The Handlebar Club Forum

Gentlemen
Judging by the amount of dissatisfaction with the existing material about Moustache Wax on the Handlebar Club Web site, now would seem to be the time to begin updating and improving the resources we have, and including more of the reviews that Forum members have kindly contributed here.

I originally felt that the Web site reviews, which were mostly the publicly-accessible opinions and recommendations of Ted Sedman, veteran Moustache guru extraordinaire, were rather well complemented by the equally public and possibly more-up-to-date review comments available on this Wax Forum. However, it seems that the post-by-post Forum message format is not what is wanted, and that all the reviews of each wax should be collated together for ease of browsing.

I am not sure that the Forum itself can usefully do this without rather a lot of post editing and moving by a moderator with lots of time to spare! I propose that the Web site Wax section could be updated and improved to list all the available waxes that we collectively know about, and with each product's description, a collection of the most informative reviews suitably credited of course, taken both from the old pages and gleaned from here would be inserted below the 'sales details'.

This way you will be able to see all the comments about a particular wax on one page, without the necessity to search for the information all over the place. It may be necessary to list the waxes on several pages to speed up loading, and it would be reasonable to do this alphabetically I imagine.

Future reviews are of course more than welcome from all Forum members, as they always have been, and although it's being suggested that a sort of template should be created for review submissions, I do rather like the idiosyncratic asides that sometimes appear in the train-of-thought wax reviews to date... So I wouldn't want the "template" to prevent wax users from continuing to post in the Forum as well.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on these points, in this thread. Thank you all for your contributions so far, and I hope that together we can make what we have already, even better.

EDIT: The Review Forums are now open!
David

The new Moustache Wax Reviews forum is created but not open yet.
It's currently locked so you won't be able to post anything yet.

David

How exciting! When I mentioned template, I really only meant some kind of quick and easy way the reviewer could identify his facial hair type/qualities & preferred style. The review itself should be totally free of constraints

David,

An idea struck me for this new venture regarding reviews. While searching for wax online using the American 'mustache' it struck me just how many waxes are out there. It may be a good idea to coallate as many of these as possible (I would be willing to compile as complete a list as I am able). Also, although there are many reviews already avaliable, it would be good to have a place for reviews to be specifically requested. That way if someone is wondering about a wax, anyone with knowledge who may not have come forward would know.

Nick D - yes please! The "definitive" list of wax brands - preferably I think, listed by maker rather than by individual wax names; i.e. all Firehouse variations could be in one thread for ease of finding them by name - and arranged alphabetically, is what I need next so that I can add them as Topics one at a time in that order. Would you kindly include all the relatively less-known waxes mentioned on the HBC Wax Suppliers page in the list as well. If you could e-mail it to me rather than by PM it would be helpful - I can PM (!) you my e-mail address if you haven't come across it already.

The subforum will show the number of posts in each Topic, so wax users might even want to try a wax as yet unreviewed which will be shown as having only one Template post, then post their review there.

I suspect it might be necessary to moderate this subforum to remove unnecessary discussions between reviews and wanted additional relevant comments - asides within reason included in the reviews are fine.

David

Good thinking It could be as easy as the person starting a new topic with the name of the wax with a post asking for input...

The important thing here is that there should only be one topic for each wax... And that one should try to limit discussions of tips and technquies to the "regular" wax thread.

Would you be including the "glues"? I'm thinking of Schwarzkopf's Got2b "Glued" "Unstoppable" "Extreme" and the glues EricJT has sampled and demonstrated. Hairspray has never been mentioned either. I know at least one member here who has experience with and uses it at the competitive level.

It seems that anything that can be put in hair has been put into a 'tache, including the glues, Brylcreem, Murrays, and sprays. I notice several of those are listed on the current HBC wax list, and it is important to include them. Besides being more possibilities for experienced moustache-wearers, it provides those just starting out with possibly easier to find alternatives to wax.

That being said, wax is first among these and is what most are interested in, I suspect. Plus, moustache waxes and pomades have the distinction of being specifically for the 'tache, even though they can be used on hair just as hair products can be used on the 'tache. Therefore, I would be inclined to have the first part only moustache waxes, but with a sub-section for all the other things which have been shown to be effective.

I think we should list all kinds of "styling aids" - those above and even "Pritt Stick", so that potential Competition entrants can find the best product for them too.
David

Just adding to my previous post: I've been assembling a list of waxes mentioned here and on the HBC site as a cross-check on Nick D's kind offer to list for me all the available waxes and glues etc, and I have amassed 35 brands! Who can say, "Moustaches are out of fashion"?

David

I read something recently along these lines: fashion is fleeting; style is eternal. I prefer to think of myself and most others here as having style, anachronistic or otherwise.

Well done to David, smedstad, Nick D and any unknown others who have thus far contributed to the community effort of revising the wax reviews.

And I'm willing to bet you'll never get through them all, either.

Micawber introduced a wax exchange when this Forum first started up; creating the opportunity to sample different brands and circulating any unopened surplus. In view of the recent revision to the wax review section, it may also be timely to re-introduce the idea of a wax exchange or create a sub-Forum or "Sticky" for it.

Wax Exchange?

I second that, Schnauzer.

Another good reason in support of a Forum wax exchange.

David, you're very welcome and thanks for listening. My thanks too to the others - EricJT, Nick D and smedstad.

It appears the Wax Review Forum is now open to receive individual member reviews.