Thursday 1 March 2012

Moustache Wax!

Today I am trying out a recipe for moustache wax from 1872. This one is quoted from
Encyclopedia of practical receipts and processes. by William Dick (though I have also found essentially the same recipe in and 1867 text and it gets repeated right through into the 1920s with minor variations)
1287. Hungarian Pomade for the
Moustache. Melt by a gentle heat 1/2 pound
gum-arabic, and 1/2 pound of oil soap, in 1 pint
rose water, then add 1 pound white wax, con-
stantly stirring; when of a uniform consist-
ency, add 1 ounce attar of bergamot, and 1
drachm attar of thyme, for perfume. If re-
quired to be brown, color it with tube-burnt
umber ; or for black, use tube ivory-black.
Like most pastes and pomades, this one needs a lot of working in a mortar to get it smooth. Here it is at the gum arabic, rosewater and soap stage. I'm using some of my own olive oil soft soap for the soap phase:

 Next, I've added the molten beeswax:
It goes a bit lumpy and porridgy at this point, it needs a splash more rosewater and lots and lots and lots of elbowgrease to reduce it to a smooth paste. The bit in the tub below still has a little bit of granulation to it, next batch I need to work even more I think;


The idea of this type of mixture is that the wax has holding power, the gum arabic in water goes on 'wet' then dries to a brittle stiffness, and the soap means it all washes out at the end of the day. Sadly, I didn't have a friendly moustache to hand, so this awful pic is the end of my hair. Still, its certainly sticky when applied and dries off into what appears to be a good level of holding power.
 In fact, its so sticky I inadvertantly glued myself to the cat, reaching down to stroke him after doing the end of my hair! Next step is to send this off to some gallant volunteers who will give me their honest opinion on how useable this is on real moustaches.

Having also read the 1923 version of the recipe which uses powdered Castile soap and much less liquid and which is designed to make a solid stick pomade, I'll be trying that one in due course. There is no doubt this version works, but it has a slightly odd texture that I'm not sure I care for personally.

I've found a fair number of Victorian moustache wax recipes in my explorations, and I'll be trying out a few more over the next weeks. I'll report back if I find anything particularly exciting.

Update: We have some photo feedback from one of my intrepid testers!

12 comments:

  1. How much wax did this produce for you? I'm also interested in the estimated cost per recipe. I am finding the majority of these ingredients to be a bit expensive. Also, were there any other test-subjects who may have offered more feedback? I would love to make a good homemade wax for my boyfriend who grew a moustache just for me (and this one seems so luxurious!) but I'd hate to spent such money and then he not like it! What are the chances you could sell me a sample? Enough for just a few tries would suffice.

    Thanks for your time!

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  2. Hi Kristina, you don't need to make it in huge amounts, do it in a scaled down batch so its measurable in teaspoons and its cheap enough in terms of materials, you'd only need to buy an ounce packet of gum arabic and an ounce block of wax and you'd have loads to play with. It had good feedback from my other testers too, butit doenst have a long shelf life due to teh high water content, its a make it and use it in a few weeks type of potion

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  3. Thanks! That's a great help! :)

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  4. I made a modified version of this recipe and my two brothers (who have epic mustaches!) both said it was by far the best wax they have ever used. easy to apply, long all-day hold, washes out easily. I used rosewater, gum arabic, castille (oil) soap, beeswax, and eucalyptus for scent in scaled down proportions (teaspoons). I found if you warmed up the rosewater/gum arabic/castille mixture a little first, when you add the beeswax it doesn't go lumpy! Just blends smoothly into a beautiful paste. Work quickly to pour into a tiny glass jar before it cools and starts to get really sticky, and voila! best stache wax on the market. thanks for sharing the recipe!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kailyn, really interested to get a homemade natural recipe for this - would you mind sharing your exact recipe? Thanks so much!!

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  5. Any way of getting the recipe for the tea spoon version? Not sure how to down scale it.

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  6. What other victorian mustache wax recipes have you found? I would love to read about them.

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  7. Hello Sally,
    Interesting Post, but i cant translate the measurement unit drachm.
    Sorry but i am used to the metric System...

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    Replies
    1. You may find this useful, there are loads of conversion tables out here for old weights and measures, this one is fairly comprehensive:
      http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/units/weight.htm

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  8. I feel like my wife would love this. She's been looking for a natural wax, and I feel like this is exactly what she needs. I'll be sure to show this to her tonight!
    http://blacklabelbeard.com

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  9. Well I must need some help, no matter how much mixing I do it always comes out as curds in a soup.... No even my mixer helped....

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