Beards have never been so popular which has given men the freedom to try many different styles. With so many options available, it can be hard to choose one that’s perfect for you. Thankfully, we’re here to help.
In this post, we’ll reveal 10 of the best beard styles for men right now. We’ll also tell you the facial shape that each one is best for so that you’ll know which one will suit you. By the time you get to the end, you’ll have all the info you need on the best beard styles. Let’s get started!
1. Goatee
The goatee can aptly be called the chin-only beard. To sport a goatee, just shave off your facial hair leaving a chin patch about as wide as your mouth but there are a few different types of goatee.
You can sport a goatee with or without a moustache. The goatee is one of the most popular beard styles. This is because it can be worn by almost every man, including those that can’t grow plenty of facial hair, especially sideburns.
The goatee is best suited for men with square faces, as it elongates the chin.
2. Circle Beard
The circle beard is fast becoming the standard beard style. It is a popular variation of a “goatee + moustache”.
To sport a circle beard, just shave your facial hair leaving your goatee and moustache short and allowing them to connect to form a circle around your mouth. Because the circle beard includes the goatee, it also elongates the chin, making it an excellent beard style for squared faces.
The circle beard is perfect for men that want to keep some facial hair but also want to keep things simple. It also has the advantage of being relatively easy to maintain.
3. Stubble
The stubble is the easiest beard style to cultivate. Just leave your facial hair to grow for a couple of days after shaving and you’ll have the stubble beard. You can then maintain it easily with a beard trimmer. A stubble is simply a very short full beard.
The stubble is a beard style whose reputation has had a complete 180. In the noughties, it was the disdainful look of the down-and-outs. The shortness of the style which gives it the appearance of having forgotten to shave did not help its cause.
Today, especially with well-trimmed edges, the stubble beard comes out as stylishly rugged. It’s best for oval-shaped faces.
4. Short Beard
Also called the boxed beard, the short beard is the next step from a stubble beard. It is the perfect beard style for men who want masculine facial hair but do not want to embrace a long full beard just yet.
Trim the hair on your cheeks and your neck short and keep it neatly combed, and you have a short beard. With the short beard featuring neatly trimmed sides that accentuate the cheekbones, it is best for men with round or diamond-shaped faces.
5. Van Dyke Beard
Like the circle beard, the Van Dyke features only a moustache and a goatee, but they are not connected. The moustache is grown long enough that the sides can be curled slightly into a handlebar. The goatee is well trimmed and kept pointy.
The Van Dyke beard was born by 17th-century Flemish painter Anthony Van Dyke, but today, there is nothing ancient about it. Rather, it is the definition of stylish. The pointy goatee of the Van Dyke beard has the effect of slimming the face, so the beard style is best for persons with round faces.
6. Chin Strap Beard
The chin strap beard features a thin strip of hair that connects your sideburns to your chin.
The beard style gets its name from how it looks as, when well-trimmed, it looks like a helmet strap that circles the chin from under and goes over the head.
Requiring only a thin strip of hair, the chin strap can be cultivated by men who struggle to grow facial hair. The chin strap hair highlights your facial structure, so it’s best for men who have square faces.
7. Mutton Chops
The mutton chops is a fancy beard style featuring thick sideburns and a moustache. It’s perfect for those men who want to be a little more daring with their beard style.
To sport mutton chops, let your sideburns grow long to the side of the mouth and connect them to your moustache, keeping your chin hairless. The mutton chops are perfect for sturdy facial structures such as rectangular or square-shaped faces.
8. Balbo Beard
The Balbo beard is one of the beard styles where the soul patch features prominently.
It starts with a beard that does not include sideburns. The soul patch (the thin strip of hair under the lower lip) connects to the beard to form an inverted “T”. Then there’s a floating moustache crowning the upper lip.
With a Balbo beard keeping hair full under the chin, it is perfect for men with narrow chins.
9. Full Beard
The full beard is the beard style that epitomizes manliness. It features a good brush of hair growing everywhere on the face below the cheek line. As the name suggests, the facial hair comes “full”.
It takes about 4 weeks to grow a full beard. In that time, you do not shave. You may do some trimming so that the hair grows evenly on parts of your face. You may also want to shape the beard to define your neck line.
The full beard offers a range of styling options, but usually, the beard is connected with the moustache. Like the short beard, the full beard is best for rounded faces.
10. Ducktail Beard
A ducktail beard offers the opportunity to add some excitement to the manliness of your full beard. It’s a variation of the full beard, and it gets its name from how it looks, the bottom part of the beard looks like the tail of a duck.
To sport a ducktail beard, grow a full beard. However, consistently trim the upper part of the beard (moustache and sides), while you leave the bottom part (hair on the chin) to grow to a well-rounded point about 2-4 inches below the chin.
If yours does not naturally taper off into a point, you can trim to achieve the desired pointiness. With the ducktail beard being a variation of the full beard, it’s also best for round-shaped faces.
