CHAPTER 14 Beards and Mustaches

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The first step in constructing a beard or a mustache is to make a rough sketch of what you have in mind. Presumably you will have done this when designing the makeup. Illustrations in this book and in your morgue should be helpful. The style you choose will, of course, depend on the period of the play and on the personality of the character.

You can make or buy beards or mustaches of real, synthetic, or yak hair ventilated on a lace foundation. This type of beard is the quickest to apply, the most comfortable to wear, and the most convincing. It is also the most expensive, but it will last for many performances, if not for many years. If you will be using a beard or a mustache for only a few performances and if your budget is limited, you will probably want to use crepe hair. In any case, you should become proficient in the technique of applying it. This applies primarily to men, of course, and to women who plan to make up men. And women do sometimes use crepe hair for eyebrows in character makeups.

Crepe Hair

Crepe hair is hair that has been permanently kinked by means of weaving on strings and boiling. Wool crepe is relatively inexpensive and, if skillfully manipulated, very effective. It can be used for beards, goatees, mustaches, sideburns, eyebrows, and occasionally to add to the natural hair. It is not usually satisfactory, however, for movie or television close-ups.

Various shades of hair are available, and for realistic beards or mustaches, several shades should be mixed. This can be done by straightening braids of both shades, then combing them together. This will give a far more realistic effect than would a flat color. It is especially important for realistic makeups that pure black or pure white crepe hair never be used

without being mixed with at least one other color. Black usually needs some gray or brown or red; and white usually needs some blond or light gray.

Preparation of Crepe Hair

Crepe hair comes in braids of very kinky, woolly strands, which for straight- or wavy-haired actors should normally be straightened before the hair is applied. This is done by cutting the string that holds the braids together and wetting the amount of hair to be used. The portion of the hair that has been dampened can then be straightened by stretching it between the legs or arms of a chair, two clothes hooks, or any other solid objects not too far apart. Both ends of the stretched hair are tied with string to whatever moorings are being used and left to dry.

The damp hair can be straightened much more quickly, however, with an electric iron, but be careful to avoid scorching the hair. Pressing under a damp cloth or using a steam iron ( FIGURE 14-1) is preferable.

After the hair is dry, it should be carefully combed with a wide-toothed comb, then cut into lengths as needed. A great deal of the hair will probably be combed out of the braid. This extra hair should be removed from the comb, gathered in bunches, and recombed as often as is necessary to make it useable for eyebrows, small mustaches, and the shorter lengths of hair needed in making beards. In combing, always begin near the end of the braid and work back, combing gently. Otherwise, you may tear the braid apart.

In case slightly wavy hair is desired, the crepe hair should be stretched less tightly while drying. Sometimes it need only be moistened and allowed to dry without stretching. It is also possible to use straightened hair and curl it with an electric curling iron after it has been properly trimmed. Crepe hair can also be curled by wrapping the straightened hair diagonally around a curling stick (a broom handle will do), securing with string, and allowing it to dry or force-drying it with an electric dryer. Spraying the hair on the stick with hair spray or coating it with wave set will give it more body.

Occasionally it is possible to use unstraightened hair if a very thin, fluffy kind of beard is needed. To prepare the hair, pull out the braid as far as it will go without cutting the string, grasp the braid with one hand, the loose end of the hair with the other, and pull in sharp jerks until a section of the hair is detached from the braid. The hair can then be spread out and fluffed up with the fingers. One method of fluffing is to pull the hair at both ends. Half of the hair will go with the left hand, half with the right. The two strands can then be put back together and the process repeated until there are no dark spots where the hair is thick and heavy. The curl is thus shuffled around so that it is no longer recognizable as a definite wave. If the hair is then too fluffy, it can be rolled briskly between the palms of the hands. This is nearly always done for mustaches when straightened hair is not used. The pulling and fluffing technique is particularly useful when skin should show through the beard in spots, as it sometimes does on the chin. It can also be used in an emergency if there is no straightened hair and no iron available to straighten it.

Mixing Colors

Because combing wool crepe, even with a wide-toothed comb, tends to waste a good deal of hair, mixing can be accomplished more economically by first cutting the various shades of hair into whatever lengths you are going to need, always allowing extra length for the trimming. You can then proceed in one of two ways—either take strands of hair of each color and gradually put them together until the portions of the various colors you want mixed are assembled into one pile, or put together all of the hair you want mixed and keep pulling the strands apart and putting them back together until they are sufficiently mixed. The principle, though not the technique, is the same as for shuffling cards.

The first method will probably give you a more even mixture. For some beards you will want to choose colors that are not too strongly contrasting in hue or value; for others you will want stronger contrasts. You might even, for example, use such strongly contrasting colors as black, white, or red.

If you wanted to give more subtlety to the color variation in a beard, you might work with three colors (which can be referred to as a, b, and c), mixing a and b to produce one mixture, a and c to produce another, and b and c to produce a third. Added to your original three colors, that would give you six different shades, which might vary only in value-variations of gray, for example—or in both value and hue—perhaps some red or brown mixed with the gray.

Application of Crepe Hair

The hair is commonly applied with spirit gum over the completed makeup. If creme makeup or greasepaint is applied in a very thin coat and well powdered, the gum should sick. How well it sticks will depend largely on how much the actor perspires and on the quality of the spirit gum used.

You will already have determined the shape of beard you want. In applying the hair, always be aware of the natural line of hair growth, as shown in the diagram in FIGURE 14-2. The numbers indicate the most practical order of application. The procedure is as follows:

1.Paint the area to be covered by hair with spirit gum one section at a time, and allow the gum to become quite tacky. Lightly tapping the gum repeatedly with the tip of a finger will speed up the process. It's a good idea to have some powder handy to dust on the fingers or on the scissors whenever they get sticky. During the application, the scissors and the fingers can occasionally be cleaned with alcohol or spirit-gum remover.

2.Separate a dozen or so hairs from one of your darkest piles, and, holding them firmly between the thumb and the forefinger of one hand, cut the ends on the bias ( FIGURE 14-3). The hairs should be longer than required for the finished beard or mustache—they can be trimmed later. The darker hair should usually be used underneath; the lighter on top. In observing bearded men, however, notice that in gray or partially gray beards, certain sections of the top layer are often lighter than others. Those areas normally match on both sides of the face.

3.When you have made sure that the gum is sufficiently tacky, apply the hair first to the underside of the chin ( FIGURE 14-4A). Usually the application should be in three layers. Push the ends of the first layer into the gum under the chin, about ½ or ¾ of an inch back from the tip (#l in FIGURE 14-2). Press with the scissors, a towel, or a damp chamois for a few seconds ( FIGURE 14-4B), then add a second and a third layer (#2 and #3 in FIGURE 14-2), the latter starting from the lowest point on the neck where the hair grows naturally. The hair along the edge of this line should be very thinly spread. If you are making a full beard, the hair should be carried up to the highest point at which the beard grows on the underside of the jaw.

4.Next, apply hair to the front of the chin. The hair can first be attached in a roughly semicircular pattern, following the line of the tip of the chin (#4 in FIGURE 14-2). Then add thinner layers of hair (#5 and #6), following the line of the beard as outlined by the spirit gum. For full beards the hair should be built up gradually, starting at the chin and proceeding to the sideburns ( FIGURE 14-2, #7-12; and FIGURE 14-4C). As the hair is usually not so heavy on the sides of the face, a few applications will be sufficient. Each application of hair should be pressed and allowed to dry slightly before another is made. Remember that ordinarily the thin layer of hair at the edge of the beard will be somewhat lighter in color than the hair underneath.

5.When you have completed the application and have allowed the spirit gum time to dry, gently pull all of the hair in the beard in order to remove any stray hairs that are not firmly anchored. A beard that will not resist this gentle pulling is not secure enough to wear on stage.

6.Holding your barber's shears vertically or nearly vertically, trim and shape the beard according to the style required, using a hand mirror when you need a profile view. If the beard is to be straggly, little or no trimming may be required; but a neat beard requires careful shaping.

7.Usually you will want to spray the beard with hair spray so that it will hold its shape. An unkempt beard may not need spraying; but, on the other hand, you may wish to use the spray to maintain the disorder.

Mustaches should not be stuck on in two pieces (except for distance work in which accurate detail is not necessary) but built up in the same manner as beards, starting at either end and working towards the center, letting the hair fall in the natural direction of growth ( FIGURE 14-2, #13–15). One end of each hair should always be free. The ends of the mustache may be waxed to make them hold their shape. Better yet, the whole mustache can be sprayed with diluted spirit gum (see Atomizers, Appendix A) or hairspray.

In extending the sideburns, either separately or as part of a beard, it is sometimes possible, if the actor's hair is long and his sideburns are fairly full, to undercut the natural sideburns so that at least a quarter inch of real hair can be made to overlap the false hair, thus avoiding an obvious join. If, however, the natural sideburns are closely cropped, it will probably be more practical to continue the front edge of the false sideburns upward slightly in front of the real ones as far as necessary in order to make a smooth blend into the natural hair.

REMOVAL   In removing the crepe hair, brush on spirit-gum remover along the top edge of the beard or the mustache, then pull the hair off gently, continuing to brush on the remover as you go. When all of the hair has been removed, clean the area where it was attached—first with the spirit-gum remover, then with your usual makeup remover.

LATEX BASE   If you need the hair construction for more than one performance, you can make it up on a latex base rather than attaching it directly to the skin with spirit gum ( FIGURE 14-5). It is recommended that you have a clean face with no natural facial hair of any sort before you begin as removal of the latex can often be difficult. This includes the soft, fine hair often found on a woman's face. Before painting latex on the face, it's a good idea to protect the skin with a light coating of cleansing cream or oil. Then powder the oiled skin and brush off the excess powder. If you should feel a burning sensation on your skin when you apply the latex, try another brand. If no other brand is immediately available or if you find all brands irritating, use spirit gum.

If you prefer to make the beard on a plastic face rather than on a real one, see FIGURE 14-6.

Following is the procedure for making a mustache. Essentially the same procedure would be used for beards and sideburns.

1.Paint the entire mustache area with liquid latex. If the character is to be aged, carry the latex application partially over the upper lip until the lip is as thin as you want it to be. When the first application is dry, add successive applications—usually two or three—until the latex seems thick enough to form a firm base.

2.When your crepe hair is ready to attach, paint on a final coat of latex and immediately push the ends of the hair into it. The ends will be firmly anchored when the latex dries. Because latex dries quickly, you should do only one small area at a time.

3.Pull out all loose hairs, and trim the mustache.

The mustache may now seem to be anchored solidly enough to leave it on for the first performance, but if there is much movement around the mouth or excessive perspiration, the latex may loosen and pull away from the skin. It is safer, therefore, to remove it as soon as the latex is dry and reattach it with spirit gum. This can be done simply by lifting one edge of the latex with a fingernail, tweezers, or an orangewood stick and pulling the mustache off. The back of the latex should be powdered immediately to prevent it sticking to itself. Rough edges should be trimmed before putting the mustache back on. In trimming the latex, be sure to leave as thin a blending edge as possible.

In reattaching the mustache, apply the spirit gum to the back of the latex, but only around the edges— unless there is to be so much movement that you would feel more secure with a greater area of adhesion. Let the gum become slightly tacky before attaching the piece to the skin. After the piece is in place, press with a towel for a few moments, just as in applying the hair directly with spirit gum. To conceal the edge of the piece, add a row of hair to the skin along the top edge of the mustache. This added row of hair will usually be the lightest hair you have prepared for use in making the mustache. On light-skinned actors, light hairs blend into the skin more readily than do dark ones.

REMOVAL   In removing the beard and mustache that has been re-applied with spirit gum, apply alcohol or spirit-gum remover around the edges of the latex to loosen it. Do not try to pull it off without first loosening the gum, as this may stretch or tear the latex. When the mustache has been removed, clean all the gum from the back of the latex with remover. It is possible to reattach the mustache with latex, but since the problem of security still remains, this is not advised. In making both a beard and a mustache with a latex base, make them separately or cut them apart after they are made in order not to restrict movement of the jaw.

If you mistakenly applied the latex over natural facial hair, try using baby oil or mineral oil to aid in the removal. Gently peel back a corner of the latex, near an edge, and carefully work a Q-tip dipped in the oil underneath the latex, moving in the same direction as the hair grows. This should cause the latex to release the hair. If you would like to try to reuse the beard and mustache, you will need to clean the latex with alcohol and lightly powder it so that the latex will not stick to itself. Remove the excess powder before reusing.

Beard Stubble

For an unshaven effect (see FIGURE 14-7), yak hair, human hair, or crepe hair is cut into tiny pieces and attached to the beard area with beard-stubble adhesive. There are several variations in the method. This is the simplest:

1.Wash the face with soap and water or clean it with alcohol or astringent to remove all grease. If the skin under the stubble is to be made up, use transparent liquid makeup.

2.Choose the color of hair you want, then cut up tiny bits of it onto a piece of paper, your makeup table top, or any smooth surface.

3.Cover a small section of the beard area with a beard-stubble adhesive (see Adhesives, Appendix A). Uncolored mustache wax can also be used for the same purpose.

4.Push a dry rouge brush into the pile of hair bits (quite a few will stick to the brush), and, with the brush, transfer the bits to the face. Spread the hair bits out fairly evenly and try not to pile them up in clumps. It would be best to have an extra rouge brush for this purpose.

5.Another method is to form a small loose ball from the bits of hair, then carefully pat it against the adhesive.

6.Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the entire beard stubble is complete.

It is also possible to use matte spirit gum instead of the stubble adhesive, and it may be advisable to do so if there is likely to be any sort of activity that might dislodge the stubble from the wax adhesive. The spirit gum can be applied over whatever makeup you are using for the character. Regular spirit gum is not advisable because of the shine. When the gum is almost dry, the stubble can be attached by touching a fairly large clump of it to the gummed area repeatedly until the entire area is covered. Loose hairs can be brushed off and final touching up can be done with the fingers or with tweezers. The spirit gum can be used over any makeup, though grease or creme makeup must, of course, be thoroughly powdered. The stubble adhesive works better on clean skin and is used for natural effects for the stage and in film and television (see FIGURE 14-8).

When attaching stubble to foamed latex prosthetics colored with PAX paint (see Chapter 13), try mixing the adhesive Secure BT-404 (Factor II) with the solvent Hexamethyldisiloxane (HD solution) in a 1:1 ratio. This solution will dry shiny and clear but will remain slightly tacky. To eliminate the shine, stir in the matting agent TS-100 or Cab-O-Sil a little at a time to create a smooth, paintable solution. The method for applying the stubble onto this surface will follow the same procedure as mentioned in the above exercise.

REMOVAL   Beard stubble applied with a wax adhesive can be removed with any oil-based makeup remover. When applied with spirit gum, it can be removed with spirit-gum remover or alcohol.

BEARD SHADOW   If, instead of a beard, only a beard shadow is required, simply stipple the beard area (over the finished makeup) with an appropriate color. With medium or dark brown hair, charcoal brown is usually effective, but a lighter color would, of course, be used for lighter hair. For black hair, a dark gray makeup or gray mixed with black might be used; and for gray hair, a lighter gray. Experiment with colors to determine the right one. Unless you are stippling with cake makeup, the stipple should always be powdered.

In stippling with creme makeup, spread the color onto the back of the hand, then press the stipple sponge into the color on the hand rather than pressing it directly onto the cake. That gives you better control over the amount of color on the sponge. Then, touching the sponge very lightly to the face, do all of the stippling with great care in order to avoid mistakes, which can be very time-consuming to correct. If you do make a mistake, try correcting it, if only a very small area is involved, by first blotting the mistake carefully with a tissue, then powdering it with a cotton ball or a cotton swab and, using a small brush, covering the spot with the foundation color. Powder again, then re-stipple. Depending on the size of the spot, it may be best to do the re-stippling with a small pointed brush rather than with your stipple sponge. Colors labeled “Beard Stipple” (usually a charcoal brown) are available.

Eyebrows

Yak hair, coarse human hair, or crepe hair can be used to supplement the natural brows, or they can be used to make completely new ones, as suggested in Chapter 9. In adding to the natural brows, it is possible to attach the crepe hair to the skin over the brow and comb it down into the brow or to stick tufts of crepe hair into the brow. The method used will depend on the form and the thickness of the natural brow and of the brow to be constructed.

Sometimes it is necessary to block out the eyebrows completely (see Chapter 11 for details) and build new ones. Ideally, this should be done by ventilating real hair onto net (see following section), but it can be done using the beard stipple method. When using latex as an adhesive, be very careful not to get it into the real eyebrows, for it may be impossible to remove the latex without removing the hairs as well. Once the hairs have been completely matted down with spirit gum, wax, or sealer, however, it is usually safe to apply latex over them.

REMOVAL   When using spirit-gum remover on the eyebrows, always protect the eyes by bending over so as to cause the liquid to flow away from the eyes instead of towards them. When applied with latex over blocked-out eyebrows, the hair can simply be peeled off.

Ventilated Pieces

The most convincing and convenient beards and mustaches are made of real or synthetic hairs individually knotted onto a net foundation. This knotting process is usually known as ventilating, though it is sometimes referred to as working, hand tying, or knotting the hair. The process is required in the making of full wigs, parts of wigs, toupees and, as mentioned above, facial hair. Although it is time consuming and takes a great deal of patience, it is quite rewarding work, for the hair, even in close-ups, appears to be actually growing out of the skin. The piece, when finished, is easily attached and removed and, with proper care, will last for some time. Since learning to ventilate from reading a book can be difficult, it is recommended to those who wish to improve their technique and speed to enroll in a class, or apply for an internship or an apprenticeship program.

MATERIALS   Foundations may be of silk net, nylon net, wig lace, cotton net, silk gauze, or a combination of gauze and net. The gauze is a somewhat stiff, thin, tough, closely woven fabric. The better nets are also thin, fairly stiff, and somewhat transparent, so that when they are glued to the skin they become invisible from a short distance. (FIGURE 14-9A and B). The mustache in FIGURE 14-9D and E was ventilated onto silk gauze.

Both human and synthetic hair are used, but when greater stiffness is desired, yak hair may be substituted. It is less expensive, it can be dyed any color, and it does not mat or snarl as readily as human hair does.

The finest human hair is available in a full range of natural colors. Human hair that has been dyed is less desirable since the color may fade in time. Coarser human hair can be obtained at more reasonable prices. Hair comes in various lengths, tightly bound with string at the cut end, and may be either straight or curled. Hair is purchased by weight, the price depends on quality and color. Grays are usually the most expensive.

Various types of synthetic hair are available in a number of colors and at prices considerably lower than for human hair. Some types have a high sheen, giving a rather artificial look; others have less sheen, some of them being virtually indistinguishable in appearance from real hair. Real and synthetic hair are sometimes mixed but it is not recommended as the two are styled differently. For sources of all types of hair and wig lace, see Appendix B.

Construction of Ventilated Pieces

The first step in constructing a beard or a mustache is to collect the appropriate tools (see FIGURE 14-10). This will include: human or yak hair in the colors required; a set of drawing cards; a ventilating needle; a ventilating needle holder; a piece of nylon netting or wig lace; a canvas head block; a pattern; and silk or dressmaker pins with large, flat heads. Then draw the outline of the proposed piece on the face with an eyebrow pencil. This, of course, will indicate only the area of the skin from which the hair would normally grow—not the shape or styling of the beard or the mustache. In other words, a long handlebar mustache may grow from the same basic area as a short-clipped mustache. The only difference is that the hair itself is longer. The diagram in FIGURE 14-11 will serve as a general guide for outlining the area of growth. For individual variations in beard growth, see FIGURES 14-12, 14-13, and illustrations in your own morgue.

After the area is marked on the skin, lay a small piece of plastic wrap over the marked area making sure that you do not cover the mouth or nose and cover with a piece of transparent tape. Trace the outline onto the tape with a permanent marker then cut out along the traced lines. This will give you an accurate pattern. For mustaches this is a very simple process, but for beards there is an obvious complication since the hair grows both over and under the jawbone. The solution is to place a larger piece of plastic wrap on the face, without covering the mouth, that goes from one sideburn to another and under the chin. Completely cover the plastic wrap with transparent tape following the shape of the face, covering all areas that will have hair on them, and making sure to support the area under the jaw with tape as well. Again, draw the shape of the beard onto the taped surface with a permanent marker.

The third step is to pin or tape the pattern to a wig block, a beard block (FIGURE 14-14 A, B, C), or a plaster cast of the actor's face, and lay a piece of lace over it. The lace should be at least an inch longer and wider than the pattern. It will be trimmed later. In FIGURE 14-11 the solid line represents the pattern of a mustache showing through the lace. The pattern should be pinned down with silk or dressmaker pins if you are using a canvas block or with transparent tape if you are using a wooden block or plaster cast. Next, position your lace on the block over the pattern so that the holes run in a vertical direction. The holes in most nylon netting or wig lace will actually run in a direction: horizontal or vertical. Hold the lace over dark fabric and you should be able to tell the difference. The lace should be pinned down with silk or dressmaker pins if you are using a canvas block, with tape on a plaster cast, with staples or wig points if you are using a wooden block. When pins or staples are used, be sure the lace is secured firmly, with the head of the pin or staple resting tightly against it so that it is not pulled out of shape in the knotting process. Begin by placing a pin in the top center of the netting approximately ¼ inch away from the edge of the pattern. Place another pin in the bottom center of the netting, opposite of the top pin, pulling slightly. Now do the same on the left and right sides of the netting. Fill in the perimeter of the edge of the lace with pins placed no more than ¼inch to ½ inch apart (FIGURE 14-15).

The ventilating needle is shown in FIGURE 14-16. It consists of a handle about 3 inches long into which the needle is inserted. The needle is about 1½ inches long and curved with a sharp fishhook at the end. The size of this hook regulates the number of hairs that will automatically be drawn from the hank when the needle is inserted. Needle sizes are designated by number, starting with 00—the larger the number, the larger the needle. For the body of a beard, a #1 or a #2 needle can be used, but for the edges a #00 is needed so that the knots will not be obvious. Larger needles should be used only where the knots are to be covered by subsequent layers of hair. For mustaches it is best not to use a needle drawing more than two or three hairs. For the top few rows a needle drawing only one hair should be used.

PREPARING THE HAIR  It is important to know which part of the hair is the root and which is the end. This is more important, however, for wigs than for facial hair. Place one side of the drawing cards on the table in front of you so that the teeth are bent away from you. Place a small amount of the hair in the drawing card so that there are 2 to 2½ inches of the root end of the hair (facing towards you) hanging over the edge. Place the other half of the drawing card on top of the first side with the hair in it, again, making sure that the teeth are pointing away from you. Press down on the drawing cards over the hair so that the teeth mesh together. This will allow you to “draw” the desired amount of hair from the card to ventilate into your sample (FIGURE 14-17A, B and C.)

Place the ventilating needle in the holder. Practice holding your needle as you would a pencil. Roll the needle between your fingers so that the hook on the needle goes towards you and away from you. Put the needle down in a safe place to prevent it from rolling off the table.

FIGURE 14-18 illustrates the ventilating technique. Always keep in mind, in ventilating, that your hands must be pulling against each other from the moment the needle catches the hairs until the hairs are knotted. Releasing the tension of the hairs before the knot is tied will probably result in their slipping off the needle. Releasing it before the ends of the hair are completely free of the knot may result in a loose knot, which will then have to be tightened by pulling it with the fingers.

The canvas block with the prepared netting can be held in your lap on a soft pillow or by a wig clamp attached to a counter. (Note: If you find the hair difficult to grip, spray a bit of water on it with a mister.) This is the procedure for ventilating:

1.Pull a small amount of hair out of the drawing cards (FIGURE 14-17 C.) Go down the bundle of hair approximately 2 inches and bend it over. This is known as the turn over. (1) Pinch the hair between the thumb (2) and index finger (3) of your left hand approximately ¼inch to ½ inch down the turn over. Allow the ends of the hair to be loosely supported in the rest of your fingers. At first the tension of your pinch will be very tiring, but once you get used to the process, you can tighten and ease up as needed. Now you are ready to ventilate.

2.Take your ventilating needle (6) in your right hand and hold it as you practiced. Slide the needle through a hole on the netting, passing under or catching a bar and come out through the next hole (7). Bring the bundle of hair to the needle and catch a few hairs on the ventilating hook (the number depends upon the size of the needle). Pull the hair out of the bundle a short distance (FIGURE 14-18 A). With both hands in tandem, slide the hair back through the holes, under the bar, taking care to keep the hook from catching the lace or netting. That can be done by rolling the needle slightly with the thumb and the forefinger in a counterclockwise direction and, at the same time, pushing the needle gently upward against the strand of the lace under which the hook must pass, enabling the smooth side of the needle to pass freely under the strand of the lace without the hook becoming caught in the net. This may take a little practice, but will soon become automatic.

Then withdraw the hook far enough to clear the lace comfortably (FIGURE 14-18B), but be careful not to draw it too far, or you may pull out the short end of the hair from between the thumb and index finger.

3.Now that you have a loop of hair attached to the needle, move the needle forward and catch the hair in the neck of the needle as illustrated in FIGURE 14-18 C. Roll the hook of the needle away from you so that the hair is wrapped around the neck. With both hands in tandem, pull the hair and needle towards you and swing the needle to the right. You should see or feel the hair on the neck slide up the neck and be caught by the hook of the needle (FIGURE 14-18D and E). Drop the hook behind the hair and twist the needle one half turn clockwise. Leave your left hand stationary and pull the hair that is held by the hook through the loop of hair still on the needle (FIGURE 14-18G). Pull the hair all the way through to the right and out of your left hand. If you tighten the tension of the hair in your left hand as you pull the hair out with your needle, the knot will tighten to the bar of the net. You should have a nice, clean knot (FIGURE 14-18H). The hairs will then lie in one direction, moving away from the left hand. Always move the right hand in the direction you want the hairs to lay.

As you become more comfortable and familiar with the process of ventilating, you will loosen your grip by relaxing your hands, resulting in the elimination of much of the motion in your left hand, letting the right hand and needle do the lion's share of the work. If you are left handed, reverse the hands as described above and pull the hair out towards the left.

The most important part of ventilating is to stay calm and focused and to take regular breaks. Novice as well as experienced ventilators should develop stretching exercises to reduce muscular tension and to avoid more serious physical conditions such as tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

In making a mustache, always begin at the outer corners and work along the bottom and upward. The top hair should always be the last to be knotted in. When the hair is in, trim the net about a quarter inch beyond the hair, as shown by the dotted line in FIGURE 14-11. The lace immediately under the nose may have to be trimmed closer than that, but avoid trimming it too close since the edges will eventually ravel and will have to be cut down still further.

You may want to do some preliminary trimming of the mustache before trying it on, for when you finish the ventilating, the hair will probably be as long as that in FIGURE 14-9C. When you are learning to trim and style beards and mustaches, carefully study photographs before you do any trimming at all. If you can find a photograph of exactly the style you want, so much the better. Cut the hair carefully with a good pair of barber's shears, a little at a time. Be sure to try on the mustache before doing the final trimming.

In constructing a beard, place the pattern on a form (such as a beard block or a plaster cast of the head) so that the original tucks can be taken. Then attach the edges of the pattern to the block with transparent tape. Identical tucks can be taken in the net. These can be folded down as you attach the edges of the net to the block with pins. You can secure the tucks by sewing them flat with fine thread of the same color as the netting, or with invisible thread which is a monofilament thread, ventilating through the thicknesses of net. When you ventilate in the folded area, be sure to catch all of the layers of the netting for added strength to the piece.

If you want to make the body of the beard foundation with gauze, simply lay the gauze over the beard pattern as you would the net, but trim it down ⅜ to ½ inch below the upper outline of the beard. The gauze should not show when the beard is finished. Then lay on a strip of net along the edge, overlapping the gauze about ½ inch and, of course, overlapping the edge of the pattern also. Along this edge, the hair can be ventilated through both net and gauze, tying them together.

For both beards and mustaches you should nearly always use more than one shade of hair. Facial hair is often darker underneath, lighter on top and along the edges. (See FIGURE 14-13M.) The lighter hair along the edge, being nearer the color of the skin, is extremely helpful in making a subtle, realistic blend. With gray hair, the differences in color are especially marked. There may sometimes be dark brown or even black hairs underneath and white ones above. This can be reproduced very subtly in ventilating, since the hairs are put in individually. A few red or auburn hairs will give a gray beard added life. Observe real beards—gray ones are rarely, if ever, the same color throughout. There may be a salt-and-pepper effect, with dark and light hair mixed, or the gray may be in streaks or areas, more or less matching on both sides of the face.

Application of Ventilated Pieces

A full beard can be applied in one piece or, if desired, cut into sections—usually three for actors or five for singers—each section being applied separately. In dividing the beard into sections, cut the lace very carefully, avoiding, if possible, cutting any of the hair. ( FIGURE 14-21) shows a beard cut into three sections, plus a mustache.) Following are the three basic steps for applying a beard, whether in one, three, or five sections:

1.Place the piece on your face to determine the correct position. If you have a beard or a mustache with a partial gauze foundation, you can secure it to the skin with double-faced toupee tape. If you are using a mustache with no gauze, set it on the face, then observe very carefully where it goes so that you can estimate where to place the spirit gum.

2.Brush a thin coat of matte spirit gum onto the clean skin, covering the entire area beneath the lace. For beards, you will normally place the gum only under the edges of the lace, though it is possible and sometimes desirable to cover the entire area if there is to be strong muscular activity, as in singing, or if for any reason you feel the need of the additional security. Never use latex on wig lace!

3.Let the spirit gum become slightly tacky. Then press the lace into the gum with a damp or dry chamois or dry powder puff, being careful to press the lace straight down without letting it slide on the skin. This sliding could stretch it, causing unsightly corrugations or ripples, which might become permanent. Use a clean section of the cloth or chamois each time you press. Keep pressing until the lace is dry. Then, with a toothbrush, or an eyebrow brush, lift any hairs that may have inadvertently been stuck down by the gum.

Dressing Ventilated Pieces

When the beard or the mustache is securely attached, it can be combed with a wide-toothed comb. But remember, in combing any hairpiece, always to hold the comb at an angle so that there is no possibility that the teeth will dig into the net foundation and tear it. This means holding it at the reverse angle from the one usually used in combing your own hair. Also, when the hair is fairly long, always begin combing at the ends and work towards the roots. Human hair in hairpieces of any kind becomes matted and tangled much more easily than the same hair would while growing on the head. This is because half of the hair is going against the natural direction of growth. In other words, the hair is knotted somewhere between the roots and the end, both of which are extended outward. A human hair is not quite the simple, smooth filament it appears to be—there are little scale-like projections, all going in the same direction. You can usually feel the difference by running a hair quickly between your thumb and forefinger in the direction of growth and then against the direction of growth. When hairs are not all going in the same direction, these tiny scales catch onto each other and cause matting. Therefore, special care is needed in combing any kind of hairpiece made from human hair.

If the hair does not naturally fall just as you would like it to, comb it with water, set it (pushing it into waves or making pin curls—on the ends of beards or mustaches—for example), and let it dry before re-combing it. When the hair is dry, spray it with hair oil or hair spray, or apply a gel or cream dressing, then comb the hair and do whatever trimming and shaping may be needed. If you want the hair to look dry or unhealthy or dirty, you can use colored powder or cake makeup to dull it.

Human hair can also be curled with a curling iron if you prefer. Heat should never be used on synthetic hair. Steaming is preferred. In order to maintain the wave in synthetic hair, it may be necessary to spray it with hair spray.

The ends of a mustache can be shaped with mustache wax, derma wax, or hair spray. The mustache and the goatee in FIGURE 14-20 were dressed with Kryolan Eyebrow Plastic and hair spray.

Removing and Cleaning Ventilated Pieces

To remove the beard or the mustache, dip a stiff brush into spirit-gum remover or alcohol, and press the bristles into the lace edge. Do not scrub and do not pull up the lace by force. Any good lace or net is very delicate and requires considerable care in handling to avoid stretching or tearing it. Keep flooding it with the remover until the gum is softened and the lace comes up by itself. Then dip the lace edge (or entire piece if there is spirit gum on all of it) into a dish of 99% isopropyl alcohol. The lace must be kept absolutely clean if it is to remain invisible on the skin. It may be desirable, even when the gum has been used only on the edge, to soak the whole piece in acetone from time to time. Always use proper ventilation, gloves, and a respirator when using acetone.

Beards and mustaches should be carefully stored so that they will be kept clean and the lace will not be damaged. It is best to stuff beards with cotton or tissue paper and to keep each one in a box large enough so that it will not press the beard or the mustache out of shape.

Adapting Beards

One great advantage of ventilated pieces is that they can be restyled, often merely by combing, for a variety of characters. It is possible, for greater flexibility, to make a full beard in three pieces—one center and two side sections—with, of course, a separate mustache (Figure 14-21).

Then the pieces can be used singly or in any combination, as shown in FIGURE 14-22, in which all six makeups are done with a single wig and the four pieces shown in FIGURE 14-21. This is only a sampling of the variety of styles that could be obtained by redressing various facial hair pieces and applying them in different combinations. (Note: If the lace doesn't match the actor's skin color you can dye it with fabric dye or use felt tip markers from the local art supply store. Artist's markers come in a wide variety of colors that are appropriate for matching skin tones.)

It is most useful for any wig department, small theater group, or actor to build up a stock of ventilated beards and mustaches. The time invested initially will surely pay off in the end, giving you a stock of realistic beards and mustaches that can be saved and used to enhance productions for years to come.