Why Facial Hair Rocks

5 Reasons why Facial Hair is Awesome
1) There is a bond between ALL men with facial hair
2) It's a great ice breaker
3) It really does keep your face warm (I didn't know this was true until I shaved my mustache after 3 months. My upper lip was cold all day.)
4) It's timeless
5) Hipsters love it



One of the greatest things about facial hair is the brotherhood of other facial hair partakers. There’s nothing quite like looking at another dude and getting and/or giving a nod of approval about the hair that is growing on each other's faces. That’s usually the base level amount of acknowledgement you receive from a fellow facial hairsman. Can I make that a word? Facial hairsman. Okay, thanks. Oftentimes, these nods of approval turn in to conversations. I have started more conversations around my mustache than I can count. My mustache also gives me mad street cred. Facial hair breaks the ice in any social situation. If you don't have anything to talk about, you can always say, "hey let's talk about that hair you have on your face. Why is it there? Let me tell you about the time I had a mustache. I wish I could grow one, but (insert poor excuse here, usually involving women)"

There are certain groups of people who highly embrace facial hair, and mustaches in particular. One of these groups of people I have come to know, are referred to as hipsters. Some may say that writing about them, makes the writer lose all hipsterness. This is a chance I'm willing to take. For those of you who don't quite know what a hipster is, I would explain them as the following: one who cares what they look like, but attempts to make it look like they don't care at all. I often attend live shows at a place in LA that is the hipster capital of the world, and going here without any facial hair is social suicide. The roles are reversed in this other world, and it is amazing. It gives me hope of a world where facial hair can be embraced to it's full potential.

One of the factors that makes the brotherhood so tight, is the skepticism received from the opposite sex. Every guy understands what it’s like to attempt to grow facial hair, but then get put down by a significant other, a caring mother, or friends that highly dislike facial hair and are not ashamed to voice their stance. When guys encounter girls like this, there has to be an excuse for their sudden change in appearance. This is when people run in to you and say, "hey, how come you have that mustache now? It looks bad, but you obviously didn’t shave it for a reason". I am currently writing this blog with hair warming my upper lip, but I will soon have to shave it off because the Laker’s season ended. I decided to grow a mustache for the Laker’s playoff run (tear…) It’s been good for me to have a fallback excuse for why I have a mustache when I run in to the skeptics in my life. Joining the brotherhood for a few more weeks has been everything I remembered it to be. Sadly, I will be a normal guy again, losing about four years in appearance, my pass in to the brotherhood, hipsters approval, and individualilty.

Next time you see a man with facial hair, know his struggles, and embrace the man behind the facial hair. He's not just a man with a mustache.
-Nate