Something Different

It's been an interesting social experiment.

I've been growing a moustache for the last week and a half or so, and I've been intrigued to see the responses to the 'stache -- or, more accurately, the lack thereof. A moustache is not an extremely common form of facial hair for twenty-somethings in the world today -- and especially not in the Netherlands (where facial hair of any kind is quite rare). Furthermore, facial hair is also pretty unusual for me, as I almost always opt for the clean-shaven look... Yet oddly enough, the response to my moustache in the last week has been negligible. Almost non-existent.

I might have suspected that nobody even noticed -- except for the fact that those who know me better were immediately responsive to the moustache. Todd seemed concerned when he first noticed it last week, apparently fearing a flailing sense of fashion and mentioning the moustache like the way he would have politely muttered under his breath if I had left the fly of my pants open in public. Marco saw it on Sunday, and immediately started laughing and joking with me about it. Jason also noticed it immediately -- even though he only got to see it for about 30 seconds, on a low-resolution webcam image in a failed Skype conversation! So apparently, the moustache has been plenty noticeable. In addition to the comments from good friends, at times I've sensed that people are grinning at me extra wide, trying to catch a glimmer in my eye that would reveal if I was joking or not. But very few people have said anything about it...

Isn't that interesting? So be honest: if you've seen me in the last week or so, what were your thoughts about the moustache? Why did you or didn't you say something about it?

For the record... the moustache is gone now. I shaved it off this morning, just after taking the photographs above. I had just been taking advantage of the opportunity to grow out some facial hair in the absence of my wife (who is not a big fan of the prickles). The beard got too itchy, so I shaved it off. But since I was taking some vacation time this week and basically hanging out around home -- not feeling socially obligated to make a good impression on strangers out in the city -- I thought it would be fun to try hold onto the moustache for a bit longer. And, like I said, it's been an interesting social experiment.