Sideburns
Sideburns (also known as "sideboards") are facial hair in front of the ears. They were originally called burnsides, probably after General Ambrose Burnside. His hairstyle, commonly known as mutton-chops or "chops" (see also Chops), connected thick sideburns via the mustache but left the chin clean-shaven.
Sideburns may end at mid-ear level; they may end at the earlobe; or they may extend downward and follow the jawline, nearly meeting at the chin. They can be slender or wide, clipped closely or allowed to grow bushy. They can end in points, or bluntly, and be either cut squarely or flared wide, following the hairline on the upper cheek. They can be worn alone, or in combination with a mustache or a goatee. However, when they extend from ear to ear via the chin, the sideburns are merely part of the beard, and thus are not known as such.
Indigenous men of Mexico, who shave their heads and wear their sideburns long, as well as Colombians, who wear their sideburns long and typically do not have any other facial hair, are said to be wearing balcarrotas.
After the clean-shaven period of the eighteenth century, sideburns, like beards, became greatly popular in the nineteenth century (what was in the British context the Victorian period) throughout the Western world. Nineteenth-century sideburns were often much more extravagant then those seen today - very bushy and extending much further down, almost to the chin. As with beards, sideburns went widely out of fashion in the early twentieth century, but made a comeback in the 1960s and 1970s among the younger generation. Thus, depending on one's perspective, growing sideburns may be seen as stuffily Victorian and ultra-conservative or a sign of 1970s-style rebelliousness. Today sideburns enjoy an intermediate level of popularity.
Men known for their sideburns
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- John Quincy Adams, American President
- Brady Anderson, Baltimore Orioles player
- Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria's husband
- Duane Allman, Lead guitarist of The Allman Brothers Band
- Chester A. Arthur, American President
- Isaac Asimov, Russian-American author
- Claude Bernard, French physiologist
- Simon Bolivar, South American revolutionary
- Martin Van Buren, American President
- General Ambrose Burnside, American Civil War general
- Anthony Comstock, American reformer
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist
- César Franck, French composer
- Graeme Garden, British Comedian, member of The Goodies
- W. S. Gilbert, British playwright and librettist
- Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician and scientist
- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher
- Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian playwright
- Sheridan Le Fanu, writer
- Lupin III, anime character
- F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, Scottish-born writer
- Justin Pierre, Lead singer/guitarist of Motion City Soundtrack
- Elvis Presley, American singer
- Alexandr Pushkin, Russian writer
- James Reavis, American criminal
- Burt Rutan, American aircraft designer
- James Young Simpson, physician to Queen Victoria
- Arthur Sullivan, British composer
- Richard Wagner, German composer
- William Walker, American mercenary
- Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, German emperor
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, WWE wrestler turned actor
- fonzy