Question: Faking facial hair?
nick asks…
What do you recommend for faking facial hair? Is there any subtle way to fake sideburns, a mustache or a 5 o’clock shadow?
Please post your response in the comments below.
» Ask Genderfork «
Posted by Zory on February 8th, 2010 at 04:00 pm
Category: questions 12 comments »
February 8th, 2010 at 5:01 pm |
there is no way to do so that will be convincing while out and about in any normally lit environment.
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February 8th, 2010 at 5:24 pm |
I wrote out all this stuff and then found a really great resource that said everything I wanted to say, but better. http://www.dieseldome.com/welcometodieselsdungeon/guide.html#facialhair
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February 8th, 2010 at 7:35 pm |
cut off locks of your hair and tape them on your face. no one will ever know the difference.
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February 8th, 2010 at 8:27 pm |
mascara brushed lightly on your face. it can look realistic. even female people have quite a bit of facial hair, it’s just lighter than male facial hair.
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February 8th, 2010 at 9:37 pm |
Check out Norah Vincent’s book “Self Made Man.” She did this, day in and day out, and I’m pretty sure she explains it in some detail.
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February 8th, 2010 at 9:58 pm |
Maybe not convincing close up, but I’ve used coffee grounds. Put Vaseline on your face and then pat on some finely ground grounds. You can “shave” it off with a butter knife. Be sure to do it over a sink or something, otherwise you’ll get coffee all over the floor or yourself. My coffee is ground for a french press (because my facial hair is also utilitarian in addition to making me look stylish), so I have a very chunky beard.
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February 8th, 2010 at 11:12 pm |
I found that if you take a bunch of your hair clippings, short clippings of course, and use eyelash glue to glue it on and brush it down with an unused mascara brush it works really well. I’ve only tried sideburns using that technique, so I’m not sure about beards or mustaches.
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February 9th, 2010 at 3:37 am |
Buy some fake hair in your colour or cut of some of your own, really really small milimetre pieces.
But on sticky acting paste or some other slightly sticky layer that doesn’t irritate your skin.
Take one of those big make-up brushes that is used for powder-foundation and put it in the hairclippings. Dab your face lightly to spread the hairs, repeat until the layer is big enough.
It’s not good enough to fool people in good light, but it can look pretty awesome with practice. If you go out in public, take a box of those damp tissues with you to be able to be able to quickly wipe your face if your facial hair gets ruined.
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:33 am |
I’ve actually just used a pencil, or eye pencil if it’s on hand and a more accurate shade – if you brush it lightly on your lower lip, it highlights your natural facial hair and looks fairly convincing. Plus, it’s not messy and lots of fun, hur.
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February 9th, 2010 at 8:47 pm |
A drag king I know uses a dark eyebrow/eyeliner pencil, then uses liquid eyeliner to emphasize specific hairs. Her big advice is to follow your natural pigment – you’d usually have facial hair somewhere anyway, so let that guide you.
I found that smudging sometimes help if you’re more after a 5 o’clock shadow look.
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February 10th, 2010 at 2:47 am |
The least obvious but most convincing trick is for girls who already have quite a bit of fuzz on their face: shave it off in the morning. The tiny hairs will grow back slightly prickly at the start, not creating a five-o-clock shave but getting very close to a 3-o-clock shave.
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February 15th, 2010 at 5:52 pm |
Just about any makeup that’s slightly darker than your normal skin tone, applied sparingly to the beard and mustache area – not too much. Many men have this darkening of the skin, but no really apparent hair for at least 32 hours after shaving. Don’t overdo it and if anyone seems to notice, be a little self-conscious about it. That’ll convince them.
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