You're listening to Life Kit from NPR.

Hey, it's Mariel.

Brett McKay has an impressive mustache.

It looks like the head of a broom, black, maybe a little salt and pepper, and to my eye, an indispensable companion to his eyebrows.

He first grew it out for Movember in 2009. That's the annual campaign in November, where

folks sport mustaches to raise awareness and money for men's health. I didn't think I was going to

keep it, but then at the end of Movember was like, you know what, I actually look pretty good in this.

And my wife was like, I would, I'm really surprised by this, but I also think you look good in it too. Brett is the writer of a blog and the host of a podcast called The Art of Manliness. So of course I had to ask, what does manliness mean to him? He said he studied classical literature in college, things like the Iliad and the writings of Cicero, and that word, manliness meant something different then than it

often does today. I think today we have this sort of cartoonish idea of what manliness is.

It's this big burly guy who likes to eat meat and lift weights. But for ancient Greeks and ancient Romans,

and you can see this all the way up through the 19th century and the West,

to be manly meant the development of certain virtues

like prudence and courage and strength.

And so it's about becoming a virtuous all around solid dude.

And I wanted to bring that idea back that manliness could be something that's

positive and affirming.

The art of manliness actually reminds me a lot of life kit.

Brett interviews experts on

different topics, including health, but the show is made specifically for men. And they give tips on

all sorts of topics, including growing facial hair. One is don't waste your money on beard serums or

vitamins that promise increased beard growth. They're probably not going to do it.

A lot of facial hair just comes down to genetics.

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