Whisker's Man's Best Friend

Nothing can reshape a face or add a dramatic look like whiskers. All facial hair styles, “Sideburns, Mustaches, Goatees and Full Beards" are determined by the natural growth pattern and density of our facial hair. 

Whiskers can be shaped and styled to cover a ruddy complexion, shorten a wide upper lip, add width to a narrow face, balance a large nose, soften or accent sharp features, cover a scare, strengthen a weak chin or cover a double chin, make receding hairlines less noticeable and add a mature look to a young face. Wearing facial hair can give you a mature, stylish, artsy, rugged, dashing, sexy, intelligent, friendly, decisive, bold, aristocratic and distinguished look. What more can I say about man's best friend___ whiskers?

If your up for a totally new look, before you start “sprouting whiskers” take a look at how many notable Hollywood actors use facial hair styles for the rolls they play and to enhance their personal appearance. Throughout his career Errol Fynn used a thin "mustache" to complement his angular features and a stylist small goatee for rolls as a dashing buccaneer. The handsome Clark Gable sported a shapely “chevron style” mustache to shorten his wide upper lip and full sideburns to frame his large ears.

A Goatee is a “stylish way” to cover a double chin or widen a narrow or weak chin and add a mature or artistic look. To give his boyish good looks a mature look Leonardo DiCaprio sometimes wears a mustache and goatee. When Johnny Depp added a  mustache and goatee for his roll as the swashbuckling pirate young men begin sporting his “style pirate look”.

Wearing facial hair is a quick way to add a mature look and balance facial features. To accent his angular chin Sean Penn often wears a stylish thin mustache and small goatee. Ashton Kutcher's baby face gets a mature rugged look with a close clipped beard. To keep it up use a clipper on the closest setting twice a week and shave around the edge to accent the shape.

For a Wild West Style Sam Elliott let his thick whiskers grow and shaped into a classic handlebar mustache. And Viggo Mortenson sports a full mustache with wide lip goatee both popular western styles. Both of these styles were considered stylish for the time. If you’re the urban cowboy type or the real deal either of these stylish looks would be an excellent choice.

The Mustache in all sizes and shapes has always been a popular facial style. When the Beatles showed up sporting mustache's in the 70's the mustache was introduced to the next generation. Most would agree that Tom Selleck’s trade mark mustache is widely considered the gold standard among mustached celebrities.  Jack Black puts on a happy face and gives his round features a slimmer and stylish look with a mustache. Sporting a Stache’ can be a "stylish way” to cover a wide or narrow upper lip and also balance both large and small facial featured.

For those with thick breads and large and angular facial features wearing a Mustache and Goatee can add interest and make it less note worthy. To balance his large nose and add an artistic look Adrian Brody often sports a stylish Anchor shaped Mustache and Goatee.

For those receding hairlines and thick beards shaving or clipping hair super short with a (close clipped beard) is a stylish masculine look and helps make hair loss less note worthy. Action hero’s Bruce Willis and Jason Statham keep their hair and whiskers clipped close for their rugged tuff-guy image. Because the beard grows quickly you’ll need to use a styling clipper every other day for this ruff and tumbled look.

Wearing a shapely (full or close clipped) beard can be a handsome look for both young and older men. When a movie roll calls for a distinguished look Anthony Hopkins wears a full brushed beard. George Clooney’s close clipped beard (5 day growth) adds a rugged look and plays up his strong chin and jaw line. Blessed with movie star good looks and a thick beard to boot Mel Gibson often uses his whiskers for the many characters he portrays. 

Vote the sexiest man alive the handsome Sean Connery is well known for his stylish whiskers. To define the shape Sean has always colored his mustache and eye brows and wears full sideburns to mask his large ears. This secret agent is loaded with panache'.

If this is your first time growing whiskers you may be surprised to see it has grayed in spots. For some this can add a distinguished look. If you don't like the look you can use a eye brow pencil (use the same shade as your natural color) with a make-up brush to temporally cover over the gray spots or darken the edge to accent the shape. Because facial hair is course and resistant to hair dye its best to visit a salon colorist if you chose to use a permanent hair color. They can guide you through the process and select the best shade to match you natural color.

Are Whiskers Sexy? When asked, women for the most part say they like the look of men with facial hair as long as it was clean and well groomed. To keep those whisker's clean and soft to the touch avoid bar soap. Instead use a "shampoo and conditioner after to soften and moisturize the skin under it. If whisker's look or feel a bit dry or frizzy a dab of moisturizing styling cream or lotion will tame it. 

Because whiskers grow quickly it only takes 7-10 days of growth to get started. Shaving around the edge will keep looking clean while growing out. If you like the look of a close beard use a clipper on the closest setting twice a week for a 5 o'clock shadow look. At this point you can begin experimenting by removing the sides and keep a  mustache or include the chin whiskers for an artsy goatee. If you’re up for totally new look grow your beard out for week or so and visit a salon / barber hair stylist to find the best style for your unique face shape, facial features and personality.

www.georgecaroll.com