How realistic do fake beards look?
I have a friend who’s been doing drag king performances for years. I believe she bought her beard… As to whether it would look cheesy or silly when worn: that’s all in the context and how you apply it. Apply it well, carry your male persona with confidence and it’ll work. If you’re in the NYC/Philly area and interested in meeting up with some drag kings, contact me.
I had a little experience with this back in college with an esoteric group of people. To me (a mans man type of guy) mannerisms and “ways of moving” are much more important. I can spot a fake beard/moustache the second you speak, but someone who moves in a manly way and behaves as such is much more beguiling. I’ve heard of transgendered people taking classes with mannerism coaches to learn the ways in which men move. More in how they interact with their environment and subtle social cues every man knows, but women never get. Things like walking down the street. There are subtle, but very important, cues every man makes while doing this, but women would never realize. I think that would get you much farther than a fake beard. Of course if you look like a petite woman no matter what, YMMV. I don’t know your situation and what you’re planning to do with it.
I guess what you want to avoid is looking like The L Word’s season four version of Max, no? Will your drag kinging be mostly on a stage? If so, the standards for ‘convincing’ will be lower. The main problem with fake beards is that in general, you can see the roots of beard-hair. A stick-on beard can’t easily mimic the effect of hair sprouting out from under the skin(you don’t get the same problem with wigs, where the hair can be brushed forward at the front so that the roots aren’t visible). However, if you’re on stage, this problem won’t arise, as people will be too far away to see the roots. Standard theatrical beards should be fine. This one looks quite good, cheesy photograph aside – it’s fairly low-key, but covers the chin area well. Remember that it will look better if the style of beard is one that is frequently worn anyway. I’d also look out for beards that have some variation in the hair colour, as it’s usual for there to
I have worn false beards for theatrical performances, and they can look excellent, even up close, but not perfect. You should look up a tutorial or find a book on applying real human hair false facial hair pieces, the kind that come woven onto an invisible net that you spirit gum on. This is likely to get your best result. If you trim them right and use a little makeup in the right ways the effect can be quite convincing. If you’re going for a longer beard or if the pre-made pieces don’t work for you, you can build a very convincing false beard out of crepe hair. Just remember that crepe hair is all one color and you need to buy a main cod, a highlight, and a lowlight, and comb and fold them together until you have something that looks natural.
Actually, on second thought, for close up viewing you might get better results with crepe hair. It’s a LOT more effort (you have to build the beard from scratch every time you apply it, and it can take over an hour) but it can end up looking much more realistic once you get good at it. I would go out and find a book or a video from a professional makeup artist, there are techniques that make a world of difference that are a little bit counter-intuitive.
