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I've noticed clones of various characters always come out of their cloning cylinders with no facial (yet often have hair on their head). Why is that?

For example Cylo in the recent Darth Vader comics sports a goatee, but when his clones emerge they are beardless. Likewise in Legends, when Palpatine clones emerge from stasis, they also have no facial hair. The clone troopers are special case as they are taken out of their cylinders before they reach adulthood for combat training (as seen in AOTC) and most males don't start growing facial hair as children (in my experience).

I know their DNA isn't changed because such clones have been shown to grow hair later on. And it's not like someone takes them out once a week just to shave them and shove them back in the cylinders (that sounds terribly inefficient).

So why might they not grow facial hair while they are developing? Disney Canon, EU and speculative answers are all welcome.

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    I don’t have anything definitive enough for an answer, but the development of clones can be modified in a variety of ways (for example, accelerating their development). Perhaps hair growth can also be controlled to produce a presentable individual?
    – Adamant
    Oct 20, 2016 at 23:37
  • Sounds reasonable to me, especially if they are the Kaminoan's cash cow product.
    – The Unknown Dev
    Oct 20, 2016 at 23:53

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Who says clones didn't grow hair? While they are being decanted it is possible their facial hair could simply be being retarded by technological means.

  • Since the geneticists of Kamino had vast technological capacity, they could simply alter their clone cell growth to prevent beard development until after they left the growth chambers.

  • They are fast growing clones it should be conceivable they can control any or all aspects of their cell growth.

If we were to think about it scientifically:

  • Let's consider that a beard is a secondary growth characteristic developed by the production of testosterone in a Human male.

  • If the process the Kaminoans use for fast growth simply doesn't use testosterone, the clones may grow but NOT develop facial hair until they are removed from their chambers and their actual biology is activated.

In the Star Wars: Rebels series, we meet former clone warrior, Captain Rex and he indeed sports a full, snow white beard.

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Former Clone Captain Rex and Jedi Kanan salute each other.

Like most military details the clones probably shaved as part of their standard operations.

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  • I completely agree with this and reference it in my question: clones have been shown to grow hair later on and was even going to post a picture from Clone Wars before I scrapped it. It makes it all the more perplexing that they don't have any in the cylinders.
    – The Unknown Dev
    Oct 20, 2016 at 23:51
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    It's not that perplexing. It is an aspect of super-technology being depicted by people who don't pay much attention to detail. Almost every science-fiction series shows people in vats with hair on the top of their head but none anywhere else. It's almost a trope.
    – Thaddeus Howze
    Oct 20, 2016 at 23:53

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