The issue often arises among uniformed personnel who deal with the public, including police officers, waiters, fast-food handlers, airline flight attendants and bus drivers. Fire departments that ban beards say they interfere with the use of breathing devices. Critics say organizations like these often shunt bearded men behind a desk or to an office out of the sight of clients.

Yet others with highly visible jobs believe it is more important to shave, even if an employer does not explicitly require a clean shave.

Dr. Bernard S. Goffe, a dermatologist in Seattle, said he had cared for workers with shaving bumps at large multinational organizations who felt compelled to shave because of the corporate culture. Other dermatologists said they had found the same attitude expressed by investment bankers and executives.

The Marine Corps requires close shaves and will discharge men who cannot find an effective way to cope with the condition after eight weeks.

Chief Warrant Officer Randy Gaddo, a Marine Corps spokesman, said, ''Marines do not wear beards, period.''

But the Army, Navy and Air Force have eased their policies to permit beards not exceeding one-quarter of an inch, largely in response to complaints during the Vietnam War. But critics say many susceptible servicemen shave anyway because of pressure from superior officers and other servicemen or because those who grow beards are often denied promotion.

Dr. Richard B. Odom, chief dermatologist at the University of California at San Francisco, said that as a white physician who was part of an Army committee that developed new guidelines concerning the condition, he often felt that blacks were discriminated against because they were not allowed to grow beards when medically warranted.