Yankees players use the mustache exception to their restrictive facial-hair policy to break out of slumps, slugger Luke Voit reveals

• The Yankees are known for not allowing players to grow facial hair.
• Mustaches, however, are permitted as an exception.
• First baseman Luke Voit said his teammates grow mustaches when trying to break out of slumps.

The New York Yankees have an infamous grooming policy: Players are forbidden from growing their hair or facial hair out.

Mustaches, however, are the lone exception. Past players like Don Mattingly, Reggie Jackson, and Thurmon Munson all boasted upper-lip hair in their pinstripes.

But these days, the Yankees' mustaches have additional significance, according to first baseman Luke Voit. Voit told Insider that his teammates use mustaches as a superstitious way to to break out of slumps and find a distraction.

"That's always something that can turn around a slump or a tough spot and get the boys going, especially when you see some of the ugly mustaches these guys grow," Voit said. "It's a superstition thing, and it's just something to get our minds off when things are going bad. Just to poke fun at some terrible facial hair."

The mustache superstition dates back to the 2015 season, when seven Yankees players grew mustaches after a 3-6 start to the season, then went on to win 18 of their next 24 games. The group's mustaches disappeared, however, as the team went on a 1-10 skid in late May.

Brett Gardner, the team's outfielder, is the only player remaining on the roster from that year. He's also the one who ignited the trend when he grew the team's first mustache in 2015. At the time, Gardner said the mustaches served as a visible reminder to his teammates that everybody was 'all in,' according to The New York Post.

"I've seen pictures and they're terrible," Voit said of the 2015 mustaches. "I think my wife would kill me if I tried to grow one. I'd have to do it on a long road trip when she's not there."

It's not surprising, then, that Voit is currently promoting a razor: Schick Hydro's Hydro Stubble Eraser.

Voit said some of his Yankees teammates tried to bring the mustache mojo back last season, when the team hit the skids with a 5-15 run from August into September, but to no avail. Voit didn't take part in the experiment.

"We tried to do that last year, but we were in a rough patch and it kept getting worse, so it only lasted about three or four days," he said.

The Yankees will be looking to win their first World Series championship since 2009 this season, so Voit expects that the mustache superstition could carry into the playoffs.

"We got the playoff 'stache," he said. "It's just like the playoff beard in hockey."