Post-bushy beards, could the goatee be the next male grooming trend to take off? “I’ve noticed more men taking their beards shorter and sharper,” says Sam Hickey, the senior barber at Hackett Spitalfields in London. “It leaves a fuller front, which could entail a swing towards seeing more goatees in the not too distant future.”
George Clooney, Boris Becker and Harrison Ford have all recently got goatees. Although it is a look that is known for helping to strengthen weak chins and add definition to a face, it is also riddled with potential pitfalls. “It’s best to leave it to a professional, from making the moustache thinner to making sure the shape of the hair joining from your lip to your chin is symmetrical, and checking that the overall shape suits your profile,” advises Hickey.
Too sculptured and finessed, it suggests perfectionism and malevolence, the “dentist’s beard”. The goatee’s amoral associations are confirmed by Hickey. “Most people would currently see a goatee and automatically assume that said person must be trying to copy Walter White from Breaking Bad,” he says. Not to mention other famous goatee wearers: David Brent and cartoon Satan.
A couple of years ago, scientists at the University of Warwick confirmed that the dentist beard did not create a happy vibe: all those downward triangles had negative associations.
The goatee, then: the curate’s egg of male facial grooming choices.
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