Grooming a Handlebar Moustache, Part 2 of 3

Published October 11, 2010 | By Eric

Back to washing. Some waxes like Firehouse, Oregon Wild Hair and Hndlebar contain petroleum jelly, which can leave a residue on your moustache. Be sure you wash thoroughly when removing your wax for the night.

That’s another thing: should one wear the wax to bed? These sort of waxes can have a slight greasy feeling, especially at the end of the day when your skin oil have migrated into the wax and softened it, as it will. As for myself I would not wear such wax to bed, and some of them also have colorants in them – Firehouse Wacky Tacky has a slight brown color – and that may stain your bedding.

If anything, I do recommend waxing your curls for bed if you don’t wax during the day as it will give you a nice unwaxed curl the next day. If you have more time in the morning you can put curls in when you get up and wash it out before you leave. Then shape the curls as the hair dries. I have strong natural curls so I can’t say how useful a curling iron would be, but if you try one be very careful with your hair and your face!

Blow dryers? Some use that for melting clumped wax or for drying or shaping. Be very careful here as some hair dryers can get very hot. If it’s too hot for your finger its too hot for your hair. I’ve actually seen water on my comb boiling from the hair dryer, so be careful.

moustache grooming Grooming a Handlebar Moustache, Part 2 of 3

You shouldn't have any trouble finding a small comb.

If you really want to wear it to bed you might try a moustache snood, which can be ordered on Amazon.com. This will protect your moustache some from getting mussed up while sleeping and be a barrier to the wax, but will also get wax on it itself, so the snood will need washing every couple days – also for sanitary reasons. But back to the skin oils factor, you will best wash out your wax every day or two as it will not hold shape for long, especially if you have oily skin.

If you use washable pomades or other fixatives for your moustache these will be easier to wash out, but they may not disintegrate so much from skin oil and may last longer. A pomade seems to be a blend of wax and other materials that can be applied as a cream. I tried to make the one recommended by Bud at the handlebarclub.com but it was a lot of work and didn’t work for me, so I can’t give your results from any endurance testing.

What is the best wax or pomade? I’ve tried three waxes that were highly recommended and liked Firehouse best for certain applications, but all three are great, especially for the curls. It goes on a bit smoother. Personally I’m not a big fan of wax, partly because of my wiry hair, which seems to make it hard to groom without clumps or crumbles, and it takes more than I like to shape and control it. I haven’t used Clubman in 25 years and don’t remember it’s characteristics. Some love it, some have thrown it out like a nagging mother-in-law (don’t you wish?) in favor of any of the three I mentioned, or other brands.

Waxing your mustache takes a bit of time so practice and plan for your morning preparations. Early experiments may make you question the whole project, but just be aware there may be limitations to what can be done with YOUR moustache and you just have to find a styling plan that works for your gift from God.

Coming in Part 3: Hair types, growing it out, trimming, and finding your personal style.