"Mr. Follicle" says that he can't grow a mustache like mine! Really?

Close up shot - no wax or other product used



I walked into a conversation that two of my restaurant coworkers were having about my mustache.   One of them, whom I will call Mr. Follicle,  was saying how he could never grow a mustache like mine - he just didn't have the genetics.

I could hardly keep a straight face since he is not some smooth-faced cherub, but one of these men who develops a heavy 5 o'clock shadow by noon.  Usually, however, he wears a couple of days growth and clearly he has no lack of facial hair including that on the upper lip.   I jokingly told him that he had more hair on one of his cheeks than I do on my whole body.  I told him that I had virtually no sideburns and whiskers were as common on my cheeks as trees in the Sahara.


Yet he was convinced that he could not grow a long mustache - though he said that he has tried.  He said that his just does not grow "that way". 

The bottom line is that if I can grow a decent handlebar mustache, probably 98% of other men can too.   My coworker definitely has the ability. 

As far as growing the right way, that really is a matter of training the whiskers.  My hairs do not naturally grow to the sides, but most tend to want to grow down toward my mouth (the picture above also shows that some choose other directions as well) .  Yet by brushing them to the sides, most will stay there and tend to naturally return to the brushed position even after washing.  Hairs must be trained.  Even forcing them with waxes, glues, or other products, assists in the training process and will allow the mustache to grow to the sides and form handlebars.

The thickness of my mustache is really an illusion.  In my picture, the mustache looks much thicker than the goatee, but they have the same density.  The real difference is the length.  With 67 days of growth, the mustache makes up for sparcity by length - where the goatee probably has only about 10 days worth.

Styling and hair texture

The picture above shows the texture of my mustache - it is wirey with thick wavy hairs. 

Due to its texture, my mustache may never easily submit to meticulously groomed curls that my finer-furred brethren may have.  On the otherhand, I can keep a really nice handlebar shape by simply brushing the hairs to position.  Time will tell once the hairs grow longer if tightly groomed and waxed curls are even a possibility with me.

The key to be happy is to be satisfied with the mustache that I am given.  It's not like I can trade it in for a different one.

Twisting ends and corkscrewing

For several weeks I was having a real problem on my left side with the curl going the wrong way - twisting out, rather than up.  On some of the mustache forums, they call this corkscrewing.  This happens when the curls tend leave the plane of the mustache and go off in another dimension.

The problem may have been caused by me finger grooming by pinching the mustache between my thumb and index finger and gently pulling it, letting the hair slide between the fingers as I pulled it out.  The resulted in a flat curl that tends to twist

I think that I have found a solution.  Rather than creating a flat curl, I changed my finger position by forming a point between my thumb, index finger and the middle finger tips, and letting the hair run through the gap where the three meet.  After a couple of pulls, the corkscrewing was gone. Like most mustache challenges, I am not quite ready to declare victory until I consistently notice that the problem is gone.

The right side, does not face this problem.  It always behaves so nicely no matter what I do.  If only the other side would learn to cooperate so easily.