Shenandoah (beard)

This article is about the beard style. For other uses, see Shenandoah (disambiguation).

A Shenandoah, also known as an Amish beard, a chin curtain, a Donegal, a Lincoln, a spade beard, or a whaler, is a style of facial hair.

Edward Bates wearing a Shenandoah beard.

Description

The hair is grown full and long over the jaw and chin, meeting the sideburns, while the hair above the mouth is shaved.^[1] Depending on the style, there are subtle differences in the shape, size, and general manageability. The chin curtain is a particular style that grows along the jawline and covers the chin completely. This is not to be confused with the chinstrap beard—a similar style of beard that also grows along the jawline but does not fully cover the chin. In addition, many chin curtain beards do not extend far below the jawline, if at all, whereas chinstrap beards generally do. The Shenandoah tends to be somewhat longer than the chin curtain.^{[citation needed]}

Cultural and religious use

This facial hair style is popular among followers of certain sects of Islam, particularly Salafi and Wahhabi Sunnis, as they believe it is how the Islamic prophet Muhammad wore his beard. This is based on an interpretation of a hadith compiled by Muhammad al-Bukhari, "Cut the mustaches short and leave the beard". This interpretation is not universally accepted among Muslims; even among those who accept the hadith as encouraging beard-wearing, they dispute the necessity of shaving the mustache completely rather than trimming it short, or of keeping the beard long rather than trimmed.^[2][3]

In the United States, this beard style is common among married Amish men. Male members of the sect generally grow a beard after baptism, but shave the mustache off.^[4][5][6]

Gallery

• 
  Abraham Lincoln wearing a chin curtain beard.
• 
  An Amish man with a Shenandoah beard.
• 
  Vadim Chernobrov wearing a beard.
• 
  Finnish entertainer Spede Pasanen wearing a shenandoah.
• 
  Jehovah's Witnesses founder Charles Taze Russell wearing a Shenandoah

See also

• List of facial hairstyles