The guy at work who was giving the tests (who is not a qualified medical professional and was also not sanitizing the equipment in-between tests) was automatically failing anyone with facial hair regardless if they could pass or not.
A safety guy tried that with me at one of the train builders I worked for.
Pointed out to him the OSHA reg that states if the hair doesn't interfere with the seal he can take his, "clean shaven, no facial hair," crap and shove it. I took the test and passed.
Second train builder sent folks out to an occ med walk in. Much better professional environment.
My facial hair is inside the respirator.
Tells me the guy at your workplace doesn't know what the regs are and just wants to cover his ***, like the safety guy.