Tim/Civil War Facial Hair Archive In all my efforts to grow every kind of facial hair I might imagine, I occasionally encounter ignorance by those who are completely unfamiliär with the nomenclature thereöf. I display that here along with the fruits of my labor, and of course some of history’s greatest facial-hair artists, the officers of the US Civil War. I present these pictures merely as examples, but to find a bit more about the person, pass your cursor over the picture. Pictures of me are 1999-2006.
The Moustache
Not one I like to wear for very long, I tend t’have a moustache only for costumes or plays. On the left, the “pencil thin” variëty, all the way thru some monstrosities I could only dream of growing. There has long been a strong connexion betweeen moustaches and military service, o any moustacheless style is less likely t’have any Civil War adherents, thus certain gaps below.
The Soul Patch/Imperiäl
A soul patch can be anything just under the lip, tho th’examples on the left are pretty much the size limit. This larger size can be called an imperiäl, tho I like to preserve this term for the long soul patch+moustache. Look at any 19th century Dutch painting for more examples of this one.
The Ra’s al Ghul
Altho the light is wrong in the first picture, I wouldn’t want to imply that this style is only useful for portraying the man himself, which certainly isn’t true. In any case, the Batman villain who gave his name to this style is sometimes shown with it growing down from the corners of his mouth, sometimes with it just growing from his jaw, so either is acceptable.
The Fu Manchu
Sort of like a moustache plus a Ra’as Al Ghul, this one was also named for a super-villain—some would say the super-villain—Dr. Fu Manchu. Altho the doctor could grow his with just hair from above his lip, most of us have to cheat and use the hair on either side of the chin.
The Goatee
The nomenclature discrepency that actually inspyred me to creäte this page was to differentiäte between a goatee and a Van Dyke, below. A goat cannot grow a moustache, and its hair grows just from its chin, thus the goatee is just chin-hair.
The Van Dyke
I’ve never come anywhere near these truly fabulous Van Dykes, which is just a Goatee+Moustache one-two punch. I can hardly even imagine that that last one is for real... I started out thinking of the third of me as an entyrely new style, but considering it just features a different interpretation of “goatee” I’m now convynced that it’s the same idea.
The Sideburns
Sideburns can go as far down as the jaw-line (as in the third photo of me), tho there is some seriöus dispute about the difference between them and muttonchops.
The “Irish Pugilist” Muttonchops
Sideburns that take a turn towards the chin, with or without shaved cheeks, but definitely without a moustache, are this brand of muttonchops. Once again, I have been outdone.
The “Civil War” Muttonchops
The left Civil War officer is Burnside, the man that started it all. Add a moustache to the “Irish Boxer” variëty and you’ve got this one.
The “Brigadier” Muttonchops
The fellow on the right is th’only one I’ve ever seen sporting this style, but I was so amazed at this all-in-one facial hair that I had to try it for myself. This combination of the imperiäl and muttonchops hits all of facial hair’s high notes.
The Amish/Chinstrap Beard
Amish beïng peace-loving folks, their beards have no moustaches. “Chinstrap” sometimes applies to very narrow full-loop facial hair, but also describes all shaved-cheek, no-moustache beards.
The Full Beard
An entyrely full beard would cover cheeks and neck, but I’ve only attempted it on my cheeks, and then usually not for long. These Civil War officers, tho, were not nearly so bothered by th’idea.
Most of the Civil War pictures come from this fabulous book Some of the Civil War pictures come from this fabulous website NEW! Stephen Colbert mentions all these facial hair styles in this monologue The Book of Ratings on facial hair World Beard and Moustache Champiönships Home