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The Fall of the Moustache

Messages
12,125
Location
East of Los Angeles
I can't speak for all of society, but in this part of California the demise of the mustache in the mid-1980s came about because of a phrase that wouldn't be coined until two decades later: "Porn 'stache". Mustaches were quite popular among male adult film actors of the mid- to late-70s and early-80s, and most of the men I knew who either suddenly shaved off their mustaches or added a beard or goatee cited that as the reason. "Too many people said I looked like a porn star." Of course, it really depended on the mustache, as most of those guys could barely grow anything that even remotely resembled one; the ones who could grow a thick, full mustache had nothing to worry about.
 
Messages
18,430
I can't speak for all of society, but in this part of California the demise of the mustache in the mid-1980s came about because of a phrase that wouldn't be coined until two decades later: "Porn 'stache". Mustaches were quite popular among male adult film actors of the mid- to late-70s and early-80s, and most of the men I knew who either suddenly shaved off their mustaches or added a beard or goatee cited that as the reason. "Too many people said I looked like a porn star." Of course, it really depended on the mustache, as most of those guys could barely grow anything that even remotely resembled one; the ones who could grow a thick, full mustache had nothing to worry about.
The porn star stache was nothing new. It was known as the Fu Manchu before porn became more "mainstream".
 
Messages
13,499
Location
Germany
I think, for Germany, Hulk Hogan did really his part in killing the mustache for a undefined period, here. And additional, movies with motorcycle-cops with mustache or Goose in "Top Gun" and all that. That's probably the reason, why many German find mustaches "pornish" or often "homosexual".
 
Messages
12,125
Location
East of Los Angeles
"Too many people said I looked like a porn star."

How would they know what a porn star looks like?
The porn star stache was nothing new. It was known as the Fu Manchu before porn became more "mainstream".
It was nothing new, but with cable television, VCRs, and "home video" becoming more commonplace in the early 1980s adult movies did indeed become more mainstream simply because people who would not want to be seen entering or exiting an "adult" movie theater suddenly had access to those movies in the relative privacy of their own homes. Some of the stigma associated with being an adult movie fan diminished, but there was still a difference between knowing what a porn star looked like and wanting to look like one. Again, this applies only to my personal observations here in southern California, so I can't say I'd have the same opinion if I had grown up in the midwest or somewhere on the east coast.

Now this is a stache...
It is impressive, but I wonder if it would be as impressive if he shaved the beard and revealed he had a "weak" chin; a thick, properly shaped beard can hide a number of "flaws". :D
 

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