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William Alix / KANSAN
From left, brothers, Dan, a Lawrence resident, and Chris Spurgin, Wester Groves, Mo., senior, grew goatees for more than aesthetic reasons.
By Kevin Hoffmann Kansan staff writer
They pop up everywhere these days. They can be seen on the movie screen, the ball fields and in the schoolrooms. They can be found in grocery stores and gas stations. They cling to the faces of men and demand attention.
Photo courtesy of KU Sports Information
They are goatees, and for better or worse, they have made their way back into the mainstream of men's fashion.
Once associated with the rebellion of the late 1950's beat generation, this facial fashion is now popular with clean-cut kids and modern-day beatniks.
Goatees galore
Once associated with the
beatnik generation of the late 1950's and 60's, the small, pointed chin beard accompanied by a mouth-framing mustache used to be considered a trademark of rebellion. Today, even mainstream professionals wear goatees.
RC, "Rock Chalk," Pewtress, owner of RC's Stadium Barbery, 1033 Massachusetts St., has been a barber for 18 years. He said the goatete tends to appear in men's fashion in two- to three-year intervals.
"I think a goatoe is more of a social statement." Pewtress said.
Goatse seem to be everywhere these days. Even Kansas guard Jacque Vaughn, Pasadena, Calif., freshman, has one.
Pewtress, who wears a full beard, said he had worn a goatee in the past.
"I was running from the law, and I wanted to change my image," he said, putting the finishing touches on the final customer of the day.
After turning the "open" sign over and locking the door, Pewtress paused to reflect.
"My parents called me a bum when they saw my beard," he said. "Then they asked why I shaved it off when I shaved. They said they had gotten used to it. So I decided you just kind of do what you want."
Pewtress said many men had simple reasons for growing goates.
"Haircuts, beards and mustaches are meant to be fun," he said. "They grow back or can be shaved off."
Pewtress said he and other barbers lost the chance to shave goatees a few years ago when Kansas outlawed the practice of shaving in barber shops. This was done to prevent the spread of infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
"Tiat's kind of strange," he said. "It used to be that the first two hours a barber shop was open, you couldn't get a haircut, only shaves."
Chris Spurgin, Wester Groves, Mo., senior,
has worn a goattee on and off since he got out of
the Air Force in 1989. Spurgin said that the
freedom of getting out of the military may have led to the goatee, but that now he wore a goatee to weed out certain employers.
Spurgin, who studies architecture, said he feared being hired by a firm that put restrictions on haircuts and facial hair.
"A company shouldn't be so restrictive in an artistic field," he said as he sat down from a game of pool at a local tavern.
Spurgin's younger brother, Dan, Lawrence resident, also wears a goatette.
"It makes me feel good about myself ," he
said. "I felt like I was more attractive. I'm sure at one point I'll shave it off because I'll feel that's more attractive."
The goatee-wearing brothers said they didn't plan the similarity.
"It's kind of interesting," the younger Spurgin said leaning on a pool stick. "We hadn't seen each other for awhile and the last time I did, he was all clean cut and everything. Then I come home and we're both wearing goatees."
Dan Spurgin said he began wearing a goatee because he had trouble growing a full beard.
"My friend started calling my beard a goatee," he said.
In the past, some parents have frowned on young people who wore goatees, but not in the case of the Spurgins.
Howard Spurgin, Chris and Dan's father, said he was surprised, but not shocked, when he saw his sons' goatees. He said he did not try to persuade them to shave.
"As long as it's not illegal, immoral or something like that, they can't do much that will bother me," he said. "I was more surprised that Dan made it from Seattle to Maine in his $400 Toyota."
While some men seem to think women are attracted to goatees, Dan Spurgin wasn't sure why.
"Are woman attracted to the goatee, or the man who chooses to wear a goatette?" he asked. "Besides, it's not like a goatette is gonna get you past anything other than an introduction."
Patty Zerrer, Leavenworth senior, said the current trend toward facial hair had diminished the goatess attractiveness.
"I think they were real cool, but now that everybody has one I don't like them as much," she said.
Rita Byrd, Shawnee junior, said she thought a goatlee could give the wrong impression.
"You have to have the right facial features, or else it makes you look mean," she said.
While goatees may have come back into fashion, not every man has a worn goat.
"I've never worn one," said Mike Isaacson, Lawrence resident. "Unless you count the time I drank too much at a party and woke up the next morning with a red magic marker goatee."
Your guide to Entertainment in the Lawrence Area.
- In October, a young couple had to be treated for hypothermia at a Germsheim, Germany, clinic after the parked car in which they were having sex rolled down a boat ramp into the Rhine River. Another man, who owned the car, was cited by authorities for the water pollution caused by the leaking gasoline.
- -The Toronto Globe & Mail reported in December the imminent publication of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafah's first collection of short stories, to be titled "The Village ... The Village. The Land is the Land and the Astronaut Commits Suicide."
- In November, a man whose name was withheld by reporters was rescued by firefighters after spending the night in the pit of an outhouse at a boat landing near Eugene, Ore. The man claimed that he had been high after sniffing glue, had heard someone calling for help from the pit, had fallen in while looking for him, and could not get back out.
- In November, campus police at California Polytechnic University at San Luis Obispo ejected David Potter Lawler, 40, from campus after seven episodes in which they say he stealthily approached women in the library, dropped to his hands and knees, and sniffed their beards. Describing his confrontation with Lawler, a police investigator said, "The sweat was running off his head. He looked like a rain forest."
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