The hungarian mustache is a big and bushy mustache that looks downright amazing with a big beard, or even solely as is with shaved cheeks and chin.
It’s a mustache style that takes upwards of four months to grow, with the length reaching 1.5 to 2 inches.
What most people won’t realize is that the Hungarian mustache actually looks like an absolute mess when it’s not styled, since the hairs droop over the top lip and into the mouth.
Typically, a Hungarian mustache is styled to the sides and the ends may be curled up a bit, in this way, it’s like the big brother of the handlebar moustache; they look the same, the Hungarian is just bigger and thicker.
But how do you grow, trim, and style a Hungarian mustache, and why exactly is it even called “the Hungarian”?
What is a Hungarian Mustache
The Hungarian mustache is a big and bushy mustache style that completely covers the upper lip and is styled to the sides.
The corners are often curled up a bit, which makes the Hungarian mustache look similar to the handlebar mustache, with the Hungarian just being thicker and bigger in size.
While there is no definitive length for a proper Hungarian mustache, you still need at least 1.5 inches of mustache growth before it even begins to resemble a proper Hungarian style.
While it’s subjective whether you like or dislike a certain mustache or beard style, it must be said that many see the Hungarian mustache as the “real” best looking mustache style, and the last time when the World Beard & Mustache Championships were held, the winner from all the different categories was in fact: the Hungarian mustache.
As for where does the name “Hungarian mustache” come from, there are two known historical explanations:
In the first explanation, when the house of Habsburg eventually collapsed in the mid 19th century, there was an uprising of nationalists, who chose manly big mustache as one of their key things that could unite the nation, hence why many Hungarian men around that time grew massive mustaches.
In another explanation it’s mentioned that around the mid 19th century, the Habsburg monarchy had a strong dislike towards beards, so bad in fact that they levied a beard fine, which meant that men who grew beards, needed to pay up if they refused to shave. As a form of passive resistance, some men started growing massive mustaches and even neck beards that were completely shaven from the cheeks and chin.
Regardless of which these explanations is the right one, we do know that Hungary had a very important role to play in the popularity of the mustache, and that the name Hungarian mustache, certainly originates from Hungary and from the mid 19th century.
Best Hungarian Mustache & Beard Examples
Thick Hungarian Mustache with Boxed Beard
Boxed beard styles work well with nearly all kinds of mustache styles, but what you rarely see is the combination of a Hungarian mustache with a medium boxed beard as seen above.
I guess we can all agree that the combo is a great example of a perfect beard style.
Big Hungarian Mustache without Beard
Maybe you want to only grow a Hungarian mustache and have no facial hair on the rest of your face…
Then the results will look something like this.
Small Hungarian Mustache with a Beard
Smaller Hungarian mustache can work well with a natural full beard, as it nicely blends into the cheeks.
Unkempt Hungarian Mustache & Bushy Beard
Here’s a bit more of a scraggly beard in combination with a patchy Hungarian mustache.
Huge Hungarian Mustache Sitting Lower on the Face
If you want to go all in with your mustache, why not grow your Hungarian mustache really long and have it droop down lower on the cheek, this way it’s almost like a horseshoe mustache but not quite.
In the example above, the Hungarian mustache is combined with a light stubble, which makes up for a style known as “The BeardStache” (although typically the BeardStache style is paired with the Chevron mustache style).
Massive Hungarian Beard & Mustache Combo
This massive beard style is sometimes called “the Bandholz” as it was re-popularized by the founder of Beard Brand, Eric Bandholz. It’s a combination of a big Hungarian mustache and a large beard, typically a Ducktail beard.
Well-Groomed Hungarian Mustache with a Beard
Don’t worry if you have a short and formal beard, you can still pull off a Hungarian mustache with it, as long as you make sure to keep it nice and styled.
Patchy Chin Beard with Hungarian Mustache
Sometimes patchy beard growth happens, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try growing out a Hungarian mustache, as seen in the example above.
Hungarian BeardStache
Here’s another BeardStache example with a Hungarian ‘stache, with the exception that here the mustache won’t connect with the rest of the beard, and the facial hair is kept at a heavy stubble.
How to Grow a Hungarian Mustache
To grow a good looking big Hungarian mustache you need to let it grow out really long first. So long in fact that it completely covers your top lip and maybe even goes far past it.
Without any styling, a mustache this long looks unruly and quite bad to be honest, but with the proper use of mustache wax, you can completely transform it into a beastly, manly mustache.
So how long will you need to grow your mustache for it to look good?
Typically for roughly four months, which means that your mustache will be around 1.5 to 2 inches in length.
For a great looking Hungarian mustache, you will need to keep growing the sides for even longer than that.
I know this sounds like a long time to grow mustache, but it’s just a fact that a mustache grown for just a couple of months, typically looks small and patchy.
How to Shape and Trim a Hungarian Mustache
There are many different ways you can trim a Hungarian mustache, but the main principles are still these:
- Make sure to leave your mustache long enough that it completely covers your upper lip and droops into your mouth when it’s unstyled.
- Use mustache scissors to trim the outline of your mustache so that the widest part is in the middle, and that the outermost edges get narrower in size. Following the natural shape of your upper lip often yields the best results.
- You can cut a little gap in the middle of your mustache right underneath your nose. This is known as the philtrum and it tends to look great when mustache is styled to the sides.
How to Maintain a Hungarian Mustache
Since the Hungarian mustache is so long that it droops over your top lip, it can look extremely unkempt if you don’t style and maintain it properly.
But how do you maintain a Hungarian mustache then?
For a relaxed look, you only need some good mustache wax or beard wax with strong hold, then generously apply it to the mustache and style it to the sides using your fingers.
If you want to make your Hungarian mustache really stand out and keep its shape for the whole day, then you need to first wet your mustache with some warm water, then dry it off with a blow-dryer while simultaneously combing it to the sides with a small mustache comb, then finish it off by adding a small amount of mustache wax.
Understandably, the latter method is more time consuming, which leads to some men skipping corners and using hairspray on their mustache. That works to keep the mustache in place, but it wouldn’t be my first recommendation for sure.
Conclusion
The Hungarian mustache is a style that is long, big, and bushy, and it doesn’t look good unless you style it well to the sides.
After properly styling the Hungarian mustache, it instantly becomes an award winning mustache style that demands respect.
In a nutshell, the style takes upwards of four months to grow, it has a length of 1.5 to 2 inches, and it gets its name from 19th century Hungary.
The Hungarian mustache look great when combined with a big and bold beard style, such as the Ducktail beard, the Garibaldi, or the classic full beard.
