What do you imagine when you hear the word ‘Accountant’? Probably someone with a pressed shirt, a bland tie, dug up in paperwork, doing calculations on a computer. That’s what a modern-day accountant looks like.

Back in the day, a typical accountant had a different attire, there was one additional piece worn by him that makes him stand out. With that statement piece, one could easily recognize him to be an accountant or a writer.

We are talking about a visor, most of you who do not know, it may come as a surprise, an accountant wearing a visor, it just does not feel right. Why would an accountant need a visor? 

The visor was an important accessory of the accountant’s attire, it lost its charm as the world progressed. However, it was not worn to make a style statement but served a special purpose. 

Why Do Accountants wear visors?

Working hours and hours on paper, doing calculations, performing analysis under bright light can put a lot of strain on the eyes. The visor is green in color and made precisely for reducing eyestrain.

Accounting is a vision-intensive work done in somewhat difficult conditions like harsh, artificial, interior lighting. It hurts the eyes and can be bad for the vision and their health. 

Accountants spend hours to pore over numbers and lots of print, delivering accurate results, leaving no room for error. Green shades were designed to reduce stress on the eyes by toning down the harsh lighting.

History

During the late 1800s up to the mid-1900s, the green-eyeshade was widely used by accountants to protect their eyes. These green visors or green eyeshades protected the eyes from strain and other effects caused by working under direct light.

A direct light was affixed to the work desks to illuminate. Back in the day, companies used 

bright and glaring desk lights which made it really difficult to focus on small details like computations, figures, and text.

These bright lights had made the accountants’ work even more difficult who were working with long spreadsheets containing millions of numbers. Balancing them all day was hard and tedious, it was the working environment that made it even harder. Read a guide on best accountants and CPAs in Abilene.

So, they came up with a solution to tone down the unnatural light which was causing eye strain, restlessness, and headaches. They wore a green visor to work every day which made it somewhat better for them to work under bright light.

What Were These Visors Made of?

How did visors become an instant hit? How did they protect the eyes? The green visor was usually crafted from celluloid, a transparent dark green or blue-green plastic material. 

However, it was not always made from the said material, sometimes other stuff was also used in the construction. This eye shield protected the eyes from exposure to direct incandescent light and reduced the extra burden on the eye from the glare of overhead lights.

What Colors are Accountant’s Visor?

Sun visors were usually made from Grey, Green, and Brown color, these particular sunglass tints were color-neutral lenses cut down on overall brightness without distorting colors, numbers, and figures. These dark shades color are designed to cut through the color to reduce eyestrain in moderate to bright conditions. The green color visor was mostly in and trending during the 1800s.

Who Else Wore the Visors Besides Accountants?

Visors were suitable for people working in detail-oriented types of jobs, where they had to compute, type, or write all day. People working in the field of accounting, copywriting, editorial, etc, wore visors to protect their eyes.

Why Visors Were Preferred Over Hats?

Many people question why accountants did not wear hats instead of visors. Well, it is because visors were cooler than hats with an open top. The transparent shield facilitated the accountant’s work and not caused any hindrance or obstruction. They also provided protection against the sun and the sweat dripping into the eyes.

Why Accountants Do Not Wear Visor Anymore?

Today, the century-old desk lights have been replaced by overhead fluorescent lighting which does not put a lot of strain on the eyes. There was a lot of paperwork back in the day now tasks and calculations that took hours can be done in a few minutes with the help of computers and other accounting software. 

There are still some accountants who work on paper, but the visor is no longer a trend so does the glaring desk lights. However, in the old days, visors helped a great deal to provide relief to the eyes.
Putting it all together, the visor is may be thing of the past but it has existed in the early times to help accountants. Today, visors have been used as a fashion statement and are not known for the purpose they were designed for. It was surely a good time when this accessory was trending.