When early Christians were not showing Christ as heavenly ruler, they showed Jesus as an actual man like any other: beardless and short-haired.
The earliest surviving paintings of Jesus, from the church at the ruined city of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates (dating from first half of the 3rd Century AD)
In the 1st Century Graeco-Roman world, being clean-shaven and short-haired was considered absolutely essential. . . .. Even a philosopher kept his hair fairly short.
A beard was not distinctive of being a Jew in antiquity. In fact, one of the problems for oppressors of Jews at different times was identifying them when they looked like everyone else (a point made in the book of Maccabees). However, images of Jewish men on Judaea Capta coins, issued by Rome after the capture of Jerusalem in 70AD, indicate captive men who are bearded.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35120965
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