Shenandoah (beard)

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.

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, as they believe it is how the Islamic prophet Muhammad wore his beard, citing the relevant hadith compiled by Muhammad al-Bukhari, "Cut the mustaches short and leave the beard".^[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.

References

^ Henderson-Brown, Stephanie; Avadis, Catherine (2004), Advanced Hairdressing: A Coursebook for Level 3, Nelson Thornes, p. 162.
^ "Decoding facial hair in the Arab world". BBC News. 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2021-09-28. However Salafists - the ultraconservative fundamentalist Muslims - like to let their beards grow long and wild, often leaving their upper lip clean-shaven as a nod to how the Prophet Mohammed wore his own beard 1,400 years ago.
^ Brownsell, James. "Is this the world's most dangerous moustache?". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2021-09-28. "Cut the moustaches short and leave the beard," says the famed hadith found in a collection by Muslim scholar Muhammad al-Bukhari. Muslim men who grow out their beard and shave their lips are emulating the Prophet Muhammad's actions, say the religiously inspired fans of the style. And while many particularly defined groups, such as some Salafists and Wahhabists, adhere to the teaching, the existence of clean-shaven Muslim men – and those bald-chin moustache-wearers such as Afridi – prove that such teachings, like the wearing of the hijab, are not accepted universally.
^ John E. Bodnar (1973). The Ethnic Experience in Pennsylvania. Bucknell University Press. p. 89. ISBN 0838711553.
^ Donald B. Kraybill (27 September 2001). The Riddle of Amish Culture. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 080186772X.
^ Sarah Cheang (2009). Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion. Berg Publishers. p. 113. ISBN 978-1845207922.