Fun with Moustaches!

One of my favorite things to receive is a message asking me to help someone with costuming... particularly facial costuming... most particularly, moustache costuming. Recently, my friend Katie asked if I could help her with a moustache fitting. Here were our nose-neighboring options (the staches I currently had in my stache).

This one here is typically know as the Fu Manchu moustache. A full, straight moustache that grows downward past the lips and on either side of the chin; and often, the tapered, pointed ends of the moustache hang past the jawline. The Fu Manchu is similar to the common horseshoe ("biker") moustache; the difference between the two types of moustache is that the Fu Manchu is grown only from the upper lip, whilst the sides remain clean shaven for the "Handlebar Mustache"

Both of these could be considered a Walrus moustache, which is characterized by whiskers that are thick, bushy, and droop over the mouth. The style resembles the whiskers of a walrus. Two notables are Mark Twain and Friedrich Nietzsche. Or a Chevron Moustache which is thick and wide, usually covering the top of the upper lip. Or the Hungairan Moustache.

A Handlebar Moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities. It is named for its resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a Spaghetti Moustache, because of its stereotypical association with Italian men. The Handlebar Club humorously describes the style as "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip and with graspable extremities". This could also be considered an English moustache. A style that is narrow, beginning at the middle of the upper lip the whiskers are very long and pulled to the side, slightly curled; the ends are pointed slightly upward; areas past the corner of the mouth must be shaved.

Both these could be considered a Natural, Handlebar, English, or Imperial.

The final was the large version of the "Handlebar/English/Natural/Imperial" Moustache. I had no idea how complicated recognizing and categorizing Moustache styles is! This was sure fun to research! And thanks to Katie for the opportunity for fun with Moustaches!