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I recall that in the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, McCoy beams aboard the ship with a fabulous beard. The next time we see him though, he's shaved it off. That got me to thinking that I couldn't remember any instance of a Starfleet Officer from the 23rd Century with facial hair. The 24th century, yes (Riker is the first that springs to mind), but not the 23rd century (TOS era). So, my question is: do we ever see a 23rd Century Starfleet Officer with facial hair?. Note, I'm interested in intentional facial hair i.e. I won't accept the occasional 5 O'Clock shadow which has grown simply because they didn't get the chance to shave - I'm looking for facial hair which was clearly intended.

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    Before you downvote this or my answer, please bear in mind that I remembered Captain Bateson after I posted this question. Also bear in mind that should someone find an instance from TOS or the TMP era, then that will be accepted.
    – Often Right
    Dec 11, 2015 at 8:08
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    Great, now I have to watch TOS all over again ...
    – Gerald Schneider
    Dec 11, 2015 at 12:40
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    Out of universe, it's a product of the times - this was the 60's, when men were expected to be smooth-shaven. The hippy-movement challenged that, but it's likely the television networks would have balked at portraying any of that sort of thing on screen. You'll be hard-pressed to find much facial hair on any contemporary shows from that era. (By the 70's of course, this had completely changed - it's harder to find men without beards in the 70's.)
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Dec 11, 2015 at 15:17
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    I've never seen a 23rd century Starfleet Officer without facial hair.
    – Major Stackings
    Dec 12, 2015 at 2:12
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    @MajorStackings - Well indeed. Kirk with Facial hair
    – Valorum
    Dec 12, 2015 at 8:06

4 Answers 4

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TV Canon

We have Captain Chandra from TOS: Court Martial

enter image description here

And in the same vein as @N_Soong's answer, we do see two Starfleet Officers in the 23rd Century (courtesy of the episode DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations) sporting facial hair; Captain Sisko and Lt Cmdr Worf.

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Obviously Worf is a bit of a push (he's in disguise) but Sisko meets Kirk and doesn't get shouted at for being out of uniform for having a beard, suggesting that regulations merely require a beard to be tidy, rather than entirely absent

We also see Lieutenant Kyle (who seems to get more hair as he rises in rank - see below) as well as Captain O'Shea wearing a full beard in ST: The Animated Series.

![enter image description here

Film Canon

Lieutenant Scott sports some fine facial fuzz in ST:TMP

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Captain Terrell and Commander Kyle in ST:II

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Captain Styles and an unnamed Engineering Crewman in ST:III

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An unnamed Efrosian helmsman and two unnamed Caitan Admirals in ST:IV

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Yeoman Burke, Colonel West, Lt Cmrd Valtane, Lt Cmdr Lojur, an unnamed Galley Officer and two unnamed Starfleet Admirals in ST:VI

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And here we can see various unnamed Starfleet Officer cadets in ST:TMP

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    Superior searching skills.
    – Paulie_D
    Dec 11, 2015 at 22:22
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    @Paulie_D - I have wasted a very considerable amount of time on this answer. I'm actually a little ashamed of myself :-)
    – Valorum
    Dec 11, 2015 at 22:23
  • And we have a winner.
    – Paulie_D
    Dec 11, 2015 at 22:42
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    Just letting you know I have set your first picture of an arrow pointing at Captain Chandra as my desktop background.
    – xdhmoore
    Dec 13, 2015 at 3:41
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    @Richard I could never match the genius of his sublety. As my friend James used to say, "Absence is the highest form of presence".
    – xdhmoore
    Dec 13, 2015 at 10:04
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Captain Krasnovsky (Court Martial - TOS S1Ep14)

enter image description here

played by Bart Conrad

Fleet Admiral Harry Morrow

Fleet Admiral Harry Morrow

Per Memory Alpha

Harry Morrow was a Starfleet Fleet Admiral who served as Commander, Starfleet in 2285.

Admiral Morrow was portrayed by Robert Hooks in Star Trek III - The Search for Spock.

If we count fur as hair

Lt M'Ress

Lt M'Ress - ST:Animated

enter image description here

Another Caitian (thanks to Richard)

enter image description here

Unnamed Senior Officer (top left)

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    @Paulie_D lol M'Ress
    – NKCampbell
    Dec 11, 2015 at 14:51
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    I love unnamed background senior officer. He's my favourite character in that film
    – Valorum
    Dec 11, 2015 at 15:40
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    @Paulie_D - No, not that one. I didn't like him in that.
    – Valorum
    Dec 11, 2015 at 19:10
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    If you're listing Caitans, you might want to add this guy from ST:VI.
    – Valorum
    Dec 11, 2015 at 19:55
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    Nice job finding an example from TOS! I think your answer should be the winner because of that, even though the other answers are good.
    – Hypnosifl
    Dec 11, 2015 at 20:54
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I wrote this question and only now have I remembered one: Captain Morgan Bateson of the USS Bozeman who we see in TNG 'Cause and Effect'

Captain Bateson

Although he technically is a 23rd Century Starfleet Officer, in the spirit of the original question, this would be overridden by a TOS- or TMP-era instance.

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Who can forget Spock from the mirror universe...

He had a beard.

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    He is not a Starfleet officer. He is an officer of the Terran Empire
    – Valorum
    Dec 11, 2015 at 12:25
  • @Richard, at least according to Memory-Alpha, he was an officer in the Imperial version of Starfleet.
    – yoniLavi
    Dec 12, 2015 at 3:56
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    Yeah, but you see if you accept the concept of the mirror universe being opposite of the normal universe, then Spock sporting a beard just amplifies the myth that a good Starfleet officer is a clean shaven Starfleet officer. So there you conceptually go!
    – Giacomo1968
    Dec 12, 2015 at 6:42
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    @JakeGould: Interestingly, mirror-Uhura did not sport a beard.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Dec 12, 2015 at 16:45
  • @O.R.Mapper - I think we can all thank our lucky stars that Mirror Scotty's uniform wasn't a cut off top and a micro-miniskirt.
    – Valorum
    Dec 13, 2015 at 13:17

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