Top 10 most unusual facts about moustaches

 The moustache is a style of facial hair grown to various lengths, groomed or left to roam wild, depending on various preferences and mostly sported by men. It has for centuries, been a symbol of everything from power, madness, masculinity and of course the ultimate fashion statement; depending of course what decade it is.

Most modern women prefer not to allow their facial hair to roam at will, and undergo various grooming procedures to rid themselves of any fluff at its first announcement. However, the famous artist, Frieda Kahlo, was a legendary purveyor of the woman’s moustache and brought the uni brow into highest fashion for the first and hopefully the very last time ever, ever in history. One can only hope and pray.

Top 10 most unusual facts about moustaches

Men’s facial fashions had somewhat run their course, and the moustache had been experiencing a period of desperate neglect over the last few decades or so, that is until the recent emergence of what has become a certain institution for men all over the world – the introduction of Movember.

Formally known as November, Movember is a moustache growing charity event to raise funds for and highlight awareness of prostate cancer with their main goal being to ‘’Change the face of Men’s Health.’’ The Movember Foundation, officially founded in 2004, has started a worldwide craze, inducing hundreds of thousands of ‘’MO BROS’’ to spend the month of Movember growing a moustache.

The charity holds fun events all over the world to raise money for cancer and men’s health problems like depression and other issues. What started off as a drinking decision – of course – a beer inspired Movember committee was born in a pub in Adelaide in South Australia in 1999.

But when the beer wore off, so did the idea, until a few years later, no doubt induced by a few cold ones, a second Movember committee was born and a challenge (beer always goes well with a challenge) was set for 30 men to grow their moustaches for 30 days in November. Since its inception, The Movember Foundation has raised a whopping $174 million for charity and was voted as one of the top 100 Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) in the world by Global Journal in 2012.

The Mo Bro movement has gained unparalleled momentum – a bit like a runaway train – in popularity. T-shirts, mugs, craft wear; clothing, key chains, jewelry and the likes of all sporting the distinctive moustache icon can be found worn by men and women all over the world. And the movement continues to grow in leaps and bounds every year.

And in keeping with the moustache theme, here are our Top 10 Unusual Facts about moustaches you never knew before.

• The World Beard and Moustache Championships

Every year since its inception in Germany in 1990, there has been a World Beard and Moustache Championship competition attracting entrants from all over the world. Hosted by The Handlebar Club, celeb moustache wearers judge the various categories – such as the goatee, Dali moustache and full beard freestyle. Raising money for local charities, Anchorage in Alaska has hosted a record number of entrants in the history of the competition – even topping popular Carson City in Nevada.

Top 10 most unusual facts about moustaches

• US Presidential Moustaches

In the history of the United States, there have only been 4 US Presidents that ever wore moustaches, and since the last one in the year 1909, every single one after that were all clean shaven. They were, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Grover Cleveland and the last one – William H. Taft. Perhaps it is considered a bit bohemian these days for the President of the United States to join the Movember movement in solidarity?

• A’s Baseball Team

In 1971, the owner of the A’s baseball team – an Oakland based local team, were paid a whopping $300 each to grow a moustache. And with an incentive like that one – nobody refused. The media went into a frenzy in the 1972 World Series, when the A’s came up against the clean cut, clean shaven Reds team and the media dubbed the series the Hairs vs Squares series of the season.

• A Moustache-less King

A lesser known fact, and even one not known by many regular card game players, is that not all the Kings in a deck of cards have moustaches. And it is the King of Hearts that is the odd one out in the pack – and the only one without a moustache.

• Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx, the American comedian and film star, known for his legendary fiery moustache and eyebrows, didn’t actually have one of his own at all. During films he used to apply a stick on moustache for scenes and found the uncomfortable removal of the sticky substance painful and laborious.

And it was only once; during filming that he didn’t have time to apply the stick on version and painted on some greasepaint in a hurry instead. He also on a last minute whim, decided to put some on his eyebrows as well. It was only when it came to television performances that Groucho refused to use greasepaint and grew his own moustache which he kept for the rest of his life.

• Moustache Give Away

The Beatles included cut out cardboard moustaches with the purchase of their then  new album – The Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.

• The Felt Moustache
  

  Top 10 most unusual facts about moustaches

It has been documented, researched and counted – by whom, no one wants to own up – that  the average man who wears a moustache touches it some 760 times or so in a 24 hour period. Considering that the average man, one would hope, sleeps for an average of 8 hours during this period, one can assume that this is quite a lot. Indeed.

• Longest Moustache in the World

The Guinness Book of World Records has a listing from July 1993, from a man (who obviously didn’t have a wife or not a very happy one in that case) whose moustache measured a bristling 133.4 inches long. Mr Kalyan Ramji Sian of Sundargarth in India was the proud holder of this record long beauty.

• Oldest Moustache

Historically the moustache has experienced various heights of popularity throughout the years, but the oldest documented moustache can be found in a portrait dating back to 300 BC.

• How Many Moustaches?

At last count, excluding the surge in numbers in October and November each year, there are some ten million men sporting a good old fashioned mo’ at any given time of the year in the US. 4.5 million are using a moustache wax!

Author bio: Korah Morrison, writer on College-Paper.org  – helping students achieve their academic goals.