Charles Thomas

When Charles Thomas tweeted the other day that he’d lost his mustache in a “weekend shaving mishap,” I’ll admit I was skeptical.

I’ve always known the dapper ABC 7 political reporter to be meticulous about his appearance, so my journalistic instincts — to say nothing of the public’s right to know — demanded full disclosure.

“Actually, Robert, this was a shaving mishap,” Thomas assured me Wednesday. “In the past two weeks, I’ve had at least a dozen guys — all past or current mustache-wearers — recall similar trauma.”

OK, so what really happened? Here, in Thomas’ own words, is the rest of story:

Charles Thomas (with mustache)

“During a previous use of my electric beard and mustache trimmer, I detached the plastic 'guard’ that has always ensured that I didn’t cut the ’stache too low. In a fog while getting ready for a November 30th night out with my wife, I forgot to re-attach the plastic and cut off most of one side of my 40-year-old friend. When I cut off an equal section of the other side, the man in the mirror vaguely resembled Adolf Hitler.

"The Nazi dictator look was not an option, so I cut off what was left and used a razor on the stubble.

“Now that it’s gone, I like the freedom. In recent years, I’ve had to color the mustache weekly just to maintain the ‘salt-and-pepper’ look. And I like the comments from some folks who say clean-shaven makes me look younger. At my age, who wouldn’t like that?"

So what's the future spin, Charles? “The decision for now is not to grow it back.”