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6 Tips on Caring For and Maintaining the Perfect Mustache
The month of November is about bringing back the mustache, doing it for a serious cause while having fun growing it out at the same time. If your clients are supporting men’s health in November by growing out their “stache” for 30 days, help them achieve the best looking one they can with these tips from Kenny Duncan, Andis educator and salon owner of Main Attraction Unisex Salon in Philadelphia, PA.
November 5, 2014
3 min to read
Getty Images
The month of November is about bringing back the mustache, doing it for a serious cause while having fun growing it out at the same time. If your clients are supporting men’s health in November by growing out their “stache” for 30 days, help them achieve the best looking one they can with these tips from Kenny Duncan, Andis educator and salon owner of Main Attraction Unisex Salon in Philadelphia, PA.
Density Determines Length: Determine the density of the mustache hair to determine its length. When a client has thin facial hair it usually looks best when his facial hair is longer. If your client desires a strong shape to his mustache and it’s thin, the shape will only be determined by the thickest portion of facial hair. Always trim the lone strands of hair that don’t lend to the desired shape.
Trim With Caution: Never trim facial hair too high above the top lip line. Manly mustaches sit on a man’s lip—they don’t float a half inch above. In most cases you can use a fine tooth comb to comb the facial hair to the lip line then use your trimmer such as an Andis Superliner or Andis Charm to trim the facial hair that extends beyond the lip line.
Less is more! When your client desires a full mustache without any artistic shaping, only look to tame the wild beast. Using a cutting comb, groom the facial hair into the desired style then trim only the mustache hairs that are protruding above the desired mustache. Trim the mustache hairs in the corners of the lips which tend to find a way into your client’s mouth.
Proportion matters! The size and shape of the mustache should be in proportion to the size of the client’s lips. A large mustache can over-power thin lips and large lips need large mustaches to help give an illusion of smaller lips.
Avoid the lopsided stache. Use the ends of your client’s lips as a guide to insure that both sides the mustache have the same length. There will be times a client will ask you to form his mustache into a symmetrical shape such as a triangle or rectangle. Policemen and military officers are notorious for mustaches that don't pass the ends of their lips. Be aware that nothing is more embarrassing than having a lopsided mustache, therefore using the ends of the lips as a guide will help.
Styling is just as important as shape. The resurgence of handlebar mustaches calls for having at least an inch and a half of facial hair and a water soluble pomade. In order to have respectable handlebars adjacent to the face, longer hair is necessary. Use products that won’t flake or cause skin irritations such as the water soluble pomade made by Woody's or LayRite. To achieve the desired handlebars, comb a pea-sized amount of pomade thru facial with a fine-tooth comb, then style by twisting your thumbs and index fingers together on the ends of the mustache. Finish each end by twisting the ends inwards.
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