Handlebar moustache
A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy, often graspable, extremities. They are named for their resemblance to the handlebars of a motorcycle or bicycle. This effect is usually achieved by the use of moustache wax.
Handlebar moustaches have always been closely associated with the British armed forces, particularly with the Royal Air Force in the Second World War.
During the First World War many things were in short supply including wax. in 1915 to try and help preserve the limited supply of wax, Canada outlawed handlbar moustaches which required wax to be maintained.
Men known for their Handlebar Moustaches
- Cap Anson, baseball player
- William 'Bill the Butcher' Cutting (fictional, from Gangs of New York)
- Johnnie Cradock, British cook and broadcaster
- Jimmy Edwards, British comedy actor
- Sam Elliott, American actor
- Rollie Fingers, baseball player
- Merv Hughes, Australian cricketer
- Lord Kitchener
- Sir Gerald Nabarro, British politician
- Ben Stiller (character in Happy Gilmore)
- William Howard Taft, U.S. President and Chief Justice of the United States
- Snidely Whiplash (fictional character)
- Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
- Veerappan, Indian bandit