No woman stands between Kevin Morse and his handlebar mustache, which is exactly why the Ball State University alumni decided to let the hair on his upper lip reign for a second year.
During Winter Break last year, Morse broke up with his girlfriend who "frowned on having a mustache." He realized he could let the mustache grow during the break and wear it after the New Year without having anyone tell him to shave it. This year, he's doing it all over again.
The ugly mustache became a marvel to many who knew Morse. So much so that it attracted more than $2,000 in donations to Riley Hospital for Children, This year, Morse hopes to raise $2,500. It appears that donations and attention may be the main things that the mustache attracts.
"That's what people are paying for: a weird, creepy look that will be going on for a couple months," Morse said.
When Morse, 24, initially grew his mustache out in 2004, he ran into friends who doubted he would let the mustache grow in fully. The doubts turned into a bet and the bet turned into more than $2,000 in donations.
Morse became devoted to maintaining his mustache and found other people on the Internet who grow mustaches for charity. Morse calls his "'Stache for Cash." Morse doesn't have any ties to Riley Hospital, but he said that the hospital helped many people at his school and community and recognized it should have help to continue what it does best.
Morse said he was not sure if Riley Hospital knew that $2,000 in donations resulted because of his mustache.
The baby-faced Morse always had trouble growing facial hair. His sideburns will never reach Elvis proportions, and the rest of his face grows in patches, he said. The students he teaches at Carmel High School can grow a beard more full than his own, he said, so he has a prepared excuse.
"Working with high school students who can grow a beard, it's nice to say you're just going to grow the mustache," he said.
Morse made up rules for the mustache to keep it fun.
The main part is not growing the beard.
"If I could grow a goatee, that would be a more normal look, but a young 24-year-old guy with a handlebar mustache or a very thin mustache is a weird, funny look," he said.
Shaving is not the only maintenance Morse performs on his handlebars. Once it grows full, he curls the sides of his mustache like Dudley Do Right or a Civil War era soldier.
"Students asked me, 'are you going to grow your Frenchy mustache back?'" he said.
The key ingredients: mustache wax and hair spray.
"When it was getting to that point last year, I was searching all over the place, and I was having a hard time finding it [mustache wax]," he said. He looked in beauty shops around Indianapolis and a lone CVS Pharmacy in Indianapolis stocked the wax.
The wax comes in a travel-sized toothpaste tube and costs about $3, he said. The curls began losing their form, so he turned to using cotton swabs and hair spray to maintain firmness.
Keeping a full mustache clean for 120 days can be difficult, Morse said.
"Mostly when I'm drinking, it gets in there," he said. "I'm constantly wiping it off.
"It's kinda gross when I blow my nose. I continually wipe, not that anything gets in there, but there could be," he said.
To avoid most incidents, he trims above the mouth, he said.
Morse's students enjoy his mustache as much as he does.
Kelsey Johnson, 15, finds it funny that her teacher is growing the mustache for charity, but likes the original idea.
"It makes him not look like a high school student," she said.
Eric Roth, 16, said the mustache fit his teacher's personality.
"He's seen a lot of the movies like 'Anchorman,' 'Office Space' and I think he watches 'Family Guy.' He quotes from them all the time," he said.
Morse is confident he will reach his goal of $2,500. As of Wednesday morning, he had raised $6.86. Donations come from all sorts of places, he said.
"I got $50 from a guy 15 minutes after I met him at a bar," he said.
To donate, supporters can either mail their donations to Morse or donate via Pay Pal. Donations are sent to his parent's house in Ft. Wayne because Morse does not want his students to know where he lives. Visit DN|Online for a link to Morse's Mustache Web site for 'stashe updates.
Originally, Morse wanted to grow the mustache for 100 days, but had to extend it to the end of April to accommodate a request.
"One of my friends is getting married at the end of April," he said. "Oddly enough, his fiancee is excited to have my mustache in the wedding."
For other information check out Kevin Morse's Mustache Web site:Mustache for Charity 2006
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