Moustache Guide
Everything you need to know to show off a moustache on top! If I grew a beard, and this beard, it’s because it all started with the moustache. Moustaches have many styles and above all ever moustache have different length. The recurring question is how to have a nice handlebar moustache; another like not constantly having a moustache in your mouth.
For the first question you need patience: you need to reach the right length. For the second, if you are drastic, cut them flush with the upper lip or arm yourself with patience and wax.
The real secret is to use little wax and have an important ally, the hair dryer. Think of your girl when she does the styling: she uses hot air to shape and then fixes everything with products. You will have to do the same. Beware of too hot air, you risk burning your hair and yourself. Moustache wax is usually made from beeswax or petrolatum, with the addition of flavorings. Personally I prefer natural products, especially because we are talking about a product to put under your nose. The consistency and hold of the wax are given by the mix of beeswax and other products, such as oil and Vaseline, to make it more malleable. Bees use the males in the hive to keep the wax warm; we will have to resort to different methods in order to model it. The harder this is, the more heat will be needed to soften it.
Moustache wax
Place the box on top of a radiator or immerse it (closed) in hot, not boiling water. If the hardness is medium, you can heat the surface of the wax with a hair dryer. If it’s soft or pasty, and therefore easily model able, you won’t need to heat it, just knead it between your thumb and forefinger. The second problem is laying it out correctly, this depends on the length of your moustache and the resistance it opposes. Until you have reached a length of at least 1 cm, the wax is not needed. When, with a little patience, you have reached 2/3 cm, you can finally use the wax to curl the ends of the moustache. I already know for sure that whenever you have your hands free you will play with it and curl your fur.
If your hair is soft, a medium or soft wax is enough, you are still in that phase where you spend a lot of time playing with it and you can afford it.
If your coat is stiff and you can’t arch the hair, wax is useless. In case you can’t resist and have made the purchase, take a little by scraping the surface of the wax with your thumbnail, divide what you have taken in half and massage the ball with the thumb and forefinger of each hand. If the whiskers of the upper lip go into your mouth, you either cut them flush with the lip or patiently start moving them sideways.
If you insist with the central growth, you can change the ritual and move the ends of the central hair outwards with your thumb and forefinger.
If you’ve gotten tired of eating your moustache, but keep curling the ends, and added a few extra inches, you’ve probably also gotten a little used to curling it. Wax the moustache and using the thumb as a check, roll up the ends maintaining the position with the index finger.
How to give the moustache the right shape
If the sh ape doesn’t suit you, it’s time to arm yourself with a hair dryer! Further arch the moustache and heat the central part, this operation will guarantee you a preform ready to be fixed with the wax. Keep in mind that the moustache will tend to open up during the day, if you need to switch to a medium or hard wax. Now all you have to do is decide the length you want to reach and how much to arch your handlebars. If you are stubborn in fixing it by adding wax, you will get the opposite result, i.e. a heavy moustache that will tend to fall off.
Climatic conditions often play against us, therefore it will be important to understand how to act when in gloomy and humid days it will be almost impossible to maintain the moustache with waxes: the solution is to resort to less healthy products, is it worth it?!
A trick that your trusted barber will advise you if you also have a beard, will be to shorten the hair behind the moustache in order to separate it from the rest. This will create a momentum effect and will also make it easier for you to incorporate it into your daily routine. In the same way, you can use a comb to separate the hair between the beard and moustache and then proceed with shaping. Some tutorials suggest applying a lot of wax, and spreading it using a comb: perhaps if your hair is soft and thin it can work. With a stiff moustache like mine you only risk having a wax “mappazzone” and no longer a handlebar. Eventually you can take advantage of this method by pulling outwards and get a moustache, exactly, to Dalí. Your moustache will thank you if you don’t stress it with excessive use of heat or straightener or by adding products. In the competitions you can see real sculptures modeled with strokes of plate and lacquer in industrial quantities. You can try once, but rely on expert hands, otherwise you risk ruining the moustache and having to cut it.
