(I ask in part to prevent otherwise idle neurons from investigating too closely what this intriguing title – Big Law: Deputy Butterbean – might portend.)
But back to the primary query.
Once upon a time, long ago, I myself wore a goatee, albeit when goatees were cool only among the limited demographic I rode with.
They have since then come solidly into fashion some – what? – five? eight? years ago, but I was somehow under the impression that more recently their popularity had steeply declined. They do not, after all, share the permanence of the tattoo, and so they can be removed even more quickly and easily than grown.
But just this evening, on a nationally broadcast TV show, two of the three males present were sporting goatees, one of them obviously a re-dedication to the style: one of the two who had previously sported a fully hirsute goat had obviously shorn it clean and was now retracing it with a newly sprouting gamboling kid. Change of a change of heart?
So while we pause between pondering weightier things, Deputy Butterbean included, tell us, good readers, and in particular our good ladies, what is the verdict?
Is the goatee still cool?
Or has it overstayed its welcome?
H. M. Stuart
Alexandria
After I retired, I tried a full beard and long hair. After about a year, I realized that it looked rather silly to have a fringe of long hair around the sides of my head. The beard itched. I then shaved it for a couple years. Then tried a goatee and have had that for about four years now. I kind of like it although my wife would prefer it gone. As for the head, an all over number three attachment goes quick and leads to no need to comb or worry so I now have a nice short crew cut. As for coolness of the goatee, who cares?
Ed, my 81 year old neighbor has a haircut like your old one. He looks like the Mayor of Whoville.
I sport one – as someone who works as a “Technology Specialist” in a university police department, I find it to be a useful caste marker.
I second John–in the early 90′s it was eccentric or off-beat, in the later 90′s it was cool, young, and edgy, in the early 00′s it was the style, and now it’s a caste marker.
I used to have one in the early 90′s (being eccentric and off-beat), but I realized two things: one, when you sweat, it all runs down your smooth cheeks and lodges in the goatee, which causes my skin to break out; and two, if your’e overweight, it makes you look fatter by emphasizing a double-chin effect. Thus, I went to a full beard until about the turn of the millennium at which time I decided maintaining it so that I didn’t look like the Old Man of the Mountain was too much of a hassle, so I have emulated the ancient Romans and been clean-shaven since.
When I go to Staples to buy computer stuff, people who think I work there will come up and ask me technical questions.
I blame my goatee.
Goatees are ridiculous and totally cliche. Why do fat guys all insist on wearing them? I cannot think of one goatee that actually flatters the person’s face. Not Brad Pitt, not Ben Affleck — zero dudes should sport this “pussy-face” abomination.
It’s not my favorite facial hair, but occasionally it looks nice. Has to be a think guy though. I don’t like facial hair much in general, although My Man has sported a neatly trimmed beard for several years now and I like it. He thinks he has a “weak jaw-line” and the beard adds definition.
Anything is better than a Soul Patch. Ugh.