Facial Hair & Eyes

The Facial Hair
Theatrical hair or hair clippings are the most commonly used methods for facial hair application.

Different colors of crepe hair are shown above.
You may want to purchase different shades or your hair color so you can blend the colors together when you cut it up. Men’s beards tend have depth of color in their hair.

But deciding to use either fake or real hair is completely up to you.
Both can achieve that realistic look, but make sure that what and how much you use make sense for your character.

Preparing your facial hair for easy application:
You will need:
• Scissors
• Bowl
• Crepe hair or your own hair
• Spirit Gum or Eyelash Glue
• Mirror
• Eye Shadow brush
• Eye Shadow powder
• Eyebrow comb
• Blush Brush
• Baby Oil or make-up remover
• Eyebrow pencil

Once you have all of these items, you will need to set up in a place with a hard surface
that is easy to clean up that also has good lighting so you can see what you are doing.

1.) Take a chuck of hair, pinch it between your fingers
and start cutting it up carefully.

2.) You will want to continue cutting up your hair until it is so fine
that you can not pinch the hair any more.

3.) You will want to continue cutting the hair up in the palm of your hand.
Be careful not to cut yourself.
The end result should be a fine/powder like consistency.

4.) Once your hair is cut up to your satisfaction you will need to draw on your beard with a eye shadow brush and eyeshadow (that is the color of your hair). If you are blonde than use a medium or light brown color so that your beard can be seen on the stage.

5.) Take a look at the guide below to decide the “look” and “shape” of your beard.

6.) Once you have brushed on your beard color, then you will take your adhesive (spirit gum or eye lash glue) and cover the entire area that you want your cut up hair to stick to. You will need to use the mirror to check to see if area that you coated is evenly placed by the wet shine that the gum and glue give off.

7.) Now you are ready to place the cut up hair. Pinch small chunks of hair and dab it carefully on the sticky parts of your face. Make sure you place the hair evenly until all of the areas you want your hair to stick to are covered.

8.) Wait about 15-30 seconds and then press the hair to your face so that it sticks firmly.

9.) Use the eyebrow comb to shape your beard, mustache and/or chops.

10.) Use your blush brush to brush away any loose hair on your skin and clothes.

11.) Check the mirror to make sure your facial hair looks even and use either an eyebrow pencil or the eye shadow brush to fill in any uneven areas to to reshape your beard so it looks the way you want it to look.

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SPIRIT GUM ADHESIVE

To apply the hair, most use spirit gum or eye lash glue as an adhesive.

Spirit Gum may be acquired at most theatrical or costume merchandisers
(for example, Backstage, on 8th St. SE, Washington, DC)

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EYELASH GLUE

Eyelash Glue can be purchased at your local drug store.

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SPIRIT GUM REMOVER

• To remove the hair, try baby oil, makeup remover, or cold cream
(All of these hair removal items can be purchased at your local drug store)
NOTE: The compound that breaks down spirit gum is mineral oil.

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TYPES OF FACIAL HAIR

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EYEBROWS

The Eyes
Men tend to have thick eyebrows that frame their eyes and balance out their facial hair.
You may want to darken or thicken your eyebrows (especially if you tweeze or wax them regularly)
Eye shadow or an eyebrow pencil is best