Finding a Great Beard Style for Your Face

Men can be just as concerned about their appearance as women can be. Men may only dabble a bit in cosmetics, so much of their time will be spent grooming their head of hair, facial hair, and finding the right outfit for the occasion. But men shouldn’t just grab the electric shaver and start carving around their face to create a beard style.

Each man’s face is different, and each facial type needs a complementary beard style. A man with a chubby face shouldn’t have a thin mustache, while a man with a small face shouldn’t be overwhelmed with a foot long beard. There are rules in place to help a man find the best beard style to suit their face.

The goal is to have a face and beard that work together to make a complete oval shape. The beard should be nicely graduated, and even, and not be a sudden harsh transition from skin to hair.

For men who are unhappy with the size of their faces, they can actually correct these issues by growing a mustache or beard. The extra facial hair can fill in any gaps, or draw the eye away from problematic regions of the face.

A beard is also a great way to cover up scars. Many people get acne as teenagers, which can cause unsightly facial scarring. Often it’s only a matter of time before it disappears. Or, some men get rosacea, which makes the skin appear red and inflamed, even when it feels fine.

A beard or mustache can cover up many other types of facial blemishes. But you’ll want to ensure that when you grow a new beard or mustache, that it enhances your appearance as much as possible.

Figure out what your main facial shape is, then read further to discover the best beard styles for you.

How to Figure Out Your Actual Face Shape

Most men understand the concept of matching beard style to facial shape, but they may be uncertain what it really is. No one has a fully triangular or rectangular or round face.
To get started, grab a measuring tape, pencil and paper. Measure these four regions of your face: forehead, cheekbones, jawline, and facial length.

To measure your forehead, measure from the peak of one eyebrow to the peak of the other. Write down that number.

For your cheekbones, measure from your one upper cheek to the other side. This is the most prominent bump of your cheekbone.

Measure the tip of your chin to tip of ear.

Then measure the length of your face from center of hairline to tip of your chin.

Compare all four measurements, and note which is the largest number.

If all measurements are similar, you have a square face. For a round face, the cheekbones and facial length will be the same. The forehead and jawline will have a similar measurement. For an oval or rectangular face, the face length will be longer than the cheekbone width but a rectangular face with have sharper curves. An oblong face will have face length as the longest measurement, with forehead, cheekbones, and jawline of a similar size.

Square Faced Men

Men who have a square jaw will want to grow a beard that’s a bit longer in front, which has the effect of elongating their face.

Men can grow their facial hair more fully along the chin line, but trim it shorter along the sides. This will help in drawing the eye downwards.

Round Faced Men

Round faced men have much of the same issues with their type as square faced men. They’ll also benefit from growing a longer beard, which will elongate their face.

Their best plan is to grow a beard that has hair that is longer along the chin, and shorter along the sides. An electric shaver can gently taper the beard from cheekbones down to the chin line.

Oblong Faced Men

For men who have oblong faces, the length of their face is longer than the width. Instead of growing a beard that will make their face appear even longer, they can grow a fuller and shorter beard to balance their face.

Men who were born with an oblong-shaped face will benefit from allowing the beard sides to grow fuller, but keep the base of the beard shorter.

Rectangular Faced Men

Rectangular faced men will also want to avoid adding extra hair below the chin, which will unnaturally elongate their faces even more. To counteract this problem, they can grow a beard straight across their face, and keep it neatly trimmed close the chin line.

Men who have rectangular shaped faces will need to focus on balancing out top and bottom. They can grow their beard out to each of left and right sides, but keep the bottom parts of their beard shorter.

Oval Faced Men

Men with oval shaped faces have the benefit that no matter what the beard style, it will look good on them. These men are the middle ground between all other face shapes. No matter what style they choose, it will look good on them.

Oval faced men also have the benefit of being able to try each beard and mustache style, to see what they prefer.

They may look good in everything, but most men have their preferences when it comes to looking good.

The Best Beard for Your Lifestyle

It may also be of benefit to men to choose a beard styling that is easy to maintain. If you’re an easy-going man with a casual working lifestyle, you may not wish to get fiddly in the bathroom with a goatee every morning. You may prefer a longer beard style that only needs to be trimmed once every two weeks. Business men who have high stakes deals may prefer a closely trimmed mustache and beard that is meticulously groomed each morning.

If you carefully choose a beard style that enhances your facial shape, people will compliment you on your looks. And it will be achieved through a minimum of upkeep, as you were able to skip out on that annoying chore of daily shaving.