3/1/2024 0 Comments Hitler stache in regsIf the moustache’s reputation suffered during the Depression, it certainly didn’t improve after World War II. He went on to say that your moustache might ‘help in getting a job as a “gigolo” or sheik, but there are practically no openings for them during a depression’. Graham, who published How to Get a Job During a Depression in 1932, gravely advised that you should ‘shave off that moustache if you’re looking for a job’. The Great Depression that followed the war was tough on a lot of things, moustaches included. Image credit: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain Lieutenant-General Nevil Macready before he ditched his mo As a result, Lieutenant-General Nevil Macready abolished the rule in 1916 and, apparently not being a fan of moustaches, promptly got rid of his own the very same day to set the right example. It didn’t hold up much longer, however, since gas masks didn’t work if fitted over facial hair, since they couldn’t gain purchase in order to seal properly. Whiskers if worn will be of moderate length’.Īt the outbreak of WWI in 1914, this prohibition was technically still in place. 1695 of the King’s Regulations stated, inter alia: ‘The chin and the under lip will be shaved, but not the upper lip. The hirsute antics of the Crimean War ( as discussed previously) were such that for many decades in its wake, beginning in 1860, moustaches became mandatory in the British Army. Among the myriad things shaped by WWI were the conventions surrounding the growth of facial hair. The Great War ushered in the modern age with all of its ever-evolving tech, its military conflicts, geopolitical forces, and, in a few cases, its menswear. The First World War was really the inciting incident of the twentieth century, much more so than the turning of calendar pages from December 1899 to January 1900 was in real terms. It was, broadly speaking, a boom time for all manner of facial hairstyles, whereas the success of the mo in more modern times has been somewhat more spotty, but no less intriguing as a social phenomenon. Earlier this week, I wrote about the history of the moustache spanning the early modern period to about the turn of the twentieth century. I’ll get to the story of Movember in a moment, but first, let’s look a bit further back. November has rolled around again which, for nigh on two decades now, has meant that the clarion call to let your mo grow has officially sounded.
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