Forget Your Gillette! 2025 is the Year of the ’Stache on the UWS

Mustache wearers can be picky, Rafael Ibragimov, the owner of Barber Shop 72, explained when I visited his popular UWS establishment this week. “They’re like, please make sure not too short, not too long. Make sure that the lip line is straight.”

Lately, some of them have shown up at his shop with photos of actor Timothée Chalamet, the Gen Z heartthrob who stars as Bob Dylan in the film A Complete Unknown.

“A lot of them like his style, so they show us the picture and we style it exactly the same way he had it.”

There’s no doubt—Chalamet has been having a Mustache Moment. Scratch that: His new mustache has caused an international firestorm since the beginning of the year. When the actor appeared at the Golden Globes on Jan. 5, host Nikki Glaser zoomed in on Chalamet’s facial hair: “You have the most gorgeous eyelashes on your upper lip.”

Since then, media outlets across the globe have been buzzing about Timothée’s tonsorial style. The Times of India declared, “The barely-there mustache is the hottest trend of 2025, thanks to Timothée Chalamet.” The Brits were less reverential: The Daily Mirror smirked, “Fans beg Timothée Chalamet to shave his mustache after brutal Golden Globes Nikki Glaser roast.” But Chalamet has stood his ground and refused to lather up.

Mustaches wax and wane in popularity, but this year is already bringing a bumper crop to the UWS. Social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have played a role in popularizing “’staches.” This year’s trend leans toward the well-groomed, although you’ll occasionally spot a Chevron, a thick, full mustache that covers the top border of the upper lip, or even a Walrus, the thick, bushy style of mustache that droops over the upper lip like a walrus’s whiskers.

None of this surprises Rafael. A native of Uzbekistan in Russia, he has been a barber for 20 years and has seen it all, scissors-wise. He was born to the profession: His father, uncles, grandfather, and even his grandmother cut hair. But that pattern is not likely to continue here in the US. Rafael’s older son, Elan, wants to be a surgeon; his younger son, David, wants to be an architect, and his daughter, Rachel, is studying to be a nurse

Mustache-wearing tends to be an age-related preference. Most men who sport them are 35 and up, says Rafael. No matter your age, keeping your mustache tidy won’t bankrupt you at his shop at 49 W. 72nd St. “We just charge $5 to trim a mustache,” he says. A mustache-and-beard trim will run you $25. Rafael admits that his interest in mustaches is professional rather than personal. “I like to be nice and clean. Always shaved, looking presentable for customers.”

Gabe Zuckerman, a 26-year-old Upper West Sider with a mustache-and-beard combo, agrees with Rafael’s age comment. Zuckerman, who works in strategy and operations at Uber, believes that Manhattan mustaches are more common in those who are at least in their 30s or 40s. “I feel like in the 20s, people are more clean-shaven,” says Zuckerman. “The younger you are, maybe you have less credit in the bank and need to put your best foot forward.”

As for his own stylish mustache and beard, Zuckerman says he’s been in the unshaven camp for seven years. “For me, it started out of laziness. At a certain point, it just got to be too much work in the morning to make it look good.”

Zuckerman respectfully but firmly declines to wear a Chalamet ’stache. “I would say it’s not the look that I want for myself, but to each their own; if it were me, I would probably shave it. I feel like it doesn’t look like it’s fully grown in.”

As of press time, Chalamet was still keeping a stiff, bewhiskered upper lip.