At the dawn of the twentieth century it had become "established hearsay" that facial hair was fertile breeding ground for infectious organisms, particularly tuberculosis. The stubble we may now take for granted was once under a volley of attacks from legislators and public health activists who feared that beards and moustaches were unhygienic and pathogen-laden health hazards.
Facial hair has since been exonerated, but in honor of No Shave November we delve into the history of the unjustly libeled moustache (or the facial hair formerly known as "capillary microbe-carriers") with this excerpt from Steven Cassedy’s forthcoming book, Connected:
For more from Connected: How Trains, Genes, Pineapples, Piano Keys, and a Few Disasters Transformed Americans at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century read the first chapter here or read the book's description on sup.org.
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