Black-eyed peas, Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration and a new school semester are three things involved with the turning of 2009. While these occurrences are expected and obvious, I found with social observation that also with the New Year is the return of men’s facial hair. It is resurfacing rapidly in many different forms. I have noticed more beards, mustaches, goatees and the ever-so-popular “scruff ” appearing on campus as well as in the entertainment world than I seemed to in the past 365 days.
So why is there a sudden
increase in facial hair? I wasn’t
so taken back by the appearance
of mustaches in the month
of November because of the
annual fundraiser Movember.
But with it being January, I
start to wonder: maybe men are
using facial hair for its primitive
purpose of warmth during cold
weather.
But that still doesn’t explain
the mustache because I don’t see
men needing extra body warmth
covering the area between nose
and upper lip. The spontaneous
rise of the mustache for
the first time since the ’80s
combined with the already
confusing position of the facial
hair makes solving this mystery
more intriguing to me as a
woman. With this idea resting
in the front of my head, I turn
to Google looking for answers
and I arrive at The New York
Times Web site.
An article by David Colman
exposed some celebrities recently
spotted with a “man-scaped”
face. Among these men are Brad
Pitt and James Franco. While
both of these actors recently
sported the mustache for roles
they played, Brad Pitt kept his
for photo opportunities while
promoting his new film. But
this doesn’t explain the recent
popularity of facial hair, mainly
mustaches, around the Starkville
area.
These men and boys are
not celebrities and hopefully
understand actors can successfully
attempt new trends with
little to no consequences. You
rarely hear a woman claim mustaches
make her weak in the
knees. A woman being passionate
about mustaches could possibly
be grouped into the fetish
category along with those passionate
about feet. In fact, the
mustache’s popularity seems to
be only in joke; they are rarely
even called mustaches anymore.
Derogatory terms are used more
frequently than the name itself.
I personally prefer the term
“molestache” over “porn-stache”
and the others that come with
the upper lip tickler, both proving
the disapproval it receives.
With nicknames like these,
it seems outrageous that we are
still subjected to being in close
perimeters with these face caterpillars
and not being able to
ask why it’s there alone and
not attached to a beard. While
beards are more frequently seen
than mustaches, they are still
somewhat confusing. There’s a
fine line between looking like
Billy Gibbons and looking like
you were too lazy to shave for
a few days. A beard has to be
a good beard if and when it’s
proudly displayed. It is not the
strangest idea to think women
are attracted to a beard like it is
when mustaches are the facial
hair of choice. There are many
women that find full beards and
mild scruff attractive on a man’s
face. But growing a beard is a
big decision for a man to make.
Much like a haircut, beards
have the awkward phase that
screams to the world that its
owner is attempting to grow his
beard longer and thicker.
But it’s when the awkward
phase never leaves the face that
those onlookers realize the
“awkward phase” is the beard’s
peak of growth. Many of the
men throughout history who
have sported beards range from
military generals to homeless
men who hold signs on interstate
shoulders asking for work.
For the men that partake in
this trend, I want to clarify
I personally have no problem
with facial hair, and I don’t
feel like there are many people
who do. The begging question
is why? Maybe the mustache is
to the man as jewelry is to the
woman. It seems that the sudden
sprouting of mustaches is
as odd of a returning trend for
men as shoulder pads would be
for women. As the year continues,
I am enthusiastic about
the possibility of seeing more
Joe Dirt
Bailey Singletary is the entertainment editor of The Reflector. She can be contacted at [email protected].