At what point did the mustache go from being essential to becoming a victim?

Isabel Ibanez

Nothing as light as a mustache has never been so heavy. A few hairs on the mouth become the trademark of the house. If a man – what to say about a woman – wears a mustache, it will surely be the first characteristic that we use to define him. A guy with a mustache. In any case, you don't see many nowadays, at least without accompanying it with some beard. Because it is not fashionable, like this last one. Dani Juan, from La Barbería del Norte, knows this well, a Sevillian living in Bilbao who is an expert in fixing the hair on the face to give it meaning. He himself has a mustache... accompanied by a long beard.

"I would say that the mustache is a victim," says the expert. He is very complex to wear, mainly because of the clichés that are attached to him and because, automatically, we link them to certain proper names: Chaplin's mustache, which is the same as Hitler's, Cantinflas, Freddie Mercury's, Dalí... » . It is evident that not everyone dares to let it go, says Dani Juan, not even in November, when the 'Movember' is organized – contraction of 'mustache', mustache in English, and 'november', the name of said month– , an annual event in which many men grow this facial hair with the aim of raising awareness and funds for diseases such as prostate cancer. “But they go out on the street and feel a bit ridiculous, with the impression that people are looking at them and laughing. Although I, as a professional, may believe that this person looks great with only the mustache, he will look in the mirror and smile ». Needless to say, it is not in fashion. “Until a few celebrities, soccer players, for example, put it on, it will not be possible. The first brave are needed.

And look, the mustache offers possibilities... In the middle of the 19th century, someone thought that joining the sideburns with the mustache would be a good idea, similar to wearing a beard without it, a la Abraham Lincoln, two truly difficult examples of find nowadays. It was also the time of the 'walrus' mustache –or 'Walrus', which sounds better in English–, dense and with long hair, like that of Friedrich Nietzsche. In the early 20th century, mustaches were bushy and pointed up, like strongmen in the circus, and the 1920s and '30s were for pencil-thin moustaches, like those of Clark Gable, Gilbert Roland, or Errol Flynn, models of a conquering and irresistible man, since it is a fact that this appendage has always been linked to masculinity and virility. In a completely different reality, there was Pancho Villa and his revolutionary mustache, later adopted although with a beard by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.

The Second World War gave us one of the most hated mustaches in history along with Stalin's (a mixture of 'walrus' and 'handlebar', that is, with the tips slightly upwards): Hitler's 'toothbrush' . Because who would dare to wear something like that? Impossible to wear if it is not with a great load of irony or sarcasm, as Iñaki Fernández did in the 80s, singer of the Movida Glutamato Ye-yé group, who wore that accessory on his lip and not happy with it, he underlined it with a fringe let's say very Adolf. Or like Chaplin, especially in 'The Great Dictator'. Franco, Pinochet, De Gaulle, Saddam Hussein...

in horseshoe

In the 70s the 'biker' style would arrive, like that of the wrestler Hulk Hogan, letting it grow downwards giving it the shape of a horseshoe, an image also closely linked to the world of rock. Freddie Mercury in the 80s would make his. Special mention deserve those of Dalí and Groucho Marx, who was painted. And the 21st century is not exactly one of mustaches. The beard of the 'hipsters' has taken center stage, and mustaches look accompanied by hair on the cheeks and chin arranged in different ways. The possibilities are many, in fact we are talking about "men's makeup", says the barber.

«If you look – he adds – in many cases we are talking about very powerful people, authentic authorities both in politics and in other disciplines. And also very linked to very past times. I am talking about important people who needed to express their authority, give an image of toughness, people with power who needed to differentiate themselves. In fact, the historical review is full of examples of leaders, with one exception: in the United States, anyone who wants to become president knows that he must shave well, precisely in contrast to all those who have been his staunchest enemies: Hitler, Stalin , Castro, Hussein... The newspaper 'The New York Times' already said it in an article from 2004, when in that country they were facing elections in which George W. Bush emerged victorious, repeating his position. There hasn't been a mustachioed man sitting in the White House for a century now; the last was Republican William Howard Taft, who ruled from 1909 to 1913.

Thus, being closely linked to authority is something that can stop you from betting on a mustache. As when talking about the image of the police or civil guard, there is the coup plotter Antonio Tejero. It must be remembered that in many armies they were forced to wear it, thinner for the troops and thicker and larger as they climbed in rank. On the other hand, there are also those who link the mustache to the homosexual man, especially due to the influence of Freddie Mercury. «We are talking about clichés, prejudices, preconceived ideas – Dani Juan warns–. The mustache seems to enhance masculine features and in his case he was homosexual, but this has nothing to do with it, many homosexuals are very masculine. And then there is the fact that these, perhaps because of the repression they have traditionally experienced, now that they can be more open to all fashions, to wear a mustache too ».

cover defects

Sometimes it is used to cover certain defects, they say that Hitler tried to hide a deformity in his upper lip in this way, although they also affirm that it was to emulate a creator of Nazi ideology, Gottfried Feder, or even to be fashionable at that time. Who knows for what reason José María Aznar left it to him, but it is a fact that more than one got a scare when the PP politician appeared without him, as usually happens when a man shaves his beard, although in his case the distance between the nose and the mouth that we discover with the uncovering does not exactly play in its favor.

«Man, if you are very handsome, then you wear it and that's it, you can wear whatever you want because it doesn't matter, everything looks good on you. Of course, all mustaches grant a status due to their connection with certain members of society. That is why we could say that he is a victim, too associated with laughter and certain characters. You wear a mustache and you always have to hear 'you look like this or that', Cantinflas, Charlot, Dalí, Mercury... Naming things is always problematic and harmful in this case. Something that does not happen, or to a much lesser extent, with hairstyles or beards. He adds, on the other hand, that in discarding it, the fact that it requires a lot of time, "a lot of care to wear it well and that it does not look dirty or disheveled, maintain the appropriate shape and length, has a lot of weight."

Dani Juan says that his own father had to grow a mustache almost out of obligation, since having him at only 15 years old saw the need to give a more responsible image, to have more authority, to be more adult. He ensures that each one has the right type of mustache, "depending on the shape of the face, the amount of hair you have, the personality and the image you want to convey... Although you should not only see the mustache or a beard, but a set, with hair, framed throughout the body. But one thing is certain: You can't choose it, both the mustache and the beard choose you.