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What’s This About
The moustache styles worth knowing come down to four families, the natural ones (chevron, walrus, lampshade and painter’s brush) that need growth and a weekly trim, the thin ones (pencil) that need a razor several times a week, the waxed ones (handlebar, English, Hungarian and Dalí) that need six months or more of growth and moustache wax, and the hybrids that join the moustache to a beard or stubble (horseshoe, beardstache); the right one is decided by how much hair you can grow, how much time you will give it and whether there is a beard under it.
This guide answers the questions men ask when the top lip starts to fill in, such as
• What are the moustache styles called, and what does each one look like?
• Which one suits my face, my hair and my beard, or no beard?
• How long does each take to grow?
• How do I trim a moustache without ruining it?
• Which products do the waxed styles need?
and many more!
Each style has its own card with the growing time, the trimming rule and the order for the barber.
Key Points
01Start with the chevron. It follows the shape of the upper lip, takes two to three months in Beardbrand’s estimate, needs no wax, and Beardbrand calls it “a great place to start” for a first moustache.
02Grow before you shape, which means giving it two to three months, Beardbrand’s estimate for a moustache to grow into prominence, and trimming it once a week, as the Art of Manliness advises.
03The lip line decides the look. Hair covering the top lip is a walrus, hair trimmed to the lip line reads as neat, and a razor-edged line above a short moustache is a pencil.
04Trim dry, comb first, cut the outline before the length, and cut less than you think, because hair cut off cannot be put back.
The short answer
Many moustache styles can be read as a chevron with something done to it.
A chevron is the moustache that grows naturally, following the shape of the upper lip in a slight upside-down V; leave it to grow long and it becomes a walrus, trim it into a trapezoid and it becomes a lampshade, cut it straight across and it becomes a painter’s brush, shave it to a line and it becomes a pencil, grow the ends and wax them and it becomes a handlebar, and join it to two strips of cheek hair running down to the jaw and it becomes a horseshoe.
Beardbrand’s guide, a long catalogue from a beard-care retailer that sells the wax and balm it recommends, lists seventeen styles and puts the chevron first. In its words, “If you’ve never worn just a mustache, the chevron is a great place to start. It’s a natural style that requires minimal grooming.”
As for the word itself, mustache is the US spelling and moustache the British one, and Beardbrand confirms there is no difference beyond the spelling; this guide uses the British spelling.
So the decision is not which of seventeen styles to pick; it is how far from the chevron you want to go, and how much time you will give it.
The key rule is to grow a chevron first (two to three months, in Beardbrand’s estimate), keep the hair out of your mouth, and only then decide whether to leave it, thin it, or grow the ends.
The four families of moustache
Scroll horizontally to see all columns →
| Family | Styles | Growth needed | Daily effort | Wax |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural | Chevron, walrus, lampshade, painter’s brush | One month to a year | A weekly trim | No |
| Thin | Pencil, parted pencil | Two to four weeks | A razor several times a week | No |
| Waxed | Handlebar, petite handlebar, English, Hungarian, Dalí, Fu Manchu | Six months or more for full-length ends | Wax and daily styling | Yes |
| Hybrid | Horseshoe, Zappa, Imperial, beardstache | Three to six months for a horseshoe | Trimming plus shaving around the shape | Sometimes |
The natural styles
Chevron, the place to start
Thick, following the natural shape of the upper lip, slightly angled down at the corners; Beardbrand’s advice is that it “should partially cover the upper lip, but the hair should not be in your mouth”; its examples include Tom Selleck and Freddie Mercury.
Two to three months to grow, in Beardbrand’s estimate, and minimal grooming after that.
It suits a first moustache, with any beard or none; with stubble it becomes the beardstache below.
Ask the barber for “a chevron, trimmed so it stays out of the mouth, natural corners”.
Walrus, the longest
Long, thick hair that covers the top lip and may cover the bottom one, combed straight down; Beardbrand’s examples include Teddy Roosevelt.
In Beardbrand’s estimate, “a solid walrus will take 6 months to a year to grow” at a minimum, and “Not every man can grow a walrus mustache”, because the length the hair on the top lip will reach is set by genetics.
A good match for a full face and a full beard, or a bare chin; Beardbrand admits it is “not the most practical” style and recommends a comb to keep it out of your mouth at meals.
Tell the barber “leave the length, tidy the ends, and shape it down over the lip”.
Lampshade, the regulation style
A chevron trimmed into a trapezoid, kept inside a vertical line up from each corner of the mouth and a horizontal line from the bottom of the nose, and trimmed so the hair does not touch the upper lip; Beardbrand notes it is “often labeled as a cop ‘stache” because of long-standing grooming regulations for servicemen, and puts the growth at one to two months.
It suits uniformed jobs, a square or round face, and a clean-shaven chin.
Ask for “a lampshade, squared off at the corners of the mouth, trimmed off the lip”.
Painter’s brush, the flat top
A thick chevron cut straight across with no downward angle at the corners, so it sits as a horizontal bar no wider than the mouth; Beardbrand’s example is Ron Burgundy, and it notes that few real ones are seen “as they seem to be purely ironic”.
This one suits a wide mouth and a long face, and a sense of humour.
At the barber, ask for “a painter’s brush, straight across, no taper at the corners”.
The thin styles
Pencil, the formal style
A narrow line of hair just above the lip, with the top line shaved to follow the curve of the mouth; Beardbrand’s examples include Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Brad Pitt.
It grows in two to four weeks, sooner on darker hair, and Beardbrand warns that you may need to shave the upper line “a few times per week, if not daily”; its view is that “The pencil works best for black or dark brown hair because it’s worn at a shorter length”, and that the lighter the hair, the thicker you will want to keep it.
It suits dark hair, a narrow face and a dinner jacket, since Beardbrand finds that “it tends to look best dressed up”.
Ask for “a pencil moustache, shaved clean along the top line and trimmed to the lip below”, and expect to keep it up yourself.
Parted pencil, the split version
A pencil with a hard line through the centre at the philtrum, the indent above the upper lip, so the moustache reads as two halves; Beardbrand adds the part with an electric trimmer and recommends keeping it on the thinner side.
Ask the barber for “a parted pencil, a thin part at the philtrum”.
The waxed styles
The styles in this family grow handles from the edges of the moustache and shape them with wax; Beardbrand puts a full handlebar and a Dalí at six months or longer and a Hungarian at up to a year.
Handlebar, the classic
A thick moustache with the ends grown long, waxed into fine points and curled out over the cheeks; Beardbrand’s examples include William Howard Taft and Daniel Day-Lewis.
Growth is six months or longer, and some men cannot grow full handles if their moustache hair stops short; Beardbrand’s grooming advice is to keep the centre neat and to lift the moustache and shave the hair beneath the handles at the outer corners of the mouth.
It suits a full face, a beard or a bare chin, and a man who enjoys the grooming.
The order for the barber is “a handlebar, leave the ends, trim the middle to the lip line”.
Petite handlebar, the shorter version
The handlebar kept shorter, with the handles stopping before they pass the corners of the mouth; Beardbrand suggests it for men whose hair will not grow long enough for the full version.
Ask for “a petite handlebar, curl the ends at the mouth corners”.
English, the horizontal style
A handlebar with the ends waxed horizontally and shaped to a point rather than curled; Beardbrand’s tip is to keep the hair off the top lip, by trimming or with “a blowdryer to help push the hair horizontally from the philtrum”.
At the barber, ask for “an English moustache, ends straight out, waxed”.
Hungarian, the biggest
Part walrus and part handlebar, this is a big, swooping handlebar that sits lower on the cheeks, worn in Beardbrand’s account by Wild West figures such as Wyatt Earp; up to a year of growth, trained with a sweeping motion of the thumb and index finger rather than by twisting and, in Beardbrand’s method, set with a high-hold product such as hairspray.
Ask for “a Hungarian, keep everything, shape the ends outward”.
Dalí and Fu Manchu, the pointed styles
The Dalí is a pencil base with long, thin, waxed ends pointing up; the Fu Manchu, in Beardbrand’s account, adds a wide gap at the philtrum and shapes the ends with a medium-hold wax to hang straight down, and it is “only connected to the face at the top corners of the mouth”.
Both are high-upkeep styles; Beardbrand says each “requires daily shaving and grooming”.
The hybrid styles, with a beard or stubble
Horseshoe, the strongest
A thick moustache joined to two vertical strips of cheek hair that run beside the mouth down to the jawline, with the chin bare; Beardbrand’s examples include Hulk Hogan, Sam Elliott and Aaron Rodgers.
Three to six months; often confused with the Fu Manchu, but the horseshoe’s strips are attached to the face all the way down. Beardbrand’s test is “You can’t lift a horseshoe away from your face.”
Wear it with a square jaw, a wide mouth, a strong face; it narrows a round face, and Beardbrand calls it “the American muscle car of mustaches”.
Ask the barber for “a horseshoe, shave the chin, lines straight down from the corners of the mouth”.
Beardstache, the modern option
A full moustache over a few days to a few weeks of stubble, so the moustache is the feature and the stubble the background; Beardbrand likes “the contrast between the full mustache and the stubble”, says the stubble gives the jawline and cheek lines more definition, and pairs it with the chevron, lampshade, walrus, horseshoe, English, handlebar and Hungarian.
Beardbrand notes that the beardstache “isn’t a particular mustache style” but a combination, a way to wear a moustache without a full beard or a bare chin.
Ask for “beardstache, keep the moustache full, take the rest down to an even stubble”.
Zappa and Imperial, two more styles
The Zappa is a shortened horseshoe with a soul patch under the lip; the Imperial is a handlebar with the cheek hair joined at the base and the ends left full rather than pointed, named for Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Which moustache for which face, hair and beard
The face decides the width and the weight. A wide mouth carries a chevron, a lampshade or a walrus; a narrow mouth carries a pencil, a petite handlebar or a chevron trimmed to the corners; a round face is narrowed by a horseshoe or a handlebar with the ends out, and a long face is balanced by a horizontal style (painter’s brush, English) rather than a drooping one.
The hair decides the family, and thick, fast-growing hair has the most options; dark hair suits the pencil best in Beardbrand’s view, and lighter hair needs it kept thicker; hair that will not grow past the corners of the mouth rules out a full handlebar, though Beardbrand suggests the petite handlebar for that case.
The beard decides the contrast. With a full beard, keep the moustache out of the mouth, trimmed to the lip line or, as Beardbrand allows for a chevron, partly covering the upper lip; with stubble, the beardstache; with a bare chin, the chevron, lampshade, pencil or handlebar stand alone.
If a beard or stubble sits under the moustache, start its neckline low and raise it only if needed, because hair cut away cannot be put back and sources differ on where the line belongs; our guide on how to shape a beard compares them.
Our beard styles guide covers the beards that sit under these, and the face shapes guide explains how to read the proportions.
Growth sets the timetable. Beardbrand’s estimates are one to two months for a lampshade, two to three for a chevron, three to six for a horseshoe, six months or longer for a handlebar, and six months to a year for a walrus, and not every man’s hair reaches the length a walrus or a full handlebar needs.
How to trim a moustache
The weekly trim is most of the grooming for the natural styles, and it is done dry, with a comb, in a set order.
Comb it first, dry, straight down; the Art of Manliness guide says to comb a dry moustache with a fine-toothed moustache comb before trimming, because “When wet, hair can appear longer, leading you to cut off too much.”
Cut the outline before the length, using scissors or a trimmer with no guard along the bottom of the moustache and then the outer edges, working from the middle towards one side, then to the other side and back to the middle, so the two halves match; the Art of Manliness’s instruction is to “Look straight ahead and maintain a neutral face to get smooth, even line.”
Then comes the length. Comb the hair down and trim what stands outside the comb, or use a trimmer with a guard and, in the Art of Manliness’s words, “move from longer to shorter guides”.
Comb again and catch the strays; then stop, because, in the Art of Manliness’s rule, “You can always trim off more, but you can’t add it back after you’ve clipped it.”
Gillette’s method, demonstrated by Jason Schneidman, a barber on the Gillette Barber Council, uses a trimmer alone. Start with the longest comb attachment and “trim the weight out of your mustache”, lower the comb by one setting and repeat, then take the guard off, clean up the lip line and “define your mustache’s shape”.
The lip line changes the look. Trimmed to the top of the lip it reads as neat and shows the mouth, left a few millimetres over the lip it reads as fuller, and left to cover the lip it is a walrus; under a beard, keep the hair out of the mouth.
Weekly is the Art of Manliness’s interval; the pencil’s upper line needs shaving more often, and the waxed styles keep their length at the ends, so the trimming is in the centre and the shaving beneath the handles.
Products, wax and the daily routine
A natural moustache needs a comb and, at most, a little beard oil or balm; Beardbrand, which sells both, says its balm “helps control flyaways while still leaving your mustache looking natural” and, because it doubles as a moisturiser for the skin, “you can use it from day one”.
A waxed moustache needs a moustache wax, worked into the hair with the fingers and shaped with a comb; Beardbrand says finding the right strength “will take some experimenting”, that its own medium-hold wax suits natural-looking styles such as the Hungarian, and that a handlebar, petite handlebar, English or Dalí needs “a wax with a stronger hold”.
Beardbrand also recommends a boar’s hair brush, which it says exfoliates the skin, spreads oil through the hair and helps train hairs “to grow in the direction you want them to”, and a pocket comb to keep food out of the moustache through the day.
A simple habit is to wash the moustache when you wash your face and let it dry before combing or trimming.
Common questions
Which moustache style should I start with?
The chevron, which Beardbrand recommends to anyone who has never worn just a moustache; it follows the lip, needs no wax, and becomes the beardstache if you keep stubble under it.
Which moustache styles work without a beard?
The chevron, the lampshade, the pencil and the handlebar all stand alone on a clean-shaven face, and so does the walrus; the horseshoe needs cheek hair and the beardstache needs stubble.
Which moustache goes with a beard?
A chevron kept out of the mouth; a handlebar over a full beard if the ends are grown; the beardstache if the beard is kept to stubble.
How long does a moustache take to grow?
In Beardbrand’s estimates, from two to four weeks for a pencil and two to three months for a chevron to six months or more for a handlebar and, at a minimum, six months to a year for a walrus.
How do I trim a moustache at home?
Dry, combed down, outline first (along the bottom and the edges, from the middle out to each side), then length with a comb or a guard, longer guards first, then comb again; cut less than you think, and do it weekly.
Sources checked for this article (12 September 2026, re-checked 12 October 2026)
Beardbrand, The definitive guide to mustache styles, Mike Lawson, 4 June 2026, https://www.beardbrand.com/blogs/urbanbeardsman/mustache-styles
The Art of Manliness, How to trim your mustache: an illustrated guide, Brett, 30 March 2019, last updated 29 July 2021, https://www.artofmanliness.com/style/grooming/how-to-trim-your-mustache/
Gillette (US), How to shape your mustache, https://gillette.com/en-us/shaving-tips/how-to-shave/how-to-shape-your-mustache
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