The Horseshoe

Growing a Horseshoe

1. Grow a full beard first. Counterintuitive, but correct. Let everything grow for 4 to 6 weeks. You need to see whether the hair at the corners of your mouth connects cleanly down to your jaw; that connection is the whole style.
2. Carve, do not assemble. Once you have a beard, shave the chin (below the lower lip, and the entire chin area between the two bars), the cheeks, and the neck. What remains is a full upper-lip mustache plus two vertical bars, each roughly the width of a finger, running straight down from the corners of the mouth to the jawline.
3. Keep the bars vertical. The most common mistake is angling the bars outward toward the jaw hinge, which turns a Horseshoe into a wide goatee frame. The bars should drop straight down.
4. Match bar width. Use the width of your mustache at the corners as your guide. The bars should be the same thickness top to bottom.
5. Fill in. If the bars are thin, give them another 4 weeks before concluding your growth will not support the style. Brush them downward daily.

Total time to a convincing Horseshoe: 8 to 12 weeks.

Trimming a Horseshoe

• Edges first. Every 3 to 4 days, shave the chin, cheeks, and neck clean to keep the horseshoe shape crisp. A sharp outline is what makes this style look intentional instead of like a beard that is giving up.
• Bars. Comb the vertical bars downward and trim with scissors or a guarded trimmer so they are uniform in width from lip to jaw. Use a small straight-edge (a comb works) along the inner and outer lines to keep them parallel.
• Lip line. Trim the upper-lip hair along the mouth line so you can eat without a fight. Most Horseshoe wearers keep the top slightly longer than a Chevron would be.
• Bottom of the bars. Decide where the bars end: the jawline is traditional, though some stop just below the chin. Trim both ends to the same length; check in a mirror with your chin level.
• Bulk. Every 2 weeks, run a 9 mm to 12 mm guard over the whole thing to keep the density consistent between the lip and the bars.

Symmetry matters more on a Horseshoe than on almost any other style because the bars are such clean vertical lines. Take your time.

Horseshoe Care Routine

Daily

• Wash and fully dry; the bars sit over the lower face where sweat and food collect.
• Comb the mustache downward and the bars straight down.
• Apply beard oil to the entire shape, paying attention to the skin beneath the bars, which is prone to irritation from frequent shaving around it.
• Balm optional, to keep the bars from flaring out.

Every 3 to 4 days

• Shave the outline (chin, cheeks, neck). Use a fresh blade and a post-shave balm to avoid razor burn along the edges.

Weekly

• Lip-line and bar trim.

Monthly

• Bulk trim.
• Check that the bottom of each bar is still the same length; they drift.

A Horseshoe lives on its outline. Stay ahead of the stubble and it always looks deliberate.