Imagine, you are a man of fashion, living some time in the 1940s. As a man of fashion and some rank, it is always important that you maintain the proper look, a task which takes time and patience. One of the most important things you need to do is maintain your moustache - after all, a messy moustache will never succeed in making a good impression! You comb it to perfection each morning, but to ensure it is always perfect, you also keep a small moustache comb with you when you are travelling, for those necessary touch ups.
When I took this moustache comb to show the children they were highly amused by it, once they had worked out what it was for that is! They had never seen anything like this comb, other than for using with dolls, and were completely unable to come up with a use for it. It never occurred to them that the elaborate moustaches which were fashionable for so long might need a bit more maintenance than simply a rub with water. They thought the idea of carefully combing and shaping a moustache was hilarious, and simply couldn't imagine anyone taking the time to do so. After all, moustaches are not as common as they once were, though at the moment you see more men sporting moustaches, since it is 'movember' (click here to find out about movember fundraising for mens health issues). Those children whose fathers do have moustaches have 'never seen Dad brush or comb his moustache!'
Moustaches have been around for as long as humans and their predecessors have grown facial hair. In fact, the more important question is when did we start shaving and shaping our facial hair! Theoretically, moustaches could have been intentionally being grown and maintained as far back as 30,000 BC when flint razors first started to appear. Before then, moustaches would have probably been a normal part of life - after all, if you had no means of shaving, whatever grew on your face probably stayed there! The first picture of a man wearing a moustache is thought to be from about 300BC and is a picture of a Scythian horseman, though there are images of Egyptians with what may be pencil moustaches but no beard dating back to 2650BC.
In more recent times, moustaches have been worn by all types of men. Military men wore moustaches for many years almost as part of their uniform, and in fact in the 19th century men in the British Army were not allowed to shave their upper lip. In the military the thickness of the moustache often showed how high your rank was. Artists have also famously worn moustaches, and one artist, Salvador Dali even has a type of moustache named after him! Salvador Dali pinoneered the Dali moustache type, a very long, narrow type, and apparently used the tips of his moustache to paint with. Even a few women (who have too much testosterone) have been seen wearing moustaches! If you would like to see different types of moustaches, click here.