope}} as the character being both CrazyPrepared ''and'' so dedicated to maintaining his personal appearance that he ''always'' shaves (often before everyone else wakes up). If he ever ''should'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness stop shaving]], it means he is suffering [[BeardOfSorrow some kind of emotional breakdown]]. There are also a fair number of men who simply can't grow facial hair beyond the sideburns, although they are much rarer than fiction would have you believe. And for every boy who had a mustache at 13, there are about ten more who won't have one until they are 30, so age ''can'' also justify this.

* In ''Series/FirstWave'', main character Cade is a fugitive after being [[FrameUp framed]] for his wife's [[CrusadingWidower murder]]. He's explicitly avoiding capture by remaining off the grid, and yet he never shows a hint of stubble, and his hair is always immaculately kept in the same distinctive style he wore in the pilot. Particularly egregious example as, being on the run, you'd think ''changing'' his look would be Job #1.

This is also extremely common for female characters. If a female character [[ShowSomeLeg bares a little skin]] or even has a full-on nude scene, expect her to be as smooth as a newborn baby. Even if she's been in the wilderness for weeks and/or is living during a time period where shaving female body hair would be extremely difficult if not impossible if even culturally expected.

* A rare female aversion in ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''; while stranded on an island in "Island Adventure", Sadie begins to grow some visible stubble on her legs. Oddly played straight with Lars, who shows no stubble on his face or anywhere else. Even the hair on the sides of his head, which he presumably has to shave to keep his mohawk-style hairdo, [[ImprobableHairstyle shows no signs of growing]].

In RealLife, having a beard can be seen differently according to countries and their differents cultures, which of course, evolve with time.

This is also extremely common for female characters. If a female character [[ShowSomeLeg bares a little skin]] or even has a full on nude scene, expect her to be as smooth as a newborn baby. Even if she's been in the wilderness for weeks and/or is living during a time period where shaving female body hair would be extremely difficult if not impossible if even culturally expected.

Of course it's just as commonly {{justified|Trope}} as the character being both CrazyPrepared ''and'' so dedicated to maintaining his personal appearance he ''always'' shaves (often before everyone else woke up). If he ever ''should'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness stop shaving]], it means he is suffering [[BeardOfSorrow some kind of emotional breakdown]]. There are also a fair number of men who simply can't grow facial hair beyond the sideburns, although they are much rarer than fiction would have you believe. And for every boy who had a mustache at 13, there are about ten more who won't have one until they are 30, so age ''can'' also justify this.

* 99% of the time in manga/anime where there is [[MaleFrontalNudity male nudity]] or there is a [[MrFanservice shirtless fanservice guy]], the adolescent to early 20’s male characters are anatomically free of body/facial hair. The reason their bodies are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glabrousness glabrous]] is usually because they are [[{{Bishonen}} young]] and or [[{{Shonen}} boyish]] in contrast to [[{{Seinen}} older matured men]], who may or may not have developed body and facial hair.

* ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': Professor X, Magneto, Warpath and Colossus in 2023 have very little facial hair despite living in a post-apocalyptic world where they're being hunted down by Sentinels.
* Creator/LaurelAndHardy always managed to resist beard growth (Hardy's toothbrush moustache never grew out to the rest of his upper lip), even if they starred episodes as homeless and hungry idiots.

* In ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'', Rico notes that when Sergeant Zim is waking them up at insanely early hours he has a clean shaven face and otherwise excellent hygiene.

* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' has a variant, since all the characters are prepubescent: in their time [[{{Robinsonade}} marooned on a deserted island]], the boys's hair grows [[BarbarianLonghair long and unkempt as they descend into savagery]], exempt for the OnlySaneMan Piggy, whose hair never grows at all thanks to the RuleOfSymbolism.
* The Black Knight, as well as likely some other Named in ''Literature/APracticalGuideToEvil'' don't grow facial hair. Justified, because being Named shapes your appeareance according to how you perceive yourself and to a lesser extent how others see your Name. So when you think of yourself as not having a beard, you won't grow one.

** This reflects the actors. Creator/JimParsons naturally has a very light beard but regularly ALL of the characters are well groomed. In between season breaks Johnny Galecki (Leonard) is usually sporting at least some stubble, to the point you barely recognise him as Leonard.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Dean remains clean shaven during the year in purgatory while Castiel grows a beard.

*** This was most common in the Hartnell era, which frequently left the crew in place over weeks or months, like undergoing a quest on the hostile planet Marinus or trekking through Skarosian caves or across China, and ran the end of one adventure directly into the beginning of the next (the 60s tie-in novel ''Dr Who in an Exciting Adventure with the Daleks'' went out of its way to include a scene where the Doctor gave Ian a futuristic electric shaver to explain this).
*** Season 12 (with the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane and Harry) also involved a long sequence of events linked directly into each other over a period of weeks or months with TARDIS access lost near the beginning - not only do the Doctor and Harry remain perfectly smooth-faced while stuck in a Skaro war-zone but Harry's sideburns even get an obvious trim during a teleportation.

* In ''Series/FirstWave'', main character Cade is a fugitive after being [[FrameUp framed]] for his wife's [[CrusadingWidower murder]]. He's explicitly avoiding capture by remaining off the grid, and yet he never shows a hint of stubble and his hair is always immaculately kept in the same distinctive style he wore in the pilot. Particularly egregious example as, being on the run, you'd think ''changing'' his look would be Job #1.

* ''Videogame/DontStarve'' both averts this trope and plays it straight. All of the characters, male and female alike, over the days, weeks, months, and potentially years they spend living in the wilderness have no change at all to their hair or facial hair, EXCEPT for Wilson, who starts clean-shaven but grows a magnificent beard over time that can be shaved off with a straight razor, providing beard hair which can be used to craft things, and Webber, who is part spider, and whose "beard" is actually made of spider silk, which can also be shaved off, providing said silk which can also be used to craft things.

** At some point in the story, the crew has to abandon their AwesomePersonnelCarrier and travel on foot. Emil and Lalli end up on their own for a few days instead of a planned few hours and [[PrettyBoy Emil]] quickly gets enough on his plate that he no longer bothers to keep his hair neat, yet remains clean-shaven.

* Dean from ''Webcomic/DragonSanctuary'' has this genetically. Thanks to his fairy side he never grows facial hair, or any body hair for that matter.

* Also an EnforcedTrope for anyone working in a Fire Department. The SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) -REQUIRES- that the wearer be clean shaven (except for a mustache) in order to obtain a tight seal so that the toxic environment can't get into the mask (and suffocate the wearer). The Military does the same thing with MOPP (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) gear to protect soldiers from NBC environments. One bit of stubble in the wrong place can mean the difference between you getting out of the situation, or going home in a (sometimes very small) box.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem'', since a vampire's body always looks as it did at their time of death. {{Invoked|Trope}} by Augusto Vidal the ancient and elegant [[VampireMonarch Prince]] of New Orleans, who, to his perpetual annoyance, was Embraced when he had a week's scruff and has to see a barber every sunset because it grows back whenever he rests.

* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', both Ellen and Grace have [[http://egscomics.com/egsnp/2015-10-28 no visible body hair]].
** However, Grace ''is'' a shapeshifter.

While this trope is the {{opposite|Tropes}} of PermaStubble, both can coexist if the stubbly hero has a {{Bald of Awesome}}. See TimePassageBeard.

* In ''Series/FirstWave'', main character Cade is a fugitive after being [[FrameUp framed]] for [[StuffedIntoTheFridge his wife's]] [[CrusadingWidower murder]]. He's explicitly avoiding capture by remaining off the grid, and yet he never shows a hint of stubble and his hair is always immaculately kept in the same distinctive style he wore in the pilot. Particularly egregious example as, being on the run, you'd think ''changing'' his look would be Job #1.

* Something of an EnforcedTrope in the American and Russian armed forces, due to dress and appearance standards meaning that the soldier must be clean-shaven in all uniform combinations--justified in part by the need for gas masks to have a tight seal. Of course, dress and appearance standards can be the first thing to go when in a battlefield environment, with many growing so-called [[BadassMustache Deployment Mustaches]] or spending more time worrying about more pressing concerns.

Of course it's just as commonly {{justified|Trope}} as the character being both CrazyPrepared ''and'' so dedicated to maintaining his personal appearance he ''always'' shaves (often before everyone else woke up). If he ever ''should'' stop shaving, it means he is suffering [[BeardOfSorrow some kind of emotional breakdown]]. There are also a fair number of men who simply can't grow facial hair beyond the sideburns, although they are much rarer than fiction would have you believe. And for every boy who had a mustache at 13, there are about ten more who won't have one until they are 30, so age ''can'' also justify this.

* Wrestling/BryanDanielson's baby faced mug had been such a signature of his that when he was finally seen with a beard people correctly guessed that he had gone insane.

* Wrestling/BryanDanielson baby faced mug had been such a signature of his that when he was finally seen with a beard people correctly guessed that he had gone insane.

* Some men also simply don't/can't grow visible amounts of facial hair. PermaShave can also be a telltale sign of certain genetic or chromosomal disorders on men, such as Klinefelter's syndrome (47-XXY).

->99 % of the time in manga/anime where there is [[MaleFrontalNudity male nudity]] or there is a [[MrFanservice shirtless fanservice guy]], the adolescent to early 20’s male characters are anatomically free of body/facial hair. The reason their bodies are [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glabrousness glabrous]] is usually because they are [[{{Bishonen}} young]] and or [[{{Shonen}} boyish]] in contrast to [[{{Seinen}} older matured men]], who may or may not have developed body and facial hair.

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'''s Finn, unlike most cartoon characters, actually ages, but despite going from 12 to 16, his face appears to be as young as it ever was. {{Subverted|Trope}} as it turns out that [[CuteMachines BMO]] is plucking Finn's facial hairs while he sleeps to keep him "forever young". Finn isn't aware of this, all he notices is his lip hurting the next morning.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:RealLife]]