From the Adventure of the Naval Treaty [NAVA] to The Red Circle [REDC], and there's no good reason not to think all other canonical points from prior to post, Watson famously is a mustachioed gentleman. To say the ::: very ::: least, he likely sported the look for much of his adult life. His boyhood friend, a Percy Phelps, made reference to it in NAVA with, "I should never have known you under that moustache." Which tells us that boy Watson had not yet grown it out--although most definitely wished to.
In REDC (near the opposite end of the canon) Holmes notes, "Why, Watson, even your modest moustache would have been singed." Modest, near as I can see, acts as the lone written mention of size in regards to the good doctor's lip-brow. As confirmed in The Retired Colourman, Watson is quite canonically sexy and a smallish dapper soup-straining appendage can be quite the debonaire accouterment. Although there he was far more intrigued by walls than the fairer sex. Nevertheless.
It would seem then, again through the term modest, that the dashing Watson sported what is known as a natural style of 'stache. This is as opposed to the types that require greater length and thus to be waxed; such as those with 'handles,' be it for handlebars or an English. Natural mustaches tend to simply be combed downward toward the lip or kept close-cropped. More on that in a bit. For instance, my own failed English (handles straight not curled) became a Chevron because I don't like to preen and have coarse hair that requires much preening. Again, more later.
[Also, I realized I'd look patently preposterous as the goal came into view.]
Before that bracketed sentiment, I vaguely specified 'later.' Now, let's examine mustaches as a whole at the time of the late Victorian-early Edwardian eras and then how Watson's Philtrum koozie compared to its stiff (upper-lip British) competition. Firstly, it was no rarity, particularly since he was a serviceman. Between the years 1860-1916, the British Army did not simply suggest mustaches be grown--they in fact required it. Unless one was not able to grow one. God help that probably constantly ribbed poor fellow who could not.
The styles soon grew to wild proportions of flamboyantly displayed virility. Stuff got hairy. No chin hair was ever accepted during that time from what I could tell but the mandated zones of follicular activity seemed to have pushed past the boundaries of decency. This replete with whiskers, or sideburns. That is until 1906 when all that was apparently reigned in by The King's Regulations which stated those whiskers should be tidy and that mustaches shall be pulled back into the realm of sane semblance. Shortly afterward as WWI broke out, things got way pulled back so that gasmasks would fit more effectively.
Nevertheless, much of this seems to scan as the military allowing an overwhelming social trend, using it in such a way as to make its men look fierce (as was a timely line of logic then), and finally regulating the heck out of it by diminishing measures. Although I am no expert here and this is vastly for entertainment purposes only, dammit. I do know by the time 1916 came around, popular support for mustaches was waning significantly.
Looking outside of the services, things remained at least as fuzzy and/or furry all along. The streets of London were loaded with handlebars of all sorts and walruses to boot. The less said about the whiskers, the better. Beards were tremendously in vogue as well. It was truly the golden age of facial hair. Today's craze has nothing on that hirsute halcyon time. As a perhaps curious aside, the hair on the head stayed relatively tame and short throughout--a thing we see again now.
All that said and digressing back to Watson, a civil modest approach spoke volumes to his restrained personality. Also, I would reckon it was in the military that Watson's childhood dream of donning a mustache came true.
Moving abruptly forward in time to the present, the mustache has followed the beard back into style. Really, though, the beard followed Tom Selleck (and probably your 1970-80s father and uncles) back in, and now the mustache is again somewhat en fuego. This time in the handlebar wearing hipsters and the more macho yet cheeky sect of Superman and the two Rons (Burgundy and Swanson.) I have previously* discussed handlebars. For this article, I have titularly promised a look at the natural styles.
So let's delve at long last into that.
The Chevron is the most natural of styles. The hair is grown from above the bottom of the nose (if yours grows there) to down-over the top lip, but not into the mouth. Although if you do grow into and then past the mouth, you have yourself a Walrus. (A real mind-bender is to realize a walrus can be waxed into a handlebar.) The sides should extend roughly a quarter of an inch beyond the corners of your lips. All this makes for varying lengths of wide-bold statements.
Lesser-bold and more of a pain to up-keep is the Lampshade. but it is still the most robust of the pyramidal styles. Here, the hair is not allowed to extend beyond the corners of the mouth, nor is it allowed to creep up to the lowest part of your nose. It is also trimmed into a, well, lampshade shape. It also does not pass the upper-lip line. By far, this is less common than the easy-breezy laid-back man's man Chevron.
Another less common option is the Paintbrush which is either a thin (top-to-bottom) Chevron, or a bushy pencil-thin mustache. Kind of a 'hybrid,' a word which conjures up the JFK musing of "Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." Meaning it doesn't so much work overly well. But in a way, many a splendid mustache doesn't work well at all. It's one of life's greatest mysteries.
So what hair would I pin on lady-killer Watson's upper-lip? Well, I've already said that there is but one written mention of size, that being 'modest,' in all of canon. But it is my opinion that the accompanying original illustrations fall under the auspices of canon, as well. That stated, according to Paget's pics, I'd say a Chevron with (at times a varying) bit of a natural upwardness to its ends. Richard Gutschmidt seems to add some girth and droopier ends. Also there is a thick and closer to the corners of the lip FH Townsend entry. Frank Wiles seemed on-par with Paget.
Then, or more correctly first, there was DH Friston's Watson who apparently bore the fullest mustache (although there's Frederic Dorr Steele) of the given lot. Others have drawn Watson but I suddenly have a fleeting interest in brevity. It's all a bit hard to pin-point and mustaches are changeable week-to-week. But according to my headcanon, it's something pyramidical. Although again, if I were to think through a historical lens, the illustrations would ring true. Which really throws light on how marvelous the mustaches were back then, to have thought that thing modest.
*The Heavy Mustache of Leonardo (and a Limerick in Ode to the Mustache Cup) | Also All About the Handlebar
Online sources for this article include: I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, The Vintage News, and Wikisource.
Moving abruptly forward in time to the present, the mustache has followed the beard back into style. Really, though, the beard followed Tom Selleck (and probably your 1970-80s father and uncles) back in, and now the mustache is again somewhat en fuego. This time in the handlebar wearing hipsters and the more macho yet cheeky sect of Superman and the two Rons (Burgundy and Swanson.) I have previously* discussed handlebars. For this article, I have titularly promised a look at the natural styles.
So let's delve at long last into that.
The Chevron is the most natural of styles. The hair is grown from above the bottom of the nose (if yours grows there) to down-over the top lip, but not into the mouth. Although if you do grow into and then past the mouth, you have yourself a Walrus. (A real mind-bender is to realize a walrus can be waxed into a handlebar.) The sides should extend roughly a quarter of an inch beyond the corners of your lips. All this makes for varying lengths of wide-bold statements.
Lesser-bold and more of a pain to up-keep is the Lampshade. but it is still the most robust of the pyramidal styles. Here, the hair is not allowed to extend beyond the corners of the mouth, nor is it allowed to creep up to the lowest part of your nose. It is also trimmed into a, well, lampshade shape. It also does not pass the upper-lip line. By far, this is less common than the easy-breezy laid-back man's man Chevron.
Another less common option is the Paintbrush which is either a thin (top-to-bottom) Chevron, or a bushy pencil-thin mustache. Kind of a 'hybrid,' a word which conjures up the JFK musing of "Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm." Meaning it doesn't so much work overly well. But in a way, many a splendid mustache doesn't work well at all. It's one of life's greatest mysteries.
So what hair would I pin on lady-killer Watson's upper-lip? Well, I've already said that there is but one written mention of size, that being 'modest,' in all of canon. But it is my opinion that the accompanying original illustrations fall under the auspices of canon, as well. That stated, according to Paget's pics, I'd say a Chevron with (at times a varying) bit of a natural upwardness to its ends. Richard Gutschmidt seems to add some girth and droopier ends. Also there is a thick and closer to the corners of the lip FH Townsend entry. Frank Wiles seemed on-par with Paget.
Then, or more correctly first, there was DH Friston's Watson who apparently bore the fullest mustache (although there's Frederic Dorr Steele) of the given lot. Others have drawn Watson but I suddenly have a fleeting interest in brevity. It's all a bit hard to pin-point and mustaches are changeable week-to-week. But according to my headcanon, it's something pyramidical. Although again, if I were to think through a historical lens, the illustrations would ring true. Which really throws light on how marvelous the mustaches were back then, to have thought that thing modest.
::: very :::
Online sources for this article include: I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere, The Vintage News, and Wikisource.