Playing With Beard Styles

E

Evolute

Joined
Mar 19, 2001
Messages
4,769
OK, this is silliness, but here goes:

I'm in the middle of playing with beard styles. I grew my beard out for three months, and then shaved so that I had a Van Dyke/Van Dyck with long sideburns, then a Van Dyke/Van Dyck with medium sideburns, then a Van Dyke/Van Dyck with no sideburns. Soon I'll shave off the mustache of the Van Dyke/Van Dyke, so that I have a goatee, then I'll shave that into a soul patch. At each stage, I'm taking a snapshot of what it looks like.

Anyway – so, before I shave off the mustache of my Van Dyke/Van Dyck style beard, I want to try styling it the classic way that Anthony Van Dyck wore it – with the ends of my mustache going backward and upward into a point, and the beard coming to a point. Like this:

http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/65/Anthonyvandyckselfportrait.jpeg

But it seems I can't coax my mustache and beard to cooperate. I tried combing it, tried twisting the ends, tried a bit of petroleum jelly, and finally (since I don't have mustache wax) I tried chapstick, hoping that would be "waxy" enough. No success. My mustache and beard seem to be made up of very thick, coarse, full bodied hairs which just point downward, no matter what I do.

Any tips about how to style an uncooperative mustache and beard?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I found the answer. Apparently, in Van Dyke's day, some folks put pine pitch in their mustaches and beards in order to get them to cooperate. I wouldn't have minded doing that – since I just wanted to try that style out for a few minutes, and then shave it off – but it's too late; I already shaved off the mustache, now.
 
I have a lot of "beardo" friends. The trick to getting any persistent direction is to constantly groom. If you want twists in a handlebar moustache, or a point in a beard, you must constantly twist the ends, or stroke the beard into a point.

Do this along with waxing and combing, and eventually it'll stay that way.
 
My beard is on the long side, and to make it cooperate I groom constantly. I keep rubbing and pushing it in the direction I want it to go to give it that nice groomed shape. If I don't, it will stand out in all directions.
 
Thanks, guys.

And here's what it all looked like:

4680886600_2f05be77a1_b.jpg
 
Next time you oughta grow some "friendly mutton-chops"! :D Hmm, then again, you'd have to buy and wear a bowler hat to pull it off. Hmmm....
 
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