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Moustache

The Right to Bear Facial Hair: Is the Mustache Constitutionally Protected in Indiana?

The Right to Bear Facial Hair: Is the Mustache Constitutionally Protected in Indiana?

"Liberty is a basic civil right," Indiana Supreme Court Justice Roger DeBruler wrote in 1972,  ". . . It even provides constitutional protection for such personal choices as the style of one’s hair, whether to wear a beard or mustache." Indeed, the right to determine one's personal appearance—whether related to dress or grooming habits—is constitutionally protected from arbitrary government action. But to what extent? Is such a right absolute? Specifically, is the male prerogative to the bristly appendage limited only by his level of testosterone? This essay, in observance of Movember, seeks to answer these questions.