I had to laugh a little bit on Sunday. When church was over, the young lady that works with the youth asked me why I decided to grow a moustache as she thought it made me ‘look a little pervy’.

We have all heard the term pornstache, it wasn’t exactly the area I was going for. But, in a small way it was and let me explain. It think for men, facial hair goes through trends. I saw one article that said the optimum five o’clock shadow was 10 days. I feel like the trend is some form of beard. There is the hipster/lumberjack type and then there is the playboy type.

We have had the goatee trend 15 or twenty years ago. Of course, clean shaven is always classic. I often go clean shaven when I have to do work in food plants so I don’t have to wear a beard net or additional face covering. But, the mustache is passé. To me, it is a counter culture statement. It says I know what the trends are and I am going to go contrary to them.

For a long time, I resisted this particular facial hair for the simple reason that my dad has had a moustache for many years. Quite simply I didn’t want to follow in his likeness. However, I have started changing my opinion and it has to do with how I would like to be perceived. It really has to do with the circles that you run around in.

Probably, for a college age lady, moustaches on peers bring up the creep factor when the trend is clearly bears or clean shaven. I see a lot of Indians with only moustaches, that is a cultural appearance. My angle is more mature cowboy; think Sam Elliot or Shaun Johnston.

I suppose that my argument is that context is important. What if I said, “Your skin looks a little dark. Are you sure that you are not about to commit a crime?” Or, “Are you sure you work for a living?” I think we all know those statements are not socially acceptable. It is our experiences or nurturing that form our opinions regardless of right or wrong.

End Your Programming Routine: It is just hair. It can be removed or changed. I understand the sentiment, but you tell me? Is this more pornstache or distinguished western? I definitely won’t have it forever, I get tired of the look and the grooming. For now, it is a tiny bit fun to provoke reaction.