Managing lip hair (beards / mustaches)

[Untame]

Anyone find that their facial hair gets in the way? If so, how do you accommodate / manage it?

I keep a tight beard (3/16in-1/2in), and I feel like once it is getting longish the hair on my upper lip either feels uncomfortable or maybe influences my lip placement on the mouthpiece. I have wondered if it makes sense to do a little extra trimming at the point of contact... but don't want to be wearing a bald lip circle!
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I don't practice, and I never perform. I just play.
- 1979 King 602 Cornet
- 1927 Conn 80A Cornet
- 1960 Holton Super Collegiate Cornet

[Halflip]

Have you considered the Fu Manchu look? Or perhaps the more abbreviated version popularized by beloved Mexican comic actor Cantinflas (Mario Moreno)?
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"He that plays the King shall be welcome . . . " (Hamlet Act II, Scene 2, Line 1416)

"He had no concept of the instrument. He was blowing into it." -- Virgil Starkwell's cello teacher in "Take the Money and Run"

[Untame]

[TrumpetMD]

I've had a moustache since the 7th grade and a beard since college. For me, the mouthpiece rests a bit on facial hair on both lips (upper lip more than lower lip). It doesn't bother me, although the mouthpiece grips my lips better when I'm clean shaven. But it's never been a problem. I suspect it comes down to personal preference.

Mike
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Bach Stradivarius 43* Trumpet (1974), Bach 6C Mouthpiece.
Bach Stradivarius 184 Cornet (1988), Yamaha 13E4 Mouthpiece
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn (1969), Yamaha 13F4 Mouthpiece.
Plus a few other Bach, Getzen, Olds, Carol, HN White, and Besson horns.

[Jaw04]

I trim my beard to keep it off the lips and it's never affected me. I don't do any extra shaving besides just keeping it off the lips.

[Dkjcliff]

I definitely feel like the length of the mustache part of my beard affects my playing. Whenever I have a bad playing day, I know it’s grown too long. After I shave it, my playing is back to normal. I don’t know exactly what is going on, but it feels like the longer hair is somehow making it harder for my lips to vibrate freely. I keep it around a “3” on my beard trimmer.
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Selmer Radial II
Yamaha YHF-635T Flugelhorn
Martin Indiana Cornet

[oxleyk]

No lady likes
To snuggle or dine
Accompanied by
A porcupine.

Burma Shave

[kehaulani]

I think the more you obsess on it the more it affects you. I've never given it a second thought.

(LOL, I wonder how many readers know "Burma Shave".)
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[trumpet2012fhl]

Interestingly enough, this is the reason I started to grow a beard/mustache in high school. I would get ingrown hairs or razor burn near my lips and it would hurt. So I grew it out to see what that would do. I have never really had an issue and I've had it since high school.

[Robert P]

[Halflip]

[Robert P]

[mograph]

[kehaulani]

Used to have hair on my royal crown.
Year by year it's fallen down.
It used to strike an impressive pose.
Now it just grows out my nose.
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"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[shofarguy]

I have whiskers that grow right on the edge of my lips and they stick straight out. I always shave around the rim of my lips before I play each day. I wear a goatee and make sure that my mustache hairs are trimmed so they don't poke my bottom lip. Those are the only two things I need to worry about before I am comfortable playing my horns.
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Brian A. Douglas

Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb Trumpet in copper
Flip Oakes Wild Thing Flugelhorn in copper


There is one reason that I practice: to be ready at the downbeat when the final trumpet sounds.

[cheiden]

I routinely sport a mustache and goatee with soul patch. I never shave the mouthpiece area but I do use a beard trimmer to keep that area from getting too long. If I don't manage it I feel it does interfere with my playing.
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"I'm an engineer, which means I think I know a whole bunch of stuff I really don't."
Charles J Heiden/So Cal
Bach Strad 180ML43*/43 Bb/Yamaha 731 Flugel/Benge 1X C/Kanstul 920 Picc/Conn 80A Cornet
Bach 3C rim on 1.5C underpart

[JWG]

Wow, I would think it all depends on your underlying skeletal structure supporting your embouchure, the size/shape of your lips, whether you have fine hair or thick whisker-like hair interfering with your embouchure, whether that hair grows quickly or slowly, and where you place the mouthpiece on your lips.

My $0.02: I suffer from in-grown facial hair; thus, daily shaving results in infections more often than I would like.

Hence, I keep a very short beard that I trim weekly down to stubble.

Under most of my lower lip, I shave down about 3/4 of an inch to where my lower jaw turns outward, because I hate catching food there when eating. Just keeps my appearance tidy and allows me to easily wipe below my lower lip with a napkin.

Above my upper lip, I trim a very small arc to match the arc where the top of my mouthpiece rests. I do this by turning my Braun electric shaver from the horizontal to the vertical and shadowing where my mouthpiece normally protrudes above the red of my lip. This has served me very well, and most people do not even notice it due to the contours of my lips.
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Flip Oakes Wild Thing Bb and C with 1.5 TCC, XT, C, C-O, O, & L mouthpieces
Bach 183S (undersprung valves & straight taper pipe) with 1.5 Flip Oakes XF

[Halflip]

[cheiden]

[Halflip]