The Face of Masculinity: 10 Must-Read Tips for Growing and Maintaining Your Mustache

Mustaches are trending right now, and with good reason. They offer men who don’t want to deal with the stress of growing and maintaining a full beard a way to harness the power of their facial hair to look more manly and express their personal styles. Growing and maintaining a stand-out mustache isn’t just a matter of being careful with a straight razor, though. Read on to find ten tips for growing and maintaining a mustache to make sure it will look its best.

1. Train Instead of Trimming

Growing a long mustache requires some patience, but many men start getting annoyed with their facial hair as soon as it gets long enough to reach their mouths. Resist the temptation to start trimming the hair in the centre of the ‘stache. This will prevent it from reaching its full potential. Instead, find the right product for your mustache to train it to the sides. This will stop it from becoming a nuisance without affecting healthy hair growth patterns.

2. Use a Good Face Scrub

Like full beards, mustaches can get itchy if men don’t pay attention to their skin. It’s worth investing in a good face scrub and using it daily to remove dead skin cells and food debris from the ‘stache, especially during the first few weeks to few months of growth. This is when facial hair tends to be the itchiest, so it’s unsurprising that the earliest phases of mustache growth are also those that turn many men off from trying to grow more unique facial hair.

3. Embrace Natural Growth Patterns

Not every man can grow a mustache to rival Tom Selleck’s, and that’s OK. The right products will help men grow thicker, more impressive facial hair, but even men who can’t grow bushy handlebar mustaches will find that there are hundreds of styles available to them that will look just as good. It’s not worth giving up on the idea of rocking the ‘stache entirely.

4. Shampoo and Condition

Facial hair tends to be coarse, which can make it difficult to manage. Shampooing and conditioning a mustache while in the shower can keep it clean and make the hair a little softer, which makes everything from avoiding problems with itchy skin to coming up with the perfect style a little easier. Try to find products designed specifically for facial hair and don’t be afraid to use beard conditioners on a mustache.

5. Only Cut When It’s Dry

While most expert hair stylists wet their clients’ hair before trims, the same logic doesn’t hold for mustaches. Once men get to the point where their facial hair has grown long enough to make investing in a pair of mustache scissors worthwhile, it’s important that they avoid trimming while wet. Wet mustache hair hangs longer, so men who trim right after they get out of the shower often find that they take off too much hair.

6. Get Combing

Mustache combs are a worthwhile investment for any man who wants to rock an epic ‘stache. They can be used as part of men’s daily routines to distribute the wax evenly and create a more defined centre part, but they’re also helpful for trimming. Just use the mustache comb to lift the hair slightly off the face. It will make getting the right angles much easier and prevent embarrassing mistakes.

7. Don’t Be Afraid of Stubble

Plenty of men rock ‘staches surrounded by beard stubble. If done right, this looks just as good as a standalone mustache and requires slightly less attention to detail. Just make sure the mustache hair is long enough that it will stand out from the beard stubble. Otherwise, men may be better off just growing a full beard instead. Keep in mind that even a short, stubbly beard will also require some extra care if it’s going to look good, though, and buy enough facial hair products to cover the entire area.

8. Choose the Right Style

Men should take their face shape into account when choosing what kind of mustache to grow. Not everyone can pull off a pencil-thin mustache without looking like a creep. As a general rule, men with square faces look better with heavier, longer mustaches, and men with oval faces look better when they rock triangular styles. Knowing what type of mustache will look best can help men choose the right products and come up with daily styling regimens that work for them, so men should look for some inspiration and try to figure out exactly what they’re going for.

9. Learn How to Twirl

Love the turned-up points on other men’s mustaches, but having trouble achieving the same style? It’s time to learn how to twirl. First, put a small dab of mustache wax on the index finger, then rub it against the thumb until it gets thin enough to use. Then, use the wax to twirl the end of the mustache using a motion similar to that of snapping the fingers. This procedure will have up-turned mustaches looking their best in no time, although it may have to be repeated a few times throughout the day.

10. Treat the Rest of the Face Right

Men who shave the rest of their faces to spotlight their mustaches can spare themselves some agony by treating the rest of their faces right. Read up on best-practices for shaving and invest in a decent moisturiser to avoid bumps, ingrown hairs, and other unsightly problems. It’s worth the extra time and money to find the right shaving products and use them every day instead of detracting attention away from that epic mustache where it belongs.

The Bottom Line

Growing and maintaining a stylish mustache takes some time, effort, and specialised products, but it’s worth the work. Once men find a style that works for them, purchase the right products to avoid common problems like itchy skin, and grow their hair out to the right length, they’ll be able to rock the ‘stache with confidence, attracting positive attention everywhere they go. Getting started is easy, so start growing that facial hair out now while researching popular styles and products.