Two things prompted this follicular focus.

Firstly, it’s Movember, that time of year when normally clean-shaven men choose to sprout the most glorious moustaches or, in some cases, sparse little spikes. It’s all done in the spirit of fun but for a good cause, drawing attention to men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and male mental health.

Image: MissionalWear.com

Secondly, SBS TV’s recently concluded series “Living with the Amish” led to the question of why Amish men curiously sport a beard but not a moustache. The answer, apparently, harks back to a time in US history when having elaborate moustaches was common among those in the military. The Amish, being pacifists, shaved their moustaches in order to avoid any association with those who waged war.

Mystery explained.

Yet the bigger mystery remains (one woman’s perspective, at least) as to what prompts a man to grow facial hair at all.

Charles Spurgeon, notably, would be among the first to defend pogonotrophy (the growing of facial hair). Spurgeon is quoted as saying that “Growing a beard is a habit most natural, scriptural, manly and beneficial.” He’s in good company, if you think Ezra (Ezra 9:3), Aaron (Ps 133:2) and Jesus (Isa 50:6).

Religion and beards have gone hand-in-hand for a long time. Let’s not forget almost every image you’ve seen of Hindu ascetics, or media reports on religious communities in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. In the Sikh religion, growing a beard (kesh) is actually one of the 5Ks, the outward articles of a Sikh’s faith. Click here to read more on what different religions think about facial hair – importantly, over the ebb and flow of time.

Over the centuries, a man’s facial hair has imbued on him connotations of contemplativeness, wisdom, courage, artistry as well as both holiness and rakishness. Think Plato, Abraham Lincoln, Richard the Lion Heart, Shakespeare, Francis of Assisi and Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean.

Of course, on the flip side, there’s Hitler, Stalin, Genghiz Khan and Vlad the Impaler.

When determining the appropriateness of facial hair, style is surely one of the great dictators. Askmen.com says “there’s a fine line between what is considered in and out of style in terms of facial hair. Any style is acceptable as long as it suits a man’s face and his personality.”

Amen.

So it’s hard to put a finger, it seems, on whether facial hair on a man is a good thing or a bad thing.

One thing’s for certain though.

If in November the sight of a mo – be it a walrus, handlebar, horseshoe, toothbrush, dali or pancho villa – will remind even one man you know to have regular prostate checks and stay in good health, that’s a very good thing indeed.