So my youngest son’s mustache has grown in. I keep dropping hints to my son that he should shave it, but he just wont take the hint!
I’m starting this thread to gauge other people’s opinion on the teenaged mustache. (Not my son in pic.)
So, do y’all hate it as much as I do? 
yes
Almost all things teenagers think are cool bother me. But, I suppose that’s the point.
He gets the hint, believe me. If you really want him to shave it, try praising it – or even better, imitating it.
Shaving wasn’t optional in my dad’s house. 
I grew a beard in college and dad wasn’t too happy when I came home for holidays. I kept it well into my thirties. Always neatly trimmed for work. It got some gray in it and had to go. Theres a point where a beard ages a guy by 10 years. Not cool when you’re approaching 40.
Nor was it in mine.
I never had an issue with shaving but I still remember being quite pissed at my parents for not letting me grow my hair out. So with that memory still burned into my head, I’m not going to force the issue with my son.
Unfair use of comparison photo detected. 
My teenager is strawberry blond on the head. And his mustache is white. Which is awesome, because I only have to see it when the sun hits it in a certain way.
Mustaches are usually just as awful on grown men.
My mother seemed obsessed with hair, head hair or facial hair, and that obsession continues into her 80s. She about had a stroke when the Beatles and their hair appeared on Ed Sullivan. She hounded me all thru high school to get my hair cut, even tho the style was long, straight, and parted in the middle. You can imagine how she reacted when my 49-y/o sister changed her hair from bright red to lime green to sunshine yellow to hot pink.
Anyway, after listening to that crap all my life, I came to the conclusion that hair is not worth fretting about. No matter how a kid cuts it, styles it, colors it, or adorns it, it can eventually grow out and be perfectly normal. Seems to me it’s a pretty harmless self-expression, even if I think it looks silly. And if it costs the kid a job opportunity, that’s called a life lesson.
I draw the line at hygiene, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be as understanding of a kid with an obscenity shaved into his/her hair, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s just hair. If the worst thing a boy does is sport a cheesy mustache, I think that’s pretty good.
It’s his body.
If it looks at all like the one in that photo, then absolutely yes, it must be undone. I’ve only seen one person effectively pull that thing off.
Interesting (to me) side-note, my twenty-one year old son recently shaved his sparsely grown ‘stache and goat’ off and I urged him not to do that again. It just did not look right, not at all. But I’m bearded as well, and really can’t stand the way I look clean-shaven. I guess it’s all about what you’re used to.
I save a lot of money on hair grooming…
Do not swat it and claim you thought it was a catapiller.
Or do what my parents did - take pictures with the intention of mocking me about it when I was older. That broke me of really wanting to do anything overly teenage-trendy; I’d seen pictures of my cousins and parents doing silly trendy stuff, and decided I didn’t want a bunch of pictures of me looking stupid with a mustache or long hair or whatever around.
Quoted for truth for all the parents and parents-to-be around here.
Granted, I think scraggly 'staches on teenagers look ugly as all shit, but then again, as I’m not in the habit of dating or sleeping with teenagers* I keep that opinion to myself (Except on this board, I guess.)
- Actually, I try to not be around them at all. They’re teenagers, ferchrissakes.
He might be proud of it. Boys he goes to school with might be competing with their “manliness”. I’m in agreement with those who think there are far worse things to be worried about, but if you truly want him to shave it, you need to convince him that the appearance and feel of a recently shaved stache is by far more masculine and attractive than a sparse, baby fine, teen wannabe stache.
I dislike the “soul patch” most of all. Goatee would be 2nd.
I don’t mind a mustache that is filled out and looks like a stach. Wispy bits of hair over the lip doesn’t work. imho
Tom Selleck wore a great stach. Just the right length and its filled out.
http://elliottghall.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tom-selleck.jpg
Goddess, do I ever remember those battles. Which probably explains why I grew it so long when they finally gave in. Nice thing about the Coast Guard, when I was in it, was mustaches and beards were permitted once you completed recruit training. We had to keep them trimmed, but that wasn’t an issue.
What I hate is the currently popular scruffy look, i.e. 5 day whisker growth. Sheesh, Don Johnson started that fad in the 80s… let it go, fer’ crissakes! Either grow it in or shave it off.
I think I’ll take my cane and shake it at the kids playing it the little playground behind the house now.
So long as it doesn’t make him resemble Justin Bieber I’d say let him keep it.
OTOH, if you really want him to shave it, you might remind him that regular trimming or shaving seems to make the hair grow back thicker and faster. If he keeps his lip regularly shaved for a year, then he ought to be able to grow a nice non-wispy 'stache;)
Santa! Is that an elfie?
Don’t be hatin’ on it Shakes - just ask your son the name of the menopausal woman he’s channelling.