The ’90s Are Back: 17 Mustache Styles to Try Now
The 90s did not treat the mustache like an afterthought. It was the focal point, whether worn as a thick chevron, a sharp pencil line, a wide handlebar, or a fuller retro shape paired with stubble, a goatee, or sideburns. Some of those looks are best left to old photos, but plenty still hold up when the shape suits your face and the grooming stays deliberate. These are the 90s mustache styles still worth considering now, especially when the details are handled well.
17 Best 90s Mustache Styles for Men
Below are the 90s mustache styles that still have real grooming mileage today.
1. Waxed Handlebar Mustache with Full Goatee and Chin Strap
Few combos scream old-world swagger like a waxed handlebar paired with a full goatee and chin strap. The mustache ends are left long and trained outward without the tight curl of a classic handlebar, giving it a raw, theatrical edge. Keep the chin strap tight with a detail trimmer and let the goatee carry the weight below so the whole look stays balanced rather than chaotic.
One thing to watch: resist the urge to over-wax the ends into a perfect spiral. A slight, natural outward kick feels far more authentic to the era and far less costume-y.
2. Classic Chevron Mustache with Clean-Shaven Face
Letting a mustache own the entire face is a power move, and this chevron mustache pulls it off by going completely solo. With zero goatee, no soul patch, and no jawline beard to compete with it, every bit of attention lands exactly where you want it: right above the lip. Trim the bottom edge with a detail trimmer so it sits just at the lip line without hanging over.
For guys with a narrower face, a full chevron width like this adds horizontal visual weight across the philtrum zone, naturally broadening the mid-face. Keep the cheeks and neck razor-clean to preserve that contrast.
3. Auburn Handlebar Mustache with Wide Sweep
Growing a handlebar wide enough to sweep from cheek to cheek takes commitment, but the payoff is a mustache that commands a room. The asymmetry here is not a flaw. Uneven ends give the style a lived-in, organic character that a perfectly mirrored handlebar sometimes lacks. Train the ends outward daily using a firm mustache wax, working from the center out in short strokes.
If your growth is patchy near the corners of the mouth, let the length compensate. Longer hairs naturally fill in weak connector gaps as they extend past the lip corners, so patience is your best grooming tool here.
4. Thin Pencil Mustache with Retro Mullet
Worn thin and precisely outlined, this pencil mustache sits just above the upper lip with barely a millimeter of width, making it one of the most high-maintenance styles on this list. Every edge needs a razor-clean outline cleanup to stay sharp, because even a day of unchecked growth turns a pencil mustache into something far less refined. Pair it with a mullet and the whole look becomes a full-throttle ’90s statement.
Use a shavette or straight razor along the upper and lower borders to keep the line crisp. Because the mustache is so narrow, any softness in the outline immediately dulls the effect.
5. Medium Chevron Mustache with Designer Stubble
If Tom Selleck made one thing clear, it’s that a dense, well-grown chevron mustache needs no backup act. Grown thick enough to just graze the upper lip line, the chevron gets its shape from a straight, blunt trim across the bottom edge rather than any sculpting or carving. Use a clipper with a short guard to keep the bulk even and prevent the center from growing heavier than the sides.
Yours does not need to match Selleck’s legendary density to work. Even a medium-density chevron with a touch of designer stubble on the cheeks gives the face a rugged, proportioned frame without looking like you raided a costume shop.
6. Waxed Handlebar Mustache with Light Stubble Goatee
Curl the ends upward with a dab of firm mustache wax, then let a light stubble goatee do the heavy lifting below. That contrast between the sculpted, waxed mustache and the deliberately casual goatee stubble is what makes this combination feel current rather than like a Victorian-era portrait. Blend the goatee stubble with a guard comb so it stays uniform without looking overly groomed.
7. Strawberry Blonde Chevron Mustache with Light Stubble
Red and strawberry blonde facial hair has a natural warmth that makes a chevron mustache look richer than it would in darker tones. Rather than going solo, this version lets a scatter of light stubble across the cheeks and chin soften the overall look, stopping the mustache from feeling too isolated on the face. Trim the chevron’s lower edge bluntly so it just kisses the upper lip without drooping over it.
Pair it with a modern, voluminous hairstyle on top to update the vintage mustache shape and keep the whole look from drifting too far into retro territory.
8. Trimmed Chevron Mustache with Classic Side Part
Growing a chevron does not mean letting it run wild over your lip. Allow natural downward growth on both sides until the mustache forms a gentle angle, then trim the overhang so it sits cleanly at the lip line rather than covering it. That single trim decision separates a groomed chevron from an unkempt one.
Finish with a classic side part to ground the whole look in polished, timeless territory.
9. Short Caterpillar Mustache with Slight Overgrowth
A chevron mustache punches above its weight when everything else on the face is clean-shaved. Keep the width tight, sitting just at the corners of the mouth, and let a few days of light stubble scruff fill in naturally around it. For guys who want that upper lip presence without committing to a full, dense mustache, allowing a slight overgrowth to drape over the lip line is all you need to dial up the volume.
10. Flat-Top Painter’s Brush Mustache with Soul Patch
Trim a clean, flat horizontal line across the top of the mustache so it sits flush against the nose base, then let the body grow full enough to give you something to work with at the corners. A tiny amount of mustache wax coaxed into each end creates a barely-there curl that stops well short of a handlebar.
Ground the whole look with a loose, unstructured soul patch beneath the lower lip for that unmistakable late-90s downtown energy.
11. Van Dyke-Adjacent English Mustache with Medium Stubble
Where a handlebar curls up, an English mustache disciplines its ends straight outward, and that subtle distinction changes the entire character of the face. If growing the ends long feels like too much commitment, keep them short and crisp, then compensate with medium stubble across the cheeks and jaw.
That mid-density scruff fills out the lower face beautifully, so the mustache never looks like it’s floating alone on a bare canvas.
12. Classic Push Broom Mustache on a Clean-Shaved Face
A full, dense push broom mustache worn on a completely bare face is one of the boldest moves in the facial hair playbook. No sideburns, no stubble, no distractions.
Trim the top line straight across with a detail trimmer, keep the bottom edge just grazing the upper lip, and let the width extend naturally to the corners of the mouth. Giving the mustache the entire stage to itself makes the proportional statement far louder than any beard ever could.
13. Bushy Handlebar Mustache with Long Sideburns
Grow the mustache out thick and wide, then use a boar-bristle brush and a firm mustache wax to train the ends into a pronounced outward curve. The sideburns should run long, roughly level with the earlobe, to balance the horizontal weight of those sweeping ends.
Part your hair cleanly down the middle and you have a look that carries serious old-world gravitas without needing a single inch of beard below the lip line.
14. Thin Natural Mustache Disconnect with Tapered Curly Hair
Fine, lighter mustache growth actually works in your favor here. Aim for a wide footprint, stretching the mustache roughly as far as your eyebrows, and let the natural philtrum gap breathe rather than fighting it with a trimmer.
On a heart-shaped face, that width draws the eye across the mid-face and adds visual mass to a narrower chin. Pair it with tapered sides and a curly top for a combo that feels genuinely fresh rather than retro.
15. Sparse Natural Chevron Mustache with Short Cropped Hair
Thinner mustache density is nothing to work around. Let it grow in its natural shape, making sure the perimeter extends just past the corners of the mouth for a proportionate outline.
Run a detail trimmer lightly across the top edge to keep the lip line clean, shave the rest of the face bare, and crop the hair short. Stripping everything else back puts the focus exactly where you want it.
16. Auburn Horseshoe-Walrus Mustache with Long Curly Hair
When your mustache grows in a warm auburn or red tone against darker hair, lean into that contrast rather than correcting it. Let the mustache build enough density to sit somewhere between a walrus and a horseshoe mustache, with the ends dropping past the lip corners but stopping before they reach the chin.
Long, coily hair worn loose amplifies the rugged, high-impact character of the whole composition.
17. Thin Painter’s Brush Mustache with Shaved Sideburns
Removing the sideburns entirely on a round face can widen the appearance of the jaw, so redirect attention upward with a meticulously groomed painter’s brush mustache. Keep it thin and tidy, trimmed with a detail trimmer so the perimeter sits precisely at the mouth corners without a single stray hair.
That level of precision makes a compact mustache look completely deliberate and well-considered.
These are our top mustache styles drawn from 90s grooming culture. Some have held up remarkably well, crossing over into modern barbershop menus without missing a beat, while others remain fondly remembered as snapshots of a decade that was never shy about making a statement on the upper lip.
