Soul patch
How to Grow, Shape and Keep One
A soul patch beard is a small tuft of facial hair directly under the lower lip, with the rest of the face clean shaven. It is the smallest deliberate beard style there is, roughly the size of a stamp, and it lives or dies on the bare skin around it.
At a glance
- Also known as
- jazz dab, flavour saver
- What it is
- A tuft under the lower lip. Nothing else.
- Length
- Short, under an inch
- Growing time
- 2 to 3 weeks
- Trim how often
- Every 3 to 4 days
- Best face shapes
- Any
- Moustache
- No
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A soul patch is one small tuft surrounded by skin that has to stay bare, which means shaving your whole face to protect a square inch of hair.
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The variations
The same shape, worn differently. What changes is length, density and how much you take off at the edges.
Will it suit your face?
Where a style puts weight, and where it takes it away, is what decides whether it suits you. The table below is the short version.
| Ovaal | Works | Nothing to correct, so it comes down to preference. |
|---|---|---|
| Rond | Ideal | Length at the chin pulls the face longer and the bare cheeks stop it widening. |
| Vierkant | Works | Softens a heavy jaw by drawing the eye to a narrower point at the chin. |
| Langwerpig | Avoid | Adds length to a face that is already long. Go wider at the cheeks instead. |
| Heart | Ideal | Weight at the chin balances a broad forehead and a narrow jaw. |
| Diamant | Works | Fills out a pointed chin, though keep it short or it exaggerates the point. |
How to cut one, in four steps
- Grow it out2 to 3 weeks. You cannot see where your growth is dense until it is in, and shaping early is why most first attempts fail.
- Set the lengthTrim the chin and moustache with a guarded trimmer on dry hair, so it sits at its true length.
- Shave the cheeksDownward, with the grain, short passes and light pressure. Pressing harder gives razor burn, not a closer shave.
- Cut the outlineLast, with a precision trimmer. Work from the outside inward on each side, checking both sides between passes.
Full detail, tools and the common mistakes are in the guide below.
What a soul patch is
The patch sits in the hollow between the bottom lip and the chin. It should be no wider than your mouth, and usually narrower. Square, rounded or tapered to a point are all normal.
What it is not is a goatee. A goatee covers the chin itself. A soul patch stops well above it, which is why the two look so different despite sitting inches apart. Grow a soul patch downward far enough and you have accidentally started a goatee.
Some men wear the soul patch alone. Others keep it as a detail inside a bigger shape, under a moustache or in the middle of a full beard. Both count as a soul patch style.
Where it came from
The style belongs to jazz. Jazz musicians in the 1940s and 1950s made it their own, and Dizzy Gillespie wore the most famous one of all. He called it his jazz dab rather than a soul patch, which is worth knowing because the name we use now did not appear in print until the late 1970s.
There was a practical reason as well as a stylistic one. Jazz trumpeters and flute players found that a little hair below the lip made a mouthpiece more comfortable against bare skin over a long set. Gillespie himself said it helped his playing.
Beatniks took it up in the 1960s, and it returned in the 1990s on actors and musicians. Robert Downey Jr is among the better-known modern wearers, which gave the soul patch beard a second life well outside jazz.
Who it suits
Almost anyone, which is unusual. The patch is too small to add real weight, so it does not fight your proportions the way a bigger beard style can.
Across face shapes the only real variable is length. On a long face keep it short and wide. On a round or square face it gives the lower face a point of focus, and it is one of the best styles for adding definition without commitment.
It is also the most forgiving option for patchy facial hair. It needs density in one small spot rather than across the cheeks, so men who cannot grow a full beard can usually grow this.
Growing it
Two to three weeks, which is about as quick as facial hair gets.
Stop shaving a narrow strip under the centre of your lower lip and keep the rest of the face clean shaven. Let it reach roughly a centimetre before shaping, so there is enough to cut a clean edge into.
Do not judge it at day five. It looks like a missed patch until there is enough to read as deliberate.
Cutting it
Decide the width first. Match your philtrum, the groove under the nose, or go narrower. Wider than the corners of your mouth stops looking like a soul patch.
Trim to three to five millimetres for a defined look, longer if you want it softer. Then shave around it with a sharp blade and a clear gel so you can see the edge.
Check the centre against your nose and lower lip rather than judging by eye. An off-centre soul patch is very noticeable, because nothing else on the face distracts from it.
Keeping it
The patch needs trimming every few days. The face around it needs shaving every day or two, and that is the real commitment.
The whole soul patch style is a contrast trick: dark hair against clean skin. Let stubble come in around it and the contrast goes, and with it the point of the style. More soul patches fail from a neglected shave than from a bad trim.
What goes wrong
It widens. Left alone the soul patch spreads toward the corners of the mouth. Re-cut the width weekly.
It creeps down the chin. At which point you have a goatee. Keep the bottom edge above the point of the chin.
It sits off centre. Measure against your lip and nose rather than trusting the mirror.
Questions we get asked
How long does it take to grow a soul patch?
Two to three weeks for most men. Let it reach roughly a centimetre before shaping so there is enough to cut a clean edge into.
Can you grow a soul patch with patchy facial hair?
Yes, and it is one of the better options. It needs density in one small area rather than across the cheeks, so thin cheek growth does not matter.
What is the difference between a soul patch and a goatee?
Position. A soul patch sits just under the lower lip and stops above the chin. A goatee covers the chin itself.
Is a soul patch suitable for work?
A small, symmetrical one with the rest of the face clean shaven reads as deliberate. The version that raises eyebrows is the one that has been allowed to spread.
Can you wear a soul patch with a full beard or a moustache?
Yes. The soul patch sits in the centre as a detail under a moustache or inside a beard, though you may want it slightly longer so it is not lost.
How often should you trim a soul patch?
Every few days for the patch. The shave around it matters more and wants doing every day or two.
Other small styles
Same shape, different length or moustache.
If this one is too much work
Same idea, less of your morning.
Browse by what matters to you
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