← Beard · Styles
Twelve styles, what each one is actually called, and who it suits. Most men wear one of these without knowing its name, which makes asking a barber for it harder than it needs to be.
Beards get confused constantly, and the goatee and the circle beard are the worst offenders — one has a moustache and the other does not, and barbers mix them up as often as customers do. Knowing the name is most of the battle.
They are ordered here by coverage: stubble through to a full beard first, then the chin shapes, then the long beards, then the moustache on its own.
Two to five days of growth, kept at one length with a trimmer rather than left to its own devices.
Who it suits. Almost everyone. It is the only beard on this list that works on patchy growth, because at this length patchiness does not read.
Full guide to the stubble →Full coverage, kept close and squared off at the cheek line and the neck.
Who it suits. Round and square faces, and anyone who needs a beard that passes in an office without thought.
Full guide to the short beard →Roughly two to four centimetres, long enough to have shape but short enough to hold it without daily work.
Who it suits. The middle ground, and the length most men actually end up at. Needs a weekly trim or it drifts into a full beard by accident.
No separate guide yet — everything you need is above.Grown out across cheeks, chin and jaw, shaped only at the neckline and the cheek edge.
Who it suits. Oval and oblong faces, and only men whose growth joins up properly at the cheeks. Three months before you judge it.
Full guide to the full beard →Chin hair only, with the moustache left off and the cheeks shaved clean.
Who it suits. Round faces, because it draws the eye down and lengthens. Hard to wear well now that the circle beard has largely replaced it.
No separate guide yet — everything you need is above.A pointed chin beard and a separate moustache, with a clear gap between the two.
Who it suits. Men who want something deliberate rather than default. It takes maintenance to keep the gap clean.
Full guide to the van dyke →Moustache and chin joined into a ring, cheeks shaved.
Who it suits. The safest of the chin beards, and the one to pick over a plain goatee. Suits round and square faces.
Full guide to the circle beard →A chin beard with a strip along the jaw, worn with a moustache that does not connect to it.
Who it suits. Strong jaws, because it traces the jaw rather than hiding it. The hardest shape on this list to trim yourself.
Full guide to the balbo →A pointed chin beard with a jaw strip and a moustache, cut to the shape of a ship's anchor.
Who it suits. A sharper, more angular cousin of the Balbo. Needs a steady hand and a good trimmer; most men are better served by the Balbo.
No separate guide yet — everything you need is above.A full beard allowed to grow long at the chin and tapered to a point, with the sides kept shorter.
Who it suits. Long-beard growers who want a shape rather than a bush. The taper is what stops it reading unkempt.
Full guide to the ducktail →A wide, full beard grown to roughly 15 centimetres with a rounded bottom, left deliberately soft at the edges.
Who it suits. Men with dense, even growth and the patience for it. Closest thing on this list to the sculpted long beard, but rounder and less severe.
No separate guide yet — everything you need is above.A thick moustache covering the top lip, with no beard at all.
Who it suits. A statement rather than a default. It only works at full thickness, so sparse growth on the top lip rules it out.
No separate guide yet — everything you need is above.A beard balances a face rather than decorating it. A round face wants length at the chin and nothing extra at the cheeks, which is why the circle beard works on it and a full beard usually does not. A long face wants the reverse. A square jaw carries most things.
How to style your beard by face shape works through each shape properly. If you are not sure which you have, the face shape finder measures it from a photo in your browser.
Every beard on this page lives or dies on two lines: the neckline and the cheek line. A good shape with a neckline drawn too high ages you; a mediocre shape with clean edges reads as deliberate. Trimming your beard at home covers where both lines belong.
The chin shapes — Balbo, anchor, Van Dyke — need a trimmer that holds a short guard without drifting, because the edges are redrawn every few days rather than every few weeks. The beard trimmer picks cover what actually holds an edge, and beard oils matter once you are past about two centimetres, where the itch starts.