How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Interview with Professor Allan Peterkin

How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Interview with Professor Allan Peterkin

Welcome back to our How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Weekend Interview Series for this Moustache March! Today we will be talking with Professor Allan Peterkin author of  “One Thousands Beards – A Cultural History of Facial Hair“ and most recently “One Thousand Mustaches – A cultural History of the MO“. Both books are a great read and resource. We keep a few copies around our office for inspiration and for reference. We recently caught up with the professor after returning from a promotional trip to Hong Kong and here is what he had to say.

How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Interview with Professor Allan Peterkin

 HTGAM: Who writes a book about Moustaches? Well, the same clean shaven man who writes a book about beards, at least that’s what I told a friend when running questions by them in preparation for this interview. Does being clean shaven consciously have something to do with the subject matter you choose to write about?

Allan: Not really-since college, I’ve had every facial hair expression known to man at some point or other . Nowadays my beard is going white-so I’m down to close stubble !

I started writing about beards 10 years ago when the goatee craze hit. I was curious-why this? Why now? I was also keen to write a cultural history of some trend or human phenomenon. There was a lot more to discover about beards than I first imagined.

[pullquote]  I think beard envy may have replaced penis envy!”[/pullquote]

HTGAM: What do you think is the cause of all the recent explosion of beard and moustache competitive clubs popping up around the world? Do you see it as just another passing trend? If so, what do you predict is next in male grooming?

Allan: I think growing facial hair is one of the few things men can do that women can’t. Men build community around beards and mustaches (and sideburns and soul-patches)  in a playful, slightly rebellious way. But there is a competitive streak in most male endeavors.  I judged the National US Beard and Mustache Championships in Las Vegas last year. I can tell you these men (across all 18 growth categories) were very serious about winning!

In terms of trends the MO has been the slowest  to return, but it’s definitely back now. However, throughout history, the beard  and its offshoots, are always cyclical-we may even see a return to preppy-Mad Men clean-shavenness in the next 5 years.

How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Interview with Professor Allan Peterkin

HTGAM: As a professor of psychiatry, what is your take on women also participating in competitions wearing handmade facial, for lack of a better word, mirkens? 

Allan: I think beard envy may have replaced penis envy! (Just kidding). Young women nowadays are used to facial hair-on their brothers, fathers and boyfriends , whereas their mothers and grandmothers were used to clean-shaven men. So why not join in the fun?

HTGAM: I misread one sentence in your book where you state that “in Rome, the rich retained servants to shave them…” At first I thought, “kinky” then I thought, “fetish”…then I reread it and thought, “was that some sort of projection on my part having something to do with my childhood?”- Seriously though, do you think there is an undefined fetish/talisman aspect to the stache?

 Allan: Historically, the stache was always seen as suspect- the emblem of “the fop, the foreigner or the fiend”. In the 1970’s it became highly sexualized-with the porn-stache, the gay-clone stache, and the swinger stache. Many average Joes were scared off by all the historical baggage and didn’t want to have their faces (or sexuality) misread.  Others found it intensely sexual and quintessentially masculine , maybe because of its military associations.

HTGAM: As a budding writer on facial furniture myself, I commend you in your research. It’s proven really difficult to dig up any information on the history of many a stylish stache. It seems that history was written by the clean shaven. What is your process in compiling moustache/beard data? Do you use the internet, or more of a classical approach i.e. libraries, fieldwork, etc?

Allan: There are some excellent historical  resources (i.e. the classic “Fashions In Hair-The First Five Thousand Years”  by Richard Corson) and lots of magazine  and newspaper articles capturing time-specific interpretations of facial hair. I also interviewed guys on the street to see what their motivations were and how they were using facial fur as a sort of performance of modern masculinity. Then the web is indeed a goldmine-for fact, fallacy, fantasy and everything in between. Takes some sifting, though.

How To Grow A Moustache Exclusive Interview with Professor Allan Peterkin

Allan: The first book-“One Thousand Beards-A Cultural History of Facial Hair”came out in 2001 and hit a nerve. Ever since it came out, I have received at least one major media query every month-The New Yorker on Strike Beards, Sports Illustrated on Playoff Beards, the New York Times on the meaning of mustaches or why Al Gore grew a beard after he lost the election etc. I’ve become a somewhat reluctant but world-famous  pogonologist ! With the gradual return of the MO on faces worldwide and the popularity of  Movember, my publisher asked me to zero in on the stache. It was a fun project-especially given how reviled the mustache has generally been throughout history.

HTGAM: How do your colleagues at the University of Toronto feel about your approach to “publish or perish?” 

Allan: Interestingly we have an academic promotion category in the faculty of medicine at University of Toronto called “Creative Professional Activity”, alongside the usual teaching/research pegs. As a result, my writing on cultural history actually counts for something, even though I’ve generally done it for fun! ( As another example, I wrote the world’s first erotic thesaurus called “The Bald-Headed Hermit and The Artichoke”-that went into my portfolio too, though I imagine there was a lot more eyebrow-raising about that one.)

HTGAM: In your book I could find no mention on the unofficial Air Force tradition of Moustache March that has been for some time trickling into popular culture. Was this overlooked or left out for any particular reason? 

Allan: I wasn’t aware of it-tell me more. I’ll add it in the next edition. [Editor’s Note: Find more info on Moustache March HERE]

HTGAM: Do you have any signing or speaking engagements coming up in 2013?

Allan: We’ll be promoting One Thousand Mustaches at BookExpo in New York City in June. I’ve just started consulting to Dove Men Plus Care on their new line of shaving/skincare products for men-with a lot of media coverage and answering of grooming/historical  questions.

I’ve been asked to collaborate on yet another male grooming book! And check out the documentary Mansome by Morgan Spurlock-newly out on DVD-I’m in there, if ever briefly.

HTGAM: Lastly, any advice for the first time growers on moustache cultivation and care?

Allan: Be brave! Be ready for people to aak endless questions about why you did it-the stache is always a conversation starter. Pick a style that suits your face . Make sure your partner doesn’t absolutely hate it.  And don’t get over-zealous with the Mo-wax!

A very special thanks to Professor Allan Peterkin and Arsenal Press for being so great and allowing us this interview! To find out more about Prof. Peterkin or to order a copy of his books visit Arsenal Books Here! Both titles can also be found on Amazon Here! Next month we will be throwing a contest giving all of our loyal and faithful readers a chance to win an autographed copy of “One Thousand Mustaches“!  As if that wasn’t the only reason to stay tuned, next weekend brings our final Exclusive Interview for Moustache March with Mr. Michael “Atters” Attree…the anticipation over this interview is killing us! Thanks for sticking with us for this eventful month long journey, more great articles and interviews to come! Cheers!

Interview by Douglas Smythe  

ABOUT DOUGLAS SMYTHE

Cohost of the Moustache & Blade Podcast, founding member and contributing writer & editor for “How to Grow a Moustache”, an innovative cutting edge blog dedicated to all things facial fur,travel & style. His mission: Create facial awareness and use his super powers [read:moustache] for good. Contact Douglas: whiskers@howtogrowamoustache.com

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