Having long sideburns hasn’t been in for a while, unless you’re an Elvis impersonator. Even with the recent uptick of ’70s hair (the last decade where they were universally accepted) the hairstyle is still seen as a bit outdated. The rule for a long time was simple: keep them neat and a far cry from Wolverine territory.
But that may be slowly but surely shifting. Just look at some recent celebrity haircuts: Andrew Garfield and Jeremy Allen White have been growing out their sideburns alongside their beards. It’s a subtle, yet easy, way to stand out.
“As we see shaggy mullet cuts lean into the ’70s, a longer side burn can look really good,” Matt Hughes of Idris Barbers says. “It’s also a way of standing out. Men are constantly looking for something different, and where that’s getting increasingly difficult now, men are looking to sideburns.”
But don’t go too far to the bushy side, either. In fact, they can also look silly when they’re too tight to your hairline. “A shorter, well-tapered sideburn can definitely make a haircut feel more current, but I don’t think modern means going as short as possible,” says Maxwell Oakley, co-founder of barbershop Supply 91. “When you go too short, you lose the connection between the hair and the face. You’ve got hair, then suddenly nothing.”
Barber Mickey Gunning says that it can drastically change your face shape, too. “It makes the face look more exposed or wider. Short sideburns draw attention upward toward the face and hairstyle, rather than creating a heavy frame at the sides.”
So, what’s the balance? Where’s the fine (hair)line between perfecting them or ruining them? Your ears are a marker for how short your sideburns should be, but each barber has different opinions. “Personally, I wouldn’t normally take them much higher than the middle of the ear,” says Oakley. Gunning thinks otherwise. In his eyes, they’re too short “if they’re cut above the ear.” “Square them off for a classic look and a taper if you want something modern,” he says.
To make sure you’re on the same page as your barber, Oakley recommends getting specific. “I’d probably ask something like, ‘How would you connect these to my haircut and beard?’” He says. “That’s going to get you a much better result than simply saying, ‘Make them short.’” He also adds that you should clarify whether “you like them sharp and defined, or a bit more natural.”
Hughes stands by the golden rule of barbering, that you should always “bring some pictures” for your stylist. But he also recommends a more spontaneous approach. “Ultimately just try it out,” he says, explaining that “when your barber is finishing up the trim, try a few different lengths”—in other words, start long and slowly get shorter until you’re happy with it.
Oakley believes that sideburns can look great on shorter hairstyles, too. “With a fade or really short back and sides, I’ll generally keep them shorter and cleaner,” he says. “The important thing is that they feel like they’re part of the haircut. You shouldn’t be able to see where the haircut ends and the sideburn begins.”
Hughes affirms that matching side burns to your haircut is crucial. “We’re seeing more and more [guys] both celebrate the burns and wear mutton chops. But equally, with blowout [tapers] and burst fades, were taking them right down to skin. How short is too short completely depends on the cut.”
How your sideburns are finished is dependent on what your beard and mustache are doing, too. “If you’ve got a decent amount of stubble or a beard, I want that transition to feel natural,” says Oakley. “I don’t want a really obvious line where the haircut finishes and the beard starts. If you’re clean shaven or short stubble, you can be a bit sharper with the sideburn because you don’t have to worry about connecting it into anything underneath.”
Whereas Hughes says the longer the sideburn, the less facial hair you’re going to want to have. “It’s all personal preference, but we always say you don’t want to much going on [with your facial hair].” As you can see, sideburns are still a divisive topic, even among the pros. But the most important thing is to find a barber to share your vision. "You don’t want to look like a ‘Guess Who?’ character,” says Hughes.
A version of this story originally appeared in British GQ.