From the dawn of time, facial hair has been one of the main indicators that have differentiated men from women.

Although men have always had furry faces, lately one style of facial hair has become increasingly popular, both with men and women alike.

The mustache.

The mustache has an illustrious history.

The mustache first appeared on ancient Greek and Indian artwork as far back as 300 B.C.

The people of India and Asia have long been mustached, but the mustache first came into prominence in the western world during the 16th century with mustached greats like William Shakespeare and Oliver Cromwell.

At first the mustache was worn exclusively by the upper class and nobility.

Soon the mustache spread to the common folk, and after the prominence of the Victorian era mustaches and the ruggedness of Old Western mustaches, the mustache was here to stay.

Since then many famous, and infamous, men have worn the mustache as a symbol of pride, power and overall manliness.

The mustache has even found its way here to ULM.

Nick Fontaine, a toxicology student, has been growing his mustache since last May.

“I grew a beard for quite a while and I noticed that the mustache started outshining the beard, so I trimmed everything else and decided to let it go,” said Fontaine.

Since deciding to don the mustache, Fontaine has been the recipient of many glances and stares and an un-measurable amount of “I mustache you a question” jokes.

“I get so many reactions a day from it. It makes you much more recognizable, so you will have many people that you don’t remember come talk to you. People have a strange tendency to try to touch it,” Fontaine said.

While Fontaine mainly wears the mustache in order to salute men of the past and to bring back old feelings of manliness, he often gets many different reactions from different people.

It is important to know what the female opinion of the mustache is.

Ashlee Matthews, a junior English major, who is dating Landon Curry, also a ULM student and a mustached man, said she enjoys mustaches and other forms of facial hair.

“I don’t mind it. It makes him happy  and his happiness is important to me. I’ve grown up around guys with facial hair. My dad always had a mustache. My brother has facial hair. I like it,” Matthews said.

While some girls like Matthews love a rugged man with a mustache, there are others, like Holly Hendrix, a senior speech language pathology major, who hate the recent facial hair trend.

“My advice to anyone thinking of growing a mustache is don’t! Unless you’re Ryan Gosling of course, then you can do whatever you want,” said Hendrix.  “I’m so over the obsession with mustaches right now. I don’t get it…just stop.”

Some women love the look of a mustached man.

Other women prefer a clean shaven chap.