# Not Hitler's Moustache! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373 "2026-03-11T17:34:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/1 "2026-03-11T17:34:35Z")
Hypothetical: Hitler stays clean-shaven from beginning to end. How popular do you think that little moustache would be today without all that baggage that used to hang from it? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/2 "2026-03-11T17:44:01Z")
Never ever would I think that looked good on a man(or woman for that matter) Especially blond. It looks like a landing strip to who knows what, Nope nope nope. (But that’s just me) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/3 "2026-03-11T17:46:04Z")
Charlie Chaplin had his fans too, you know ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/4 "2026-03-11T17:48:13Z")
As did Oliver Hardy. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/5 "2026-03-11T17:51:40Z")
I suppose many guys wore Chaplin moustaches. until Hitler wrecked that style for all time. Of all the other moustache styles common in the early 20th century, how many are still common today? Nearly none. Yeah, somebody somewhere wears those glorious Civil War era whiskers & 'staches, but damned near nobody in terms of headcount. Absent Hitler I think the toothbrush 'stache would have very few adherents today just because fashions change, and hairstyles seem to be especially slow to cycle back to popularity. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/6 "2026-03-11T19:32:23Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Charlie Chaplin had his fans too, you know Hitler stole the stach from Chaplin. FWIW, my grandfather, born in 1898, wore the Hitler stach his whole adult life, but he had adapted it before Hitler rose to power. And although he never was a nazi, he kept his beard that way until he died in 1981. Why, I don’t know, I was 13 when he died and never asked him about it. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/7 "2026-03-11T19:43:54Z")
I thought I read that the reason for the moustache was so that it was compatible with a WW1 gas mask. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/8 "2026-03-11T19:45:54Z")
If you look at photos of Hitler from his service during WWI and shortly after, he rather wears a handlebar stach. (sorry for posting pics of that horrible person) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Hitler_1921.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Hitler_1921.jpg) [![](https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/projects/hitler/hitlerpix/hitler1914photodetail1932versionBig.jpg) ](https://marcuse.faculty.history.ucsb.edu/projects/hitler/hitlerpix/hitler1914photodetail1932versionBig.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/9 "2026-03-11T20:25:25Z")
“Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks.” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/10 "2026-03-11T20:34:03Z")
Yeah, the way I remember my grandfather, that probably would have been his answer. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/11 "2026-03-11T20:56:31Z")
I would guess that, while there would be more wearers than today, it wouldn’t be very popular. There’s a lot of fads that seem never to have really come back, or at least that never caught on when brought back. Think about the soul patch, for instance. Having a similar little mouche under your nose instead of under your lower lip – what’s the point? I doubt it would ever come back and be popular. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/12 "2026-03-12T00:25:14Z")
Ron Mael sported one for most of the 1970s and '80s. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9JCUX1mrO4g/maxresdefault.jpg "Amateur Hour - Sparks | The Midnight Special") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JCUX1mrO4g) ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/13 "2026-03-13T00:59:51Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > There’s a lot of fads that seem never to have really come back, or at least that never caught on when brought back. For a while there was the “hipsters with handlebar mustaches” thing. While that was never mainstream, I do wonder if hipsters would have gone for that narrow mustache had it not become associated with Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/14 "2026-03-13T01:03:25Z")
I was going to post about Ron. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/15 "2026-03-13T01:08:58Z")
Judging by the number of YouTube videos it looks like Sparks had quite a few gigs and TV appearances in Germany during the 1990s. In all of them Ron has a skinny John Waters ‘stache. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-hitlers-moustache/1028373/16 "2026-03-13T01:25:44Z")
He switched to that thin stache and as far as I know, never went back to the Chaplin/Hitler version.