A Quick Guide to Mustaches

Mustaches are the accessory that you can grow yourself, but having a good mustache takes more effort than you think. Facial hair grows slower than you might expect, so cultivating a full mustache can take months.

Start with the right hair

You need thick, full and dark facial hair in order to have an attractive moustache. Guys with sparse or blonde facial hair will never look good with a mustache. Mustache growing is made complicated by the fact that you may have gaps where your face will stubbornly refuse to grow hair, particularly if you are barely out of your teens. If one such patch is placed on or near your upper lip, your mustache choices are severely limited.

Tools of the trade

Having the perfect razor is just the first step of maintaining your mustache. You will definitely need a small pair of scissors for trimming. Longer mustaches must be treated similarly to head hair, with a comb to keep it neat and a dab of mustache wax so that the style holds throughout the day.

The 70s mustache

A thick, long mustache that does not extend beyond the upper lip, the ?Chevron? mustache is a low-maintenance style once you grow it. The growing phase may be as much as six months; like everything from the 1970s, it is strikingly bushy. The bottom edge of the mustache must be kept quite straight. As such, it is best suited to those with fairly straight facial hair. A 70s-style moustache is, surprisingly, well-matched with current hipster style.

The Pencil

A ?Pencil? mustache consists of two incredibly thin dashes of hair on your upper lip. A variation on the usual style is to have one unbroken line of mustache. This is a high maintenance style as it needs to be kept short and neat. Failure to keep your mustache tidy will result in a decidedly sleazy look.

The Handlebar

A ?Handlebar? mustache is aptly named, as it looks exactly like a pair of handlebars. It is a thick, bushy style with ends curving up. Your facial hair therefore needs to be longer than that of a 70s-style mustache. A helping of wax will allow you to achieve those upturned ends. A Handlebar mustache has plenty of attitude, and is best suited to heavy-set guys. The style has existed throughout history, but for a twenty-first century update, limit the size of your mustache while retaining the traditional curved ends.

A close cousin to the Handlebar moustache is the ?Horseshoe?, which curves downwards and connects to facial hair on the chin. However, the Horseshoe makes most men look like criminals, so stick with the Handlebar if you favor this sort of style.

Mustaches to avoid

There are some moustache styles which look silly on anyone. Avoid those which rely too much on novelty value; your face is not meant to be a punch-line. Thin mustaches with curled ends, such as those inspired by Salvador Dali, are hilariously bad. Of course, Hitler-style moustaches are always in bad taste.