The soul patch is a small patch of facial hair just below the lower lip and above the chin. It came to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s and was a style popular with beatniks and jazz artists. Prior to this period it was referred to as a small beard. Although it can be grown long and groomed into various shapes, modern versions tend to be trimmed short and narrow. A soul patch can also coexist contiguously with a separate chin beard, and can even grow that way naturally.

Common synonyms

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The soul patch is also known as an Attilio, royale, scruff, impériale, blues beard, blues dab, liptee, cookie duster, womb-broom, zif, ball-tickler, taint-brush, cadillac, mouche (French for fly), mosca (Spanish for fly), crab-catcher or flavor-saver.

Famous wearers

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Famous exponents of the soul patch include Jack Black, Phil Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Gregg Allman, Dizzy Gillespie, Australian singer Shannon Noll, professional wrestler Dave Batista, baseball player Josh Fogg, Apolo Anton Ohno, Frank Zappa, Stevie Ray Vaughan, the fictional character Jak from the Jak video game series, Adamo Ruggiero from The Next Generation, Carlos Bernard when playing the character Tony Almeida on the television series "24", and Tom Waits.