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A glance at the Goatee beard

How the Goatee should be worn and who else has it.

Who’s got a Goatee?
Goatees are really in at the moment. Celebrity Goatee wearers include Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, James Hetfield, Nicolas Cage, Orlando Bloom, Edward Norton, Samuel L Jackson and Colin Farrell.
     

 

 

Where does the Goatee come from?

No prizes for guessing this one. Just remember that your average goat can’t trim its beard into a facial masterpiece, but you can.

 

Key elements

A short or medium-length beard that’s barely wider than your mouth, with or without a gap of bare skin below the bottom lip. A true Goatee isn’t joined to a mustache.

 

Optional extras

Goatees are minimalist creatures. They may be shaped like a diamond, a W or a filled-in U, but they never spread too far upwards and outwards to avoid turning into a Balbo.

   

Impression the Goatee gives

Somewhere between arty, intellectual and bohemian, with a definite touch of hipness.

 

Hot or not?

With such a stellar cast of Goatee wearers, this style is off-the-scale sizzling.

 

Did you know?

In Greek mythology, the god Pan is often depicted with a Goatee. Abraham Lincoln shaved his beard into the same style at various times during his presidency. History does not record why.

 

Specifications of a true Goatee

- Lives on its own, without a mustache for company

- Doesn’t get much wider than your mouth (thereby distinguishing it from a Balbo)

- Is surrounded by a clean-shaven neck, upper lip and cheeks

- May or may not be trimmed to show the skin beneath

 

Variations include

- Adding a Soul Patch (a small tuft of hair connecting your lower lip and your Goatee)

- Growing the Goatee up towards a disconnected mustache – this style is called a Van Dyke

- Joining it to your mustache to form a Circle Beard

- Wearing a Goatee under a Handlebar Mustache to give your look a sophisticated twist

- Grooming it into a slightly elongated, thin U-shape to create a Chin Puff

- Styling and shaving it into an upside-down teardrop shape, known as a Petit Goatee

- Shaving off everything apart from a Soul Patch, then growing out the hair on the bottom of your chin until you can make two plaits. The resultant look is called a Sparrow, as in Captain Jack

 

Top tip

A Goatee tends to look best short, with a gently rounded lower edge.