Abraham Lincoln grew a beard in late 1860 after getting advice from an 11-year-old New York girl named Grace Bedell, who wrote, “You would look a great deal better, for your face is so thin.” After Lincoln became the first bearded U.S. president, the Illustrated News of New York made a bogus claim that the president had used a hair-growing product called Bellingham’s Stimulating Onguent, and “with this extraordinary paste he soon started the manly adornment.” Bellingham’s just happened to be an Illustrated News advertiser.
Source : M. Jaco and S Benzkofer | Chicago Tribune