The Long Goatee With Short Beard: Pictures, Benefits

A long goatee can dominate a face – it’s as simple as that. It’s a front-and-center, no-nonsense style that knows how to draw attention. Combining a short beard with a long goatee is a phenomenal way to add balance. 

It’s also called the “long goatee with short sides”. Filling out the cheeks with some short, solid, but subtle facial hair will add a bit of fullness while still allowing the long goatee to take the lead. 

It’s a thoroughly and intensely masculine style that has some serious benefits. Arguably, its main benefit is the way in which it can elongate the chin and face. 

But adding a long goatee to a short beard does come with an increased maintenance requirement.

Trimming into shape is crucial to prevent it from becoming very untidy, very quickly. Brushing, combing, and oiling would also be welcome. But more on this later. 

What I want to do is show you exactly what this style is, as people may have different ideas. This is fine because the term itself is quite flexible. But understanding the general concept behind it should steer you well if you decide to go for it. 

You’ll see some pictures to get a good idea of what it looks like and then hear about some key features of the style. 

Let’s get to it. 

What Exactly Is The Long Goatee With A Short Beard? 

It’s also called the “long goatee with short sides”. What differentiates this style from the standalone “long goatee” is the presence of hair on the cheeks. 

This simple addition is why it can’t be labeled a simple goatee. A goatee is technically any style that consists of hair on the chin but not on the cheeks. We’ve got a long chin beard in this style – so that checkbox is ticked. 

But we’ve also got cheek hair here – so a somewhat long and awkward name is necessary. It can’t simply be labeled a long goatee. It’s why we call it the “long goatee with short beard”. 

But a long, pointed chin beard with cheek hair – surely that’s a Ducktail? If that’s what’s on your mind, it’s an excellent question. 

The reason this is different from a Ducktail is that the sides are short relative to the chin beard (goatee). The cheek hair is so short that the long goatee can still be called a goatee style because the pointed chin beard is definitely the centerpiece of the whole style. 

There aren’t any styles quite like it. Its uniqueness is what draws people to it. But we’ll talk more about its benefits a bit later on. 

You’ve learned what it is and how you might recognize it. Let’s take a look at a couple of pictures to really etch it into your mind. 

Examples Of The Long Goatee With A Short Beard

It can be a difficult style to visualize if you haven’t seen a photograph of one. 

This is a glorious example. Immaculately trimmed and sculpted. It’s a phenomenal example of a pointed goatee. 

As you can see, there’s cheek hair and it’s trimmed very short relative to the chin beard. That’s exactly what I’m talking about. 

Your chin beard (goatee) doesn’t have to be as long as this one. This one is particularly impressive but would take quite some time to maintain. 

“Long” is a subjective term – one man’s long is another man’s medium, and another man’s short. This is down to personal opinion and preference. Pick your “long” and go for it. It wouldn’t be very helpful to give you a length down to the millimeter, here. 

Maintaining a noticeable difference in length between the chin beard and cheek hair is more important. There needs to be a visible transition between the cheek hair and goatee for the style to work. A visible transition, you could say. 

Here’s another example – as you can see, the mustache has been partially curled into a Handlebar here. This also works incredibly well. 

In general, the style does usually incorporates a mustache, but yours doesn’t have to. There are plenty of great goatee styles without mustaches, and this could be one of them. It’s something to experiment with if you’d like to. 

The goatee is also more rounded off here and less pointy. This is also something you could experiment with quite easily. A pair of beard scissors would be all that you’d need. 

As you can see, once again there is a visible transition between the cheek hair and the chin beard, although it may not be as noticeable as in the first one. 

Benefits Of This Style

The long goatee with a short beard is a very impressive style. But why? I wanted to break down what makes this style stand out among the countless other goatee variants. As a goatee enthusiast, I feel this is my duty. 

1. It lengthens and strengthens the chin

Goatees are great for men with weak chins and shorter face shapes – this is a well-established fact. 

The reason for this is that they emphasize and accentuate the chin. Having such a focus on the chin relative to the cheeks is great because it elongates the chin and the face. 

For men with round or square face shapes, this is a phenomenal outcome. The long goatee takes this to the next level because the more length you add, the more pronounced the effect. 

But having just a little bit of cheek hair adds a lot of balance to this effect. It can be easy to go overboard and keep adding more and more length to the chin. But this can have the opposite of the desired effect and put too much emphasis on the chin. 

Filling out the cheeks a little (but not too much) is usually a great idea if you’re going for a long goatee. That’s exactly what this style does. 

When it comes to facial hair and face shapes, the aim is usually to achieve a more oval shape overall. However, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, as the appeal is ultimately down to personal preference. 

But the idea of exaggerating and strengthening the chin is often very appealing to men. 

However, when it comes to face shape, elongating the chin can be a double-edged sword – we’ll come onto this a bit later. 

If you’re looking to lengthen and strengthen the chin, this style may be exactly what you’re looking for. 

2. It’s intensely masculine

Longer beards generally do carry the benefit of looking and feeling more masculine. But this isn’t always the case. For a beard to look masculine, it isn’t enough to just be long. Proper grooming is essential to keep it from looking untidy and accidental. 

The long goatee and short sides is by definition a long beard style. But in order to trim it and maintain it, some diligent grooming is necessary. 

The style is a great example of piercing, traditional ruggedness mixed with a very modern sense of fashion. It’s amazing what simply trimming the sides can do. 

Having a long goatee allows you to make use of all of the best toys, including boar bristle brushes, hand-cut pearwood combs, beard oils, beard balms, and so on. 

This toolkit isn’t exactly necessary with shorter goatee styles. But with this, additional products are not only encouraged, but they may well be necessary to keep things in place. 

3. It’s great for patchy cheeks

Goatees are my favorite solution for men with patchy cheeks. Cheek hair has the potential to drive aspiring beardsmen crazy. 

It’s endlessly frustrating when you’re able to grow a thick, luscious chin beard and goatee, only to find that your cheek hair is sparse, thin, and lifeless. 

Unfortunately, this is an extremely common problem. Cheek hair just tends to run thin in a lot of men, and they often try a huge number of “miracle products” claiming to accelerate growth. 

But these are often a waste of time and money. The simplest solution to patchy cheek hair is to get rid of it altogether. A goatee style generally consists of absent cheek hair, or cheek hair trimmed very short relative to the chin beard and mustache. 

Trimming the sides short like in the “goatee with a short beard” is a great way to tackle patchy cheeks by simply trimming very short in these areas. 

This style allows the thick and long goatee area to take center-stage while trimming down the weaker cheek areas. 

Disadvantages Of This Style

Overall, the style generally garners very solid reviews. It’s also one that men keep coming back to once they’ve tried it once. But as with any beard style, it may not be for everyone. Here are some disadvantages of the goatee with a short beard. 

1. It has a high maintenance requirement

This requirement shouldn’t be underplayed. It’s no secret that it does take time to trim and regularly maintain. 

The sides need to be regularly trimmed short. If you wish to gradually fade the cheek hair into the goatee this will also add to the time. 

A long goatee also takes time to trim and groom. If you’re looking to maintain a pointy goatee, this will take practice and potentially some technical ability with a pair of beard scissors. 

Longer beard styles also come with additional grooming requirements, some of which I listed above. Brushing, combing, and oiling and essential for nurturing the beard and making sure it reaches its fullest potential. 

But a surprising proportion of bearded men find these habits fun. It’s fun to take pride in your appearance and nurture a beard as though it were a living, breathing, organism. 

2. It’s not as versatile as shorter goatee styles

What I mean by “versatile” is a style’s ability to fit into almost any situation without any trouble. This could be formal, casual, or anything in between. 

Stubble goatees and short goatees are known for their incredible versatility. They’re worn around the world by a huge number of men and because of this, they’ve become a sort of “universal style”. 

Whether it’s a family birthday or a corporate job interview, a small goatee will serve you will. They may not be the most attention-grabbing, but they’re versatile. 

Long goatees, on the other hand, aren’t as versatile. There are plenty of situations when they would look fantastic, but also others where it may not be considered appropriate. 

Although the opinions of others should never really matter to you or your beard, it would be shortsighted to think that you’d get a positive reception everywhere you’d go. 

The more outlandish and bold a style is, the higher the likelihood that your partner or family may not go for it, for instance. You also might struggle in certain workplaces as well. But again, this may not matter to you. 

If you’re looking for a style you can wear absolutely anywhere with no trouble whatsoever, consider a shorter goatee style. 

If you’re looking for a more attention-grabbing style and aren’t too bothered about whether it would be appropriate absolutely anywhere, the goatee and short beard is still on the cards. 

3. Face shape is important

I touched upon this point earlier on, but it deserves a little more detail. When choosing a beard style, it’s crucially important to take face shape into consideration. 

Here’s a full article on goatees and face shape if you’re interested. 

But overall, if you’re rocking a goatee, just be mindful of face shape. Goatees do a lot for the chin – draw attention, add fullness and depth, and also elongate them. 

Elongating the chin might sound great, and for a lot of people it would be. For example, men with short, round, and square faces or weak chins. 

But for men with chins and faces that are already long, growing a long goatee with short sides may be exaggerating the look too much. 

Having a chin which is elongated too much probably isn’t a desirable look on the whole. Facial hair is great for adding structure and definition to the face in ways we otherwise wouldn’t be able to. 

But it’s important to bear in mind that it can be too much and actually cause the opposite of what you’d initially intended. 

Goatees are styles where face shape is important and may prevent you from choosing the particular variant you want. Long goatees in particular can distort the face shape in ways that can be unappealing. 

So, if you’re a man with a naturally long, strong chin (which almost certainly isn’t a bad thing), think twice about growing a long goatee. A shorter one may be just right for you. 

Conclusion

It may not be the easiest to maintain, but it sure does turn some heads. The fantastic, visible transition between the sides of the short beard and the goatee is what really draws the attention. 

You’ve learned what it looks like and why it’s so great. If you’re still looking to grow this beard style, be patient, be committed, and be determined. 

Bearded greatness doesn’t happen overnight. Incremental gains over time are what really do it for people.