Does Every Man Look Better With a Mustache?

Photographs: Getty Images; Collage: Gabe Conte

Movember, when many men grow mustaches to raise money and awareness of men’s health issues, is great. However, come December first, the participant almost always shaves off the evidence of their hard work. Too often, men are entering the new year not as evolved and newly-coiffed style icons, but exactly as they were before: hairless, shivering, and devoid of the one simple addition that makes every man look better. Yes, a mustache.

This might be a controversial statement, and I’ll admit there are a few caveats. There are those who are not blessed with a fruitful enough harvest on their upper lip to make the endeavor worthwhile, and I think it’s good—courageous, even—to accept one’s own limitations and bow out. For those, however, who can sprout a full-bodied ‘stache underneath their noses, why, may I ask, wouldn’t you?

Too often, men in my friend group have treated their mustaches like a little joke, trotting them out at a party or two before losing their nerve and shaving the next day. I wish in these moments I could shake them by their (too often, nonexistent) lapels with one hand and throw their razors into the Hudson with the other. Because once the mustache has been unveiled, it’s hard to watch these men go crawling back to the safety of their baby faces.

(You may ask: What about beards? As much as I love mustaches, I for one, am staunchly anti-beard. If I wanted to kiss the pickup broom on a New York City street sweeper, I would.)

A man with a mustache is a man with a powerful sense of self. Check out these male celebrities whose mustachioed faces we’ve contrasted with their regular ones and see if you don’t agree.

Originally Appeared on GQ