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Story: Personal grooming

Neat and tidy moustache, 1891

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Neat and tidy moustache, 1891

Facial hair was in retreat in the late 19th century. Although most men still wore a moustache or beard or both, they were smaller, neater, and more groomed. This photograph, taken in 1891, shows a young Alexander Turnbull, whose library became the foundation of the New Zealand's national research collection, the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: 1/2-032603-F

by Van der Weyde

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Bronwyn Dalley, Personal grooming – Men’s hair, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/38749/neat-and-tidy-moustache-1891 (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Bronwyn Dalley, published 9 November 2012.