Why write an article about fascist facial hair? I dunno? You tell me. Well, to be honest, this subject is something I’ve pondered about for a while. Why did Hitler decide on that type of moustache, and had anyone worn it before or since? It’s got to be the only type of hairstyle that immediately brings to mind a specific ideology. Maybe you don’t care, but you should. Facial hair is important. Especially in the winter months when it’s nippy.
Hitler’s specific style, also called the toothbrush moustache, 1/3 moustache, philtrum moustache, the postage stamp or the soul moustache, started it’s life in the US of A. Chaplin and Oliver Hardy famously sported the comedy facial hair style.
So in the early 1900’s it seems that the moustache was kind of a joke thing more than anything. Oh how the feelings towards it have changed. Chaplin apparently used the look because it had a “comical appearance and was small enough so as not to hide his expression.”
In the late 1800’s the style migrated to Germany via American visitors. Previously they were all about the curly Kaiser moustache. Initially there was some dissent by the German females that the Kaiser was being usurped by the 1/3 moustache but German folk hero Hans Koeppen wore the style in the famous 1908 New York to Paris Race and it’s popularity was cemented in German history.
Rare pictures of Hitler with a different shaped tash on the next page…
☛ Next: Sick Chirpse Guide To Beards & Moustaches
