history

Shaving with stone razors was technologically possible from Neolithic times but the oldest portrait showing a shaved man with a mustache is a Scythian horseman from 300 BC.
In more modern history, moustaches have been worn by military men. The number of nations, regiments and ranks were equalled only by the number of styles and variations. Generally, the younger men and lower ranks wore the smaller and less elaborate moustaches. As a man advanced in rank, his moustache would become thicker and bushier, until he was permitted to wear a full beard. This is generally why the Amish, a pacifist sect, wear full beards, but not moustaches.[citation needed] For a glimpse into this colourful and noble past, refer to the works of famous military artists.

In Western cultures women generally remove facial hair, though many are capable of growing it and have done so, usually in the form of thin moustaches. The artist Frida Kahlo famously depicted herself with both a moustache and a unibrow. This tradition is followed by some contemporary women in the arts. An English moustache was formerly used in melodramas, movies and comic books as a shorthand indication of villainy. Snidely Whiplash, for example, was characterized by his moustache and his cape. It should be noted that stock character 1920s male attire is generally a top hat, a handlebar moustache, and a monocle.