Lawrence.com

March. Mustache. Madness. Nobody knows precisely how the craze blew into Lawrence, or when.

What's known is that in the hazy recent past, in this circle or that, hair-thick and thin, coarse and fuzzy, black, brown, red and blond-has been sprouting on upper lips at bewildering rates in the month of St. Patrick.

And in 2008, for the first time ever in this fair city, March Mustache Madness goes above ground, culminating in a March 31 mustache party at The Bottleneck.

"The point is to bring a new-found love and understanding for upper-lip facial hair," says John Momberg, a currently mustachioed man who's part of the group moving the celebration to the Bottleneck after years of house parties and hassle from the fuzz.

Various rules of March Mustache Madness exist. There's the college basketball NCAA Tournament version: Begin growing on Selection Sunday and shave when KU, or your team of choice, loses. Momberg and crew participate in the month-long version: Start on March 1 (they permit a head start; not everyone does), and keep it through March 31.

Like a dab of shaving gel found behind the ear, the madness has spread to crevices and nooks throughout the nation. In Rochester, N.Y., students in the University of Rochester Department of Computer Science wrote March Mustache Madness haikus on their wiki site. Michael Spear wrote:

Mustache on my face
Why? Why not! It's March, and so
I wear a mustache

A group in Milwaukee holds the annual event to raise money for charity. They call it a "'Temporary Cultural Movement for the Benefit of Charity' - or TCMBC for short," and say on their website, mustachemarch.com, "Our goal is threefold. Revive a once-glorious grooming practice, humiliate ourselves in the process, and raise some cash for a worthy cause. Next, we bring back the cape."

While the Lawrence 'stache movement has yet to have a website or reach TCMBC status, its goal is no less worthy.

"It's just a reason to have a fucking party and just be stupid," Momberg says.

There are no winners, except for everyone, and no losers but for those who fail to participate. And plenty of ladies have gotten involved, despite the obvious disadvantage presented for most.

Ashley Tippin, who has participated for a few years running, inspired by her father's longtime fat 'stache, says she likes to mix up her style, making mustaches out of paper, drawing them with eyeliner or Sharpie, or buying fakes at Fun and Games. Sometimes she goes with a different mustache every day of the week.

"It's actually kind of better for the girls because we can change it up a little bit easier and celebrate the myriad of mustaches, because they're all removable," she says.

As for the dudes, they're stuck with what they can sprout. Mike Tiffany is sporting a reddish handlebar mustache this year. He thinks he might keep it past March.

"I think people are probably more friendly to people with mustaches," he says. "It's almost comical. You never really see a guy who's taking himself all that seriously with a handlebar mustache."

Andrew P. Witt is attempting to pull off a difficult maneuver: a Rollie Fingers-style handlebar with curls on the ends big enough to stick your finger through.

"At the moment, it's fledgling," he says, "but hopefully in the next two weeks it'll fill out a little bit."

It's not too late, reader. What kind of mustache will you sport?

"You get some snickers, but I think you just have to represent," Witt says. "You just have to have the confidence of the mustache." »

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