The mustache seems to be making a comeback. We're talking no beard, just the 'stache.
These days, actor Timothée Chalamet often sports the wispy, barely-there look. Musician and actor Donald Glover has shown off a crisp mustache, parted down the middle. Singer Benson Boone's mustache dances just over the edge of his upper lip.
Last year in GQ, culture writer Kate Lindsay, a "mustache-loving woman," wondered whether all men look better with a mustache. And in 2023, Shira Telushkin, who writes about fashion, culture and religion, noted in The New York Times that the mustache was "enjoying one of its periodic renaissances."
"I think it's a good look. It's like a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt. Like, it kind of can't go out of style," said Gabe Pietrafesa, a 27-year-old social media content creator and musician. Pietrafesa has amassed over 245,000 followers on TikTok, where he posts lifestyle content like running a marathon without training and singing about falling in love with his girlfriend.
"And I kind of attribute my mustache to my success on the internet," he said.
Matthew Scalf, founder of the grooming brand Beard Sorcery has noticed that the "mustache renaissance" began about a year ago. His website sells beard oils and waxes.
"If you go to our website and just kind of peruse what we're writing about in our blog, you'll see more and more mustache articles because people are requesting it," Scalf said.
He said the pencil mustache — a thin line of hair just above the lip — is one of the more popular styles.
Historically, mustaches have symbolized virility and toughness. A 1912 order for British soldiers required that "the chin and under lip will be shaved, but not the upper lip."
"In recent centuries, mustaches have been associated with the military in the Western world," said Christopher Oldstone-Moore, author of the 2015 book, Of Beards and Men: the Revealing History of Facial Hair.
While mustaches were expected in the military, and later came to be associated with police and firefighters, they have not been widely accepted in corporate America in recent decades.
"We're continuing to change in a direction of more tolerance for facial hair in general," Oldstone-Moore said. "But there's still a strong cultural push towards clean shaving as a proper business mode."
Throughout human history, Oldstone-Moore identified four periods where facial hair was the norm: the second century A.D., the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 19th century in Europe and America (though some men have had facial hair for religious reasons for centuries). He says we're on the precipice of another, and suspects it has to do with shifting ideas about masculinity.
"Our identities are very complicated today in our culture," he said. "Gender in general is very much being reconsidered. And for the rising generation, it's on the table. And I think men are, at the very least, experimenting with how to present themselves as men."
Many folks who sport mustaches nowadays do it for style.
"It signals a little bit of playfulness and silliness," said Joey Goldman, 34, a DJ who goes by @joeywiththemustache on Instagram. "It's sort of an interesting part of facial hair to keep on," he added. "Like, it doesn't really serve a purpose. It's just kind of fun on my upper lip."
Goldman lives in Fire Island Pines, N.Y., which has been known as a destination of sexual liberation in the queer community for decades. He says his mustache is as much about identity as it is style.
"I can't help but think about how having a mustache connects me to this lineage of queer people in Fire Island, and it connects me with my culture," he said.
Practically speaking, though, keeping a mustache isn't always fun.
"If I'm drinking a Guinness, the foamy part at the top gets caught in the mustache," Goldman said. "If I have a runny nose, unfortunately, it requires additional care to make sure that the snot's out of the mustache. But also, if I'm skiing and the mustache kind of freezes a little bit, I think it's kind of funny."
"One time, I trimmed a little too close to the sun and I got two bald spots right underneath my nose," said Pietrafesa, the content creator. "I had to get an eyebrow pencil and color in the bald spots."
People might want mustaches for the success they could bring romantically — but having one can also get in the way of romantic encounters.
"Sometimes it goes up the nose when we're kissing," said Ethan Burbridge, 29, of Washington, D.C. Burbridge said he started dating his girlfriend after he grew his mustache, and added that "I try to keep it trimmed enough so it's not an issue."
But a little hair up the nose isn't a dealbreaker for 26-year-old Jess Harding, who also lives and dates in D.C.
"I love a mustache. They are attractive, they're hot, they're sexy," she said. "They change the face completely. Probably kissed a handful. If any man with a mustache is reading this and, like, wants to come find me, that's great."
The digital version of this story was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi and Obed Manuel.
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