I have, in the past, been known for my creative winter facial hair. This winter’s facial hair enjoyed a bit of a jump start due to the halloween costume efforts.

It may have seemed like a very innocent goatee, not that unlike ones I have grown in the past. But, there was one key difference: the mustache.

You see, even though my facial hair efforts have enjoyed such creative manscaping as the “abe lincoln” or the “wolverine”, I have never enjoyed the pleasure of a so-called ‘lip sweater’.

Well, after last weekend, that all changed.

The initial plan for this winter’s facial hair endeavor was to stay clean shaven except for my signature soul patch, but to fully embrace the soul patch and see how ridiculously long I can grow it. Think about it, a soul patch to rival the length of the famous Lalas goatee…

A problem, however, has arisen. That problem is that although the moustache was initially a ‘lets see how creepy I can look for a week or so, and then shave it off’, it’s kinda growing on me (literally and figuratively).

Upon further self-reflection on these unexpected feelings, I think that it may be due to the fact that I’ve been surrounded by such epic upper lip facial hair recently.

Allow me to present some examples:
Bobby

Chris the Delivery Boy

Dave Zabriskie
*Alright, I know I’m not technically ‘around’ him lately, but I feel a certain connection to him and his flavor saver.

I also would like to point out that Rotten Rob has always been a point of facial hair inspiration to me, but unfortunately I didn’t have the effort to do any digging into his archives of blog posts to steal a picture, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

After pondering all of the above influences, I still felt as though I hadn’t gotten to the root of my attraction to this ‘dirty upper lip’.

Then it hit me.

There is one moustache that has not only been around for my entire life, but has also been the source of much inspiration and admiration to everyone who has come in contact with it and its owner.

That is the famous handlebar moustache of one Don G. Field, my grandfather.

Look at that thing. Even in the cropped, zoomed-in excuse for a picture that I have presented to you, it’s perfect shape and well-balanced volume strikes fear into the heart of lesser facial hair. Truly amazing.

What’s even more amazing is that in my 27 years of life, I don’t think I have ever seen it not waxed. I still, to this day, have no idea how he achieves that feat, but nonetheless, it is the truth.

I digress (although only slightly).

So, dear reader, I present the following debate for your consideration:
Do I stick to the original plan of growing out just the soul patch to an unholy length, or do I let the upper lip hair join the party?
Bonus question: If the answer to the above question is to keep the moustache, what sort of goal should I have for its general look and feel. Do i grow out the power stash, or do I go for the gold and attempt to grow it long enough to wax up a pathetic excuse for a handlebar by the time I see my grandfather at christmas?

Think about it: the purveyor of all things handlebar-esque and sandwichey with a true Handlebar Moustache. The prospect is mind blowing……

p.s. If anyone else wants some motivation for growing out a little something this month, apparently there is a ‘global initiative’ to grow out moustaches to raise awareness for prostate cancer. I’m not sure what the two have to do with each other, since they’re about as far from each other on the body as you can get, but either way, check out Movember if you’re at all interested.