Subject: An inquiry into the likeability, usefulness and ultimately, the possible acceptance of

moustaches on a mans face.

I must admit, not all women like it. In fact, all the internet articles that I read reported that
majority of the women are not turned on by moustaches (not to mention that majority of
those articles are written by educated women). Having spent the better half of my lifes first
quarter in the obscurity of my moustaches and quite diligently so, Ive earned a nick-name
among my male compatriots, Muchhi, a benign spinoff from the grotesque sounding
Mucchad. What people dont know is that it was coined by a perceived (and hairless at the
time, male) adversary as a tease. The moustaches have kind of grown on me since then. So
when Madame Purba offered me an opportunity of defending men's right to keep a
moustache, my moustaches bristled up like a distressed porcupine and nose-picked me until
I acquiesced and took up this herculean task of redeeming the staches.
There seems to be a furor against moustaches and beards from all camps championing
different causes. Especially in India, the trend tells that many women who are technologically
able, abhor moustaches on their men. Weve witnessed movements like shave or crave
which have only added oil into haired mens WOES. Ironically, WOES stands for Women
Oppose Evening Stubble. Not only they insist that men should shave in the evening too, to
make his woman feel special (after working his arse to please his boss) but do so in an effing
running metro. Pfft, Id rather quit being with such cantankerous women who might next ask
us to shave while bungee jumping or skydiving or anything, than compromising with my peace
of mind! It seems that if men have a notion of carrying their pride on their faces in the
symbolic form of moustaches, women carry an intangible sense of material selfpossessiveness on their noses and you cannot cut what you cant see. But women! In this rage
to get rid of what is not yours (you might not want it either), you are blithely unaware of what
we are losing out on, moustaches! Above all, the above stated perception isnt your fault
except for the fault of ignorance that you all are just towing in line with the whims of a
powerful dozens, while all I do is sigh and say This too shall pass! We will get back to it again,
just like history.
However! I am not here to defend any mans right to keep a moustache. What right? Keeping
a moustache isnt a matter of right, it is a matter of choice and preference. I am here to
establish the sporting of moustache as a personal choice and by doing that, I hence seek to
clinch that freedom of expression for men (which, incidentally happens to be a fundamental
right). While beards have often shared a common trend with moustaches, their associations
with religion run rather deep and making a distinction between making a lifestyle statement
and a religious statement is rather tedious. So, let us leave them for someone else to explore
for a major part of this inquiry and focus on moustaches. Since the shunning of moustaches
by the fairer sex and also a large part of the unfair males (as many of you believe) in the
open is a thing of post millennial era, Id like to delve into the possible reasons of dissent from
those quarters, the validity of those arguments and presenting a counter argument in case of
difference of opinion. So, here I present to you a dialectical diatribe about moustaches. But
be forewarned, for Im trying to show a different kind of picture and I humbly appeal to your
sense of rationality as well as emotion. Ive tried my best to refrain from castigating cult

practices like feminism, equality yada yada and revealing the flaccidness of many of their
arguments (they are after all trying to make things better for someone); Ive tried to stay my
hand from lashing out at people by not reasoning with them about my cause, but by belittling
their efforts at what they do even though that forms a large part of the debate arsenal. I
understand that it is wrong on my part to make you see the mirror which is tainted by the
way I see through it, for it is my honest intention, that you see the world through your own
eyes and not through your mothers, or fathers, or friends, or lovers, or that magazines editor,
or societys instead. Above all, I want you to make up your own mind, and know the reason
why you think what you think. Despite of this, I do not guarantee a fair treatment to the topic,
I am a fairly young guy, driven by my sense of this world, and my senses (not to mention,
groins).
It is important that we track this trend from as long as we can, since styles for facial hair tell
a story of changing ideas about men and masculinity and in a way, society. What seems to be
missing from this evaluation is the study of womens position through these ages which is
kind of unfair. But Ill not deter from this lack of resource and will make certain observations
as we pass along. Please feel free to draw your own conclusions.
The earliest picture of a man with groomed moustache is of around 300BC, of a warrior on a
horse, with a shaven face, and a moustache.[Ref] In the Renaissance period, beard-wearing
was a sign of masculinity and almost a rite of passage which almost every boy went through
has he crossed the threshold of being a boy and was ushered into manhood. Will Fisher
described Renaissance England as, beards maketh the man [More]. It was more of a health
concern back then rather than a style statement. People believed that the body consisted of
four fluid humours in a perpetually precarious state of balance, and there were different
ideas on getting rid of excesses from bloodletting to growing beards, everything was
prevalent. [This much prevalent practice for at least 2000 years could be the reason why we
have Vampire stories.] It was widely believed that facial hair was actually a form of excreta
generated by the body as a result of heat in the testicles! Since the beard was linked to the
genitals, it was also an outward sign of virility and masculinity. Apparently, the Khap elders
have shown much confidence in this theory of heat and testicles, and chow mien.
Then, things began to change, probably because of the development of less barbaric societies.
The eighteenth-century culture of politeness projected the man of letters as clean-shaven;
Having an open countenance was also a metaphor for an open mind which made thinkers
shed their scruffy beards. It was also the time of increased industry and businesses. New
shaving technologies like the invention of cast steel made shaving a less uncomfortable
experience and blades more trustworthy. As newspaper advertising expanded, and razor
makers capitalised on this new vogue for shaving, offering new types of razors on
philosophical principles. Other complementary appurtenances which ushered the
Georgian male into the era of pampering included razor strops to keep the shiny new razor
sharp, face creams, shaving powders and scents.
This was probably the time when the businessmen started to tap the immense potential of
profit out of grooming the society, by starting trends through advertisements, marketing and
grapevine while spreading different kinds of notions about grooming as per the liking of their

pockets. It was the time of Renaissance which was marked by increased awareness in people,
but that does not imply increased intelligence and may also hint at increased susceptibility to
new kinds of prejudices. As Casanova had once hinted when he asked Voltaire, "Suppose that
you succeed in destroying superstition. With what will you replace it?" he understood that
the people need to live in ignorance for the general peace of the nation". Now that people
were finally shedding their yoke of religious gambits and trying to fit into the uncomfortable
looking truths of science, an emotional appeal to the common sentiment with convoluted
reasoning which looked just like science, only a little more appealing than real science, served
the industrialists and businessmen well. It still works today, and more openly so where people
no longer check the facts when something appeals to their prejudices or is sympathetic for
their cause, a whatever sells technique. Why this happens could also be linked to the way
education is imparted, which has made science for the scientists, philosophy for the
philosophers and abstract for the surrealists, in short, by experts for experts. Common men
tend to like them more for the awe that they bring rather than the deep understanding of
how things work, how simple they could be and hence, they still shied from being face to face
with uncomfortable questions. What Albert Einstein called the happy childhood of science
was the early renaissance period when men like Galileo, Newton and Darwin were not averse
to being read by specialists in their field nor to the lay people. As Charles Van Doren writes in
How to read a book, Intelligent and well-read persons were expected to read scientific books
as well as history and philosophy; there were no hard and fast distinctions, no boundaries that
could not be crossed. The path of least resistance is what the nature seems to follow on the
surface. Adding to that, the media is and always has been designed to make thinking seem
unnecessary. The packaging of intellectual positions and views is one of the most active
enterprises of some of the best minds of our day. The viewer of television, the listener to radio,
the reader of magazines, is presented with a whole complex elements all the way from
ingenious rhetoric to carefully selected data and statistics to make it easy for him to make
up his own mind with the minimum of difficulty and effort. But the packaging is often done
so effectively that the viewer, listener, or reader does not make up his own mind at all. Instead,
he inserts a packaged opinion into his mind, somewhat like inserting a cassette into a cassette
player. He then pushes a button and plays back the opinion whenever it seems appropriate
to do so. He has performed acceptably without having to think. While quoting this verbatim,
I am tempted to think of having fallen for the very same trap this short excerpt debunks.
Meanwhile, caste system was prevalent in India (without much opposition) and only high
caste men were allowed to keep moustaches. Lower caste men were either clean shaven or
sported a beard. The concept of grooming moustaches into distinct, standout facial features
began around the time of the Rajputs. It could also be the reason why most of Hindu Gods
are shown as hairless, except for the occasional moustache. Some demigods like Shani and
Indra have often been depicted with moustache while maintaining a hairless physique
otherwise [More]. Allan Peterkin suggests Being clean-shaven is a class indicator over history
as well; only rich men could afford the implements: the soaps, the water, the barber, the slave
to do the shaving. So I imagine it was quite natural for any creation of the images of a God to
have that link towards clean-shavenness. Being clean-shaven is being next to godliness.

Then, facial hair came to be viewed with distaste and were considered as the mark of an
artist or revolutionary during the Victorian era (1840s). The facial hair became the in thing
again by the 1860; the invention of the safety razor by 1880s nudged men towards the cleancut look. There was also a rediscovery of the beard as both a symbol of natural virility and
masculinity, and even in health terms. Rather than being a form of excreta, some writers now
extolled the virtues of the beard in stopping disease before it could get to the face and mouth!
The beard as a visual symbol of innate manliness also made a comeback in this period, and
many popular writers of the day from Trevelyan to Dickens not only supported the beard,
but sported fine examples. New styles with the moustaches like walrus, handlebar, imperial
etc. and the tools to maintain them, like moustache wax and combs became popular [More].
It is interesting to note that neither the Elizabethan era nor the Victorian era were too fond
of moustaches. Looking at the paintings from those times, however, the general sentiment
seems towards groomed moustaches during Elizabethan era and no moustaches during a few
decades of Victorian era. Even today, the Queen of England seems to be averse to scruffy
males and is reported to have rebuked Prince Harry for bearing the uncivilized look in her
presence, after he returned from the Antarctic wilderness with a coat of fur on his face
[More]. The Georgian era and the Edwardian era however, saw widespread acceptance of
facial hair and many authors like Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling were celebrated
luminaries of the moustache. Oscar Wilde, a kind of anachronism to this time in terms of facial
grooming is alleged to have said The moustache is the evolutionary next level to
enlightenment [More] on moustache logistics even though he stayed clean shaven against
the established norm of grooming moustaches.
This was also the age of explorers heading out into untamed lands and living amongst wild
nature and hence could not/did not shave. These men were celebrated as heroes and out of
imitation the trend spread. Bombay-born Rudyard Kipling was a staunch proponent of the
walrus, and went so far as to write that being kissed by a man who didnt wax his moustache
was like eating an egg without salt. Almost until the end of the Edwardian era (1910) soldiers
in the British armies were not allowed to shave off their upper lip. It is noted that being
without a beard gradually became seen as a sign of a civilised, modern man. Whiskers were
fine in the bush where men could not be expected to shave every day. As countries became
more urban, and society demanded that men be more respectable, the beard, like the rugged
frontier, was left behind and the moustache soon followed suit.
Innovation in the razor industry (the invention of safety razor blades) and wars, World War I
and II hastened this fast waning popularity of facial hair as men in the trenches found it easy
to have hairless faces which attracted less grime thus promoting trench hygiene. At the same
time, pilots and sailors were allowed to grow a set and most of them proudly kept one. It is
said that The groomed Hollywood star look, was clean-shaven with short back and sides. This
took some effort. Women may have gone to the hairdressers every week or so to get their hair
done, but men were just as fussy; they shaved daily and had a weekly hair trim from the
barber, Mum, their wife or a mate.
It was about the same time that hygiene and hairlessness became a fashion for women too.
Dcolletages drooped, the cloth that was removed from womens skirts lengths was never

added back. With more body in the open owing to this evolving fashion sense, shaving under
arms and legs became mainstream.
Incidentally, it was also the time when the Communist Feminist and now celebrated Frieda
Kahlo was contemporary and painted her self-portraits with a prominent and often darkened
unibrow and moustaches [More]. While it was a strong sign against societal customs and
strong awareness of self-image on Friedas part, it took almost half a century for the
movements like women empowerment to find her as one of their poster girls to further the
cause of feminism (advocating free expression and equality but embracing the prevalent
fashion sense nevertheless). Her works are still celebrated today, but sadly, the visitors who
are asked to put on a unibrow do so as a matter of fun or derision and never see the
symbolism behind such a bold statement, which was the hallmark of Frieda Kahlo [More]. It
was this among many of her self-awareness traits that made her more desirable and lovable
to men of her age, and ours alike, despite of her hirsute facial features. Around the same time
in India, Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi Movement against British rulers advised Indians to have
beards so that imported shavers and blades could be stopped [More].
By the 40s and 50s, the clean-shaven look was partially favoured before stunning badger
beards made a comeback in the 60s and 70s. Being without a moustache and beard may have
set off a strong masculine jawline in theory if not in reality but by the later 1960s a
generation of men had had enough. The clean-shaven look stood for conservatism and oldfashioned values; a younger generation wanted the freedom that the world seemed to offer.
Moustaches returned as men wore their rebellion as a fashion and lifestyle statement.
The 1970s and early 1980s were another heyday for the moustache. No longer was a hairy
moustache an outward sign of disaffected youth. Every second man seemed to have a
moustache. From the sports field to the state service, the trend was towards big and bushy as
moustaches seemed to symbolise a rugged manliness.
Artists like Robert Redford and Burt Reynolds and Freddy Mercury adopted the moustachioed
lifestyle [Ref]. It is alleged to be the era of Triple Threat the moustache, the perm and the
turtleneck. The spring of 1972, saw the resurgence of moustaches when Reggie Jackson
inspired the Moustache Gang to rise from the roster of the Oakland As. It was also the time
when artists like Frank Zappa made their indelible mark on music and mankind alike and their
moustache styles were largely imitated. Incidentally, this period of creative freedom and
breaking the rules was the same time as the women's rights movement got under way.
Hollywood movies, musicians who toured the lands and an ambivalent environment on the
brink of social transformation could have contributed to what the first world is today. It is
hard to say if any of the two transformations was piggybacking the other, but it is equally hard
to say that the two worked independent of each other. I liken this to the kind of behaviour
we saw during the renaissance.
Thereafter, moustache craze did not last much except in certain services like armed forces
and police. Occasional bursts of popularity like the gay community, inspired by singers like
Freddy Mercury and Bears, started wearing their facial hair with pride, but nothing seemed

to last. Barbers put the changes down to lifestyle. Coffee and lattes dont mix all that froth
gets stuck in the moustache so something had to go, a barber claimed in late 2006.
The style-savvy metrosexual male of the early 21st century stuck to clean shaven looks despite
of many attempts, though they have made a come-back since 2010, perhaps influenced by
the growing popularity of Movember. Besides, it takes some confidence on a mans part to
carry his moustache with panache [More].
We notice that like any fashion trend, moustaches have been in and out of fashion throughout
history. Just like their growth cycle, theyve first sprouted as a hormonal disturbance, then
clambered up to the top of social acceptability and have then been mowed down into a pass.
Theyve stood as a mans flag of masculinity, stature, dominance and power in the past and
in a certain cultures theyre still held in high regard. But that was also the time when most
people lived in the hinterlands and were more interested in agriculture or battles on the fields
rather than e-farming on the go with their smartphones at Farmville. Today, they stand out
as one of the expressions of living the life on own terms, against the norm, the ordinary. India,
as of now lies somewhere in between, between the rustic charm and bucolic innocence of
pastoral farms and the glittering lights and dont-care attitude of industrialized megapolis;
majority of the Indians are embroiled up in this push-pull of contrasting cultures, trying to
juggle values and priorities, heterodoxy and orthodoxy, all the while moving ahead and
hopefully, forward.
Many women, as I said are not turned on by the moustaches, some of them might even find
them repulsive [More]. Indian women's magazines have printed letters to the editor saying
how happy they are that the great Indian moustache may be trimmed, a sentiment that many
young women here say they agree with. "No guy I liked ever had a moustache," said Vaishnavi
Viraj, 18, a student at Delhi University. "My mum, though, thinks that moustaches are a sign
of royalty and represent elegance and pride. As for me, I just don't like very hairy men." "I
relate them to 'uncles' and 'dads,' " Adishree Panda, 18, chimed in. [More]
While this kind of reactions are to be expected in the light of increased fashion trending and
the confluence of cultures, liking a person isnt determined just by the moustache alone.
Okay so what does that mean for such guys? That could possibly mean that such guys will
have a little more time to think about their life and the kind of women they would NOT want
to be with. Agreed, guys do look beyond their age but that does not mean that people tell
them to shovel off their little goatees and other signs of adolescence? Besides, young boys
are also undergoing the same hormonal imbalance as girls do, which levels off in early
twenties since boys usually mature a little later than girls. So, they deserve a break, they didnt
even have had a chance to see how theyd look like if they grew some facial hair and girls
(their girlfriends or girl-friends) have already started caviling about their looks. And based on
what? At this age, we often cannot differentiate between what we genuinely like and what is
a result of induction from our friends. Each individual is different. But people with similar
traits tend to flock together and yet, there is always a leader of the pack; there can be
different leaders at different times albeit. When someone in the group swoons over the manly
features of Daniel Craig or the handsomeness of Hritik Roshans masculine and yet agile six
pack, or Virat Kohlis loquacious middle finger, there is little left for the rest of the herd to

decide on, for the fear of falling out of the group, it is akin to having an female version of an
alpha male. While a girl may harbor a secret crush over the next door guy whom her clique
often ridicules for his emerging masculine traits like a half grown moustache or disappearing
sideburns, she has to be one voice when together. If anyone thinks that theyve figured out
how attraction works, they are clearly mistaken [More].
As one research claims What we find attractive is a complex mixture of biology, cultural
values, upbringing, beliefs, and individuality. In some respects we are mere animals,
unconsciously seeking likely and sound mates in order to procreate our species with healthy,
hardy offspring. We are swayed by the 'smell' of pheromones (they don't actually have an
odor); we perform mating dances (flirting) that are remarkably alike the world over; and we
subconsciously choose mates for their reproductive potential. But the qualities that separate
us from the animals also have an important part in determining who we try to ensnare in our
intricately woven love traps. Birds of a feather flock together and so we narrow our mating
pool based on subculture, work, interests, religion, ethnicity, and other affiliations. Society
takes its toll on who we prefer, but we are still individuals, and our self-perception also
influences who we deem a potential loverFor humans to subsist we must keep having sex
and making babies. But since relationships and sex have long since been divorced from
procreation, there are other reasons for finding a partner. For one, sex is downright
pleasurable. Secondly, an amorous suitor makes us feel good about ourselves. And of equal
importance is the comfort that emotional support, financial input and steady company
provides.
A reason that boys state, other than that their girlfriends hate it, goes like: "Our fathers
thought they were not men without their moustaches. But 'hairy Hindustan' is over," said
Kumar, using a time-honoured nickname for the subcontinent. "It's old India. The moustache
is for my father, not for me." A recent book by Author Richard McCallum, titled Hair India A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches of Hindustan" warns that India's
extravagant beards and moustaches - proudly sported by generations of Indian men - are
being trimmed as the country becomes more clean-shaven and urban in the absence of role
models sporting beards or moustaches. Modern boys like to be clean shaven (perhaps their
girlfriends like it that way.) For some, it is yet again a symbol of revolt against the hegemony
of their fathers moustaches, and for others a way to show their love, that they care. He notes
"no one wants to look like their parents." Which unfortunately is the truth even for the girls
who clearly have an opinion which is poles apart from their mothers. It is funny, because the
youth is actively trying to not look like their parents and yet, many studies report that men
subconsciously tend to be attracted to girls who exhibit the traits of their mothers [More].
But this is what moustaches have long stood for and we subconsciously connect to what weve
imbibed. According to Allan Peterkin, The moustache has always been the emblem of
the other, in the Western world in particular. I talk about the three fs: the fop,
the foreigner, and fiend. The fop is the effete man who is overly concerned with his
appearance. That in itself would suggest not a very godly attribute. The foreigner is the other.
So if youre a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant), you might refer to someone of
Mediterranean extraction with a moustache as being a foreign other. And then the fiend:

typically through Hollywood and most representations in books and film, the short-handed
symbol that the guys a villain is that hes twirling his moustache, that hes got evil on his
mind.
Moustaches have served different purposes for different men [more]. From entrepreneurial
mandate, religious instruction to deception or accentuated impact, moustaches have been
the most displayed and hence most targeted assets on men. The Jesuits are typically cleanshaven (in America). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a guideline that all
full-time male missionaries are required to shave each day. If we forget about the ladies for a
moment, the aggression with which technology has been making giant leaps has left little
time for the fast and the furious men to groom their endowments and with the dearth of such
precious resource, what recourse does he have but to shave them off. Many workplaces have
not tolerated facial hair, and for a man to be able to get away with it probably means that he
has some stature. As Allan Peterkin notes The two professions in which you dont dare have
a moustache or facial hair, including the beard, are banking and politics. The last American
president to have facial hair was Taft, and he had a big stache. Because your clients, voters,
public, will misread your facial hair as something nefarious. So bankers and politicians arent
willing to have their face misread. So they dont take the chance. Theyre clean-shaven
a tabula rasa.
There are interesting evolutionary theories why it is so. Moustaches are believed to cover up
certain emotional expressions. Part of our survival has been a very delicate sensitivity to read
facial expressions - quivering lips, pursing lips, etc. So, some people tend to believe that men
with facial hair have something to hide; their muscular expressions tend to give signals
contrary to what theyre actually thinking. But there is also evidence against it as many people
claim that moustached men enhance certain mouth movements to assert their point rather
than hiding it. Another theory which has to do with our evolutionary ancestors - Apes - is that
when the apes start to fight, the stick their jaws out which symbolizes the flow of
testosterone. In human cultures too, a large jaw is considered more masculine and has
aggressive connotations[more], probably because of its association to apes getting that jaw
jut. Some researchers have suggested that it is possible that in ecologies in which physical
aggressiveness is more adaptive than cooperation, bearded males might be preferred by
women. This might partly explain why your mothers and my mother believe that moustaches
make men look more royal, since they belong to an age of clashing identities and have borne
that brunt of cultural amalgamation and the chaos that it has wrought. The same situations
might reappear in the near future, seeing the resurgence of violence in the cities as well as
villages as more children rebel against their orthodoxy. Men also use facial hair for cosmetic,
aesthetic reasons, to play up strong features and play down weak ones.
An interesting study also proposes a connection between illegitimacy issue and the declining
ratio of moustaches at various times in the past. This has something to do with how men with
and without moustaches are perceived by other people in general. When the ratio of

illegitimate births in comparison to the number of total births is high, the number of
moustaches within the population drops. For this negative correlation, it is suggested that as
facial expressions are heavily reliant on the mouth, being clean-shaven may give the
impression that one's expressions are more readable and therefore more trustworthy;
therefore those with no facial hair are perceived as being more trust worthy, which in a time
where men outnumber available women, women tend to look for men who appear
trustworthy (and get deceived) [More]. Looking at the rise of unwanted pregnancies and
abortions today, instances of MMS scandals involving young couples, increasing instances of
violence in a fit of rage, either self-inflicted or by the other party, and given than the male to
female ratio in India, on average isnt very good, it might be another empirical validation of
this theory.
Beards and moustaches have also been associated with philosophers and men with raised
levels of spirituality. I could possibly vouch for it with a pretty silly analogy. It appears like
thoughts are things that we can inhale and exhale, as if they are communicated to me with
the air that I breathe, and I breathe through my nose, for the record. So, this ebb and flow is
rather unnoticeable when the hair lengths are trimmed down to zero and the thoughts tend
to stay for longer. I tend to catch and retain more thoughts when the hair are plenty. It seems
like the hair on my face, act as a net to catch ideas and retain them before they fall off with
the breath I take. As a result of that retention, I can write about something which affected me
last week with pretty much the same details (except for the fine details which sieve through
the forest) and also the added understanding from the past weeks introspection. Whereas in
the case of bare lipped creative, I propose they are more open mouthed and quick witted
because they let their ideas known as they come, and seldom make them available in a
detailed work of labor. For example, the most shining example that I could think of as a
brilliant literary and clean shaven suave man is Oscar Wilde who is described as Known for
his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversation, Wilde became one of the bestknown personalities of his day.
Growing a beard full cycle and then cleaning it up is a kind of ecstatic self-discovery for me. I
usually dont spend too much time in front of the mirror and a clean, creased coiffure on the
scalp is my preference, on duty or not. So, when I let my beard grow on me and then after a
while shave it, I do get a chance to see myself in a different light. It is hard to explain, in what
terms and what light, but it is better this way than staying constant. Our face changes each
passing day, but gradual changes are seldom noticeable. That is why friends we havent seen
in long time or relatives often claim that how well weve grown up, and later, how old weve
grown. This cyclic harvest on my face allows me to reflect on many things. Besides, it feels
good, both with a beard and moustache on, and off, neither lasts much by the way and I think
this is my way of breaking the monotony.
According to a study performed by Nigel Barber, results have shown a strong correlation
between a good marriage market for women and an increased number of moustaches worn
by the male population. Barber suggests that these perceived traits would influence a

woman's choice of husband as they would suggest a high reproductive and biological
qualities, and a capacity to invest in children, so when males must compete heavily for
marriage they are more likely to grow a moustache in an attempt to project these qualities.
Gangestad's most recently published study on female preferences finds that if a woman is partnered
with a man without a masculine face, her eye is more likely to wander during her fertile days. This
wandering eye doesn't necessarily translate into a cheating heart. Most women probably
notice nothing more than a funny little feeling of lust during their fertile days, Haselton said.
But other studies have shown that the hormonal fluctuations surrounding ovulation do change
women's attitudes and behavior.[More]
And all the men and women who so like to ape the west all the while thinking that it is their
own decision, hear me out. Watch closely and dont copy that t-shirt logo of dont die a copy
without giving it a thought. Keep in mind that the fashion industry is much invested in making
men buy and do new things. So there will be those pressures to perhaps become clean-shaven
again. I know for a fact that the multi-million dollar grooming industry wants men to buy
razors, either electric or blade. The shave or crave movement for instance was initiated for
the sole launch and advertisement of Gillettes 5 blade product. Gillette, who were also the
creators of WALS (Women Against Lazy Stubble) devised as a cheap low blow to the deep
rooted links of mens hair with their balls. The intelligent and socially aware contribution
of people towards making a difference by active blog participation in these contests for prizes
has made Gillettes media campaign a whopping success story and their pockets a little more
gloaty-bloaty [More].
By the way, do you even know the sample size that the surveyors thought was apposite? 1500
people, 1000 females and 500 males from 10 cities of India, out of which nearly 87% women
claimed that facial hair doesnt turn them on and would rather like to kiss a clean shaven
guy? While 1500 is hardly a qualifying sample size given the population in India given that the
chosen ones were not even appointed by any unanimous referendum for speaking on the
behalf of million others, it becomes more interesting when we know that these movements
are spearheaded by popular people in entertainment industry and that these movements are
always sponsored, to introduce a particular and new cosmetic product, say, in this case a five
blade Gillette razor. Gillettes introduction of an extra blade on the razor top has recently
become the butt of meme jokes. No wonder the company has seen many ups and downs and
every added blade to the original two has been their desperate attempt to stay afloat in what
they perceive as their niche. But if there remains no hair, as men would embrace the laser
removal of facial hair as the next (de)evolutionary step, companies like such would dwindle
down or probably find other ways to swindle up. It is everybodys wish to look good and
attractive, but it is these companies which have been fanning the race for the fairest
ultimately affecting how men see men, how women see women, and how they see each
other.
There was time when trends took a lot of time to travel from the west to the east and from
the east to the west. The emergence and widespread use of the internet has enabled bridge
this lack of synchronization. But it has also whetted the appetite of every individual to be
liked and admired in the social circle. The bigger the circle, bigger is the gratification. The

proliferation of platforms like Facebook and Instagram has seen us run blindly in this race for
likes. We crave compliments, who doesnt? Incidentally, this is what is told of our Gods too.
They are doing fine without our bhakti but if one can offer the Lord his true worship, the
Lord draws more strength so it shouldnt come as an objection that we do not crave
compliments. New and bohemian is welcomed, the traditional too, is evolving to match up to
modern standards for the fear of being a thing of the past. Stereotypes are being broken on
a regular basis time and again. Take the example of Porter who did not know how to tie a bow
once is now popular on pinterest and instagram for his styling sense where people cheered
him up when he posted his first few attempts at tying bows.
Porter's experience is indicative of a style renaissance among men. Men can do whatever
they want since the 90s, with the return of the goatee. Everything else was unleashed
after that: soul patches, sideburns, combination looks, stubble. The moustache was the final
frontier, and so it doesnt surprise me that men wanting to have an impact, to have their own
trademark, have embraced the moustache.
Men are free to embrace fashion. From the streets of Oakland, where suits are replacing
baggy jeans and Jordans, to the halls of Silicon Valley, where techies are laying their hoodies
to rest, men are stepping up their style. And they have plenty of inspiration. From the dapper
suits on AMC's Mad Men to the impeccably dressed stars of hip hop and the NBA, today's
fashionisto favors artisanal, well-tailored clothing that fits the way it's supposed to. [More]
Indian cinema - Bollywood - has been marked by a constant absence of the moustaches on
the heroes who have come to dominate it. The four-Khans, the Kapoors and Kumars have
sported a hairless look for quite some time now and given the influence these movies have
on the Indian youth, especially the North Indian ones who are considered more receptive to
such changes in contrast to their south Indian counterparts, there has been lack of inspiration
for young boys to look up to. Even the cricket superstars have long sported hairless looks. The
scene is slightly different in the south of India which is believed to be more deep rooted in
tradition. Almost everyone in the South Indian movies, be it the hero, the villain or the crowd
usually sports a moustache. This intolerance to changing patterns is ascribed to the geography
of South India which has been rather safer from influence of marauding enemies and their
cultures because of the sea on three sides. It isnt anything unusual as Amartya Sen also
noted depreciation of foreigners not only prevails among us and the Indians, but is common
to all nations towards each other.[Alberuni]
But the scenario is changing, yet again. Actors like Ranveer Singh, players like Ravinder Jadega
and Shikhar Dhawan are making imperial moustaches rise from the ashes. On the
international scene, women are writing unashamed love letters to Jared Leto, Ben Affleck,
Clooney and other such men, drooling over their moustachioed looks, man buns and cuts. We
all love Captain Jack Sparrow, do we not?

This shift from schlub to stud has been happening for about a decade, but it has accelerated
in the past five years because of the Internet and social media, says GQ magazine senior
editor Will Welch [More].
"There are so many opportunities to go online and nerd-out about clothes now, and so many
knowledgeable sources online that make it feel OK to get into this stuff," he says. "It used to
be seen as macho for straight men not to think about their clothes for a single second. Put on
whatever the wife bought you and go. Now, if a friend compliments your jacket and asks
where you got it and you can say you bought it at a store in Alabama and it's based on a
railroad worker's jacket from the early 1900s, that's macho."
If you dont like a man with his moustache, by all means, dont like him, dont even try to like
him. I like you, but without your moustache is not an excuse. For every such man, there will
be another who doesnt have facial hair and may you be blessed to have a more handsome
face call you dear but be wary that hell spend more time on himself than writing love songs
for you. Dont worry about the previous guy, for every two women who hate facial hair there
exists one who loves it and knows that Uber long locks, like beards, tend to look great on guys
that would look fantastic without them. Handsome is handsome, just as hot is hot. There. Is.
No. Substitute. I suspect you would not be waxing quite as poetically about, say, Harry Reid if
he just let it "grow, flaxen-waxen". Boy, we love intelligent women dont we? It is a whopping
59-41% ratio among men in favour of moustaches around the civilized world.
We have and are learning to respect your self-esteem, and probably you shouldnt let the
newly found freedom get into your head. Respect ours. While moustaches and beards might
not increase sex-appeal in most men, research suggests it works wonders on their selfesteem, especially among the bros, and herds of women. There is no trespassing on that.
We love You, not your concept of you, we love you with or without pyjamas (the churidaars
and patialas do suit most of you though)[Ref], we love you even when we arent the only
reason you dress up for, we love you in your PMSes and wed hate to see you dress up in
anything that makes you uncomfortable. We expect reciprocation, suggestions are welcome,
but dictum? We arent that level headed yet. Were trying to break free from prejudices, not
to fall from patriarchy into matriarchy. Gladly, the women of west have started to cooperate
in movements like Movember.
In a world where approximately 45% of men cannot have a proper beard and moustache, it
is but a rarity to find someone who does exhibit these traits of the wild, and I trust quiet love
stories isnt what girls dream of, wild love is what we all want; after all, it all started with a
big-bang!