Handlebar mustaches are one of the most stylish and distinguished types of mustaches a man can have. However, they can also be very daunting to trim as one little slip can result in an uneven and messy mustache.
When it comes to trimming a handlebar mustache, it’s important to prepare correctly and to take your time. Every cut is crucial and none of them should be rushed.
Learn how to trim a handlebar mustache in this article.
Preparation
It’s important that you prepare your mustache correctly before you begin to trim it. If you don’t prepare your mustache, you may end up with a mustache that is uneven and patchy.
Step One – Wash Your Mustache
We highly recommend trimming your mustache after you have showered. During your shower, wash your mustache with some shampoo as this will ensure that your mustache is not only clean but that the hairs are softer as well. This will make trimming them easier.
You can use shampoo that is specifically formulated for beards if you wish but ordinary shampoo will work as well.
Make sure that you have enough time to trim your mustache so that you don’t have to rush the job. We recommend that you leave around 30 minutes for trimming your mustache as this ensures you can take things slow and reduces the chances of making mistakes.
Step Two – Dry Your Mustache
It’s important that you allow your mustache to dry fully before you begin to trim it. You can use a towel or a blow dryer to ensure that all of the moisture is gone.
You need your mustache to be dry as this will allow you to see how the hairs lie naturally. If you trim your mustache while it is wet, it’s more likely that you will get an uneven trim.
Step Three – Comb And Style
Finally, make sure that you comb and style your mustache. Combing your mustache will make it easier to see the stray hairs that you need to trim. Remember that when you comb your mustache, you should always comb the hairs in the direction they’re supposed to grow.
After combing your mustache, style it as you would on a regular day. If you use mustache wax to keep your mustache in place, use this as you would do normally.
Combing and styling your mustache will allow you to see the areas that need to be trimmed. It’s easier to trim your mustache into shape when it is already styled than when it is hanging loose.
Trimming
Now that your mustache is adequately prepared, you can begin to trim.
Step One – Hair Above Your Lip
For the first stage of trimming your handlebar mustache, we recommend using electric trimmers. You should begin with the hairs that hang over your lips.
Start trimming from the middle of your mustache and work outwards until you get to the outside edges. Make sure that you move slowly and carefully as electric trimmers can trim hair quickly and without much care if you’re not in control.
It’s very easy to trim more hair than you want so keep it slow and steady and only aim to trim the hair so that it doesn’t grow over your lip.
Always make sure that your trimmer has a guard in place. This will help prevent too much hair from being trimmed. You can choose the length of the guard to get the right amount of hair cut off.
We recommend starting with a longer guard and moving to a shorter guard if you want a shorter length.
Try to keep your face as relaxed and neutral as you can while you shave. Keeping your face tense can make your mustache sit unevenly and will result in an uneven trim.
If using an electric trimmer sounds too daunting, you can use a pair of sharp scissors instead. This will take longer but will give you more control over your cut if you’re not comfortable with electric trimmers.
Step Two – Below The Nose
For this step, you will need a high-quality pair of sharp scissors. We highly recommend investing in some scissors that are reserved purely for mustache maintenance.
Take the scissors and trim the hairs underneath your nose. You can trim as much or as little as you want to, depending on the style of handlebar mustache you are aiming for.
However, you want to make sure that you cut enough so that it doesn’t look like the hairs are growing out of your nose!
Step Three – Trim The Ends
You will need your scissors again for this step.
Using your scissors, trim the ends of your mustache. You don’t want to cut too much from the ends as your aim is to make the hairs even and neat. Scissors are the best tool for this job as they will give you more control.
We recommend cutting only small amounts at a time. This makes it easier to keep your sides even and will prevent you from cutting too much.
It’s very easy to accidentally cut one end shorter than you originally intended but the chances of this happening become less if you trim as little as possible.
Step Four – Trim Your Beard
If you have any kind of beard with your handlebar mustache, you should trim your beard as well. This is especially important if the hairs of your beard grow towards or connect with your handlebar mustache.
You want to keep some distance between the two so that the defined look of your mustache is easy to see.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we explained how to trim a handlebar mustache. We explained how you should prepare your mustache before you begin to trim it and it’s very important that you don’t skip this step.
Proper preparation will make trimming your handlebar mustache easier and will give you better results as well.
