Reply #26

About Hitler's little toothbrush moustache.

During WW1 both German and allied soldiers were issued with gas masks. Those with long, lush or upstanding mo's were instructed to trim them down to ensure the masks created a good, tight seal on the face; thus the toothbrush moustache was born.

The story goes that in the years between the wars many men on both sides retained the 'toothbrush' moustache as a badge of honour; they had served in the trenches.

This story is debunked in many places on the net with the reason that the toothbrush moustache was nothing more than a fashion of it's era. Fashions, however, have been known to emerge from a practical application such as sailor's bellbottom trousers and it seems quite feasible to me that the toothbrush moustache fashion did arise for this reason.