So, you have been blessed by the beard gods with the ability to grow a manly beard. Now, you must decide what to do. Although growing a beard is a relatively simple process in which you should simply avoid shaving for a prescribed period, maintaining a beard to give an appearance other than one of a vagrant or Sasquatch can be considerably harder. Here’s how to groom your beard to match your face and style.
Face Types
Congratulations if you are the spitting image of Brad Pitt, Jon Hamm, or whoever it is you have a man-crush on this week. For the rest of us though, a good beard can help to cover up features that are considered less than ideal or accentuate ideal ones. The first step to finding the right beard for you, therefore, is to make an honest assessment of yourself. Do you have a pronounced chin or a recessed one? Are your cheeks puffy and bloated or lean and angular?
For most men, angular, symmetrical features look better than rounded, skewed ones. Strong chins are often more desirable than withdrawn ones. This isn’t to say that you can’t look good with any number of face shapes, your assessment just serves as a starting place from which to envision your future beard.
Beard Styles
A beard can give the appearance of strength, manliness, and even dominance. This may be because they tend to strengthen your chin line, but it may also have something to do with our popular associations with facial hair. Not all beards are created equal, however.
Facial Scruff
Most men capable of growing a beard develop scruff from about one to four weeks without shaving. Scruff is among the easiest styles to keep and works great if you already have an excellent chin line. Also, women have rated it the most attractive beard style.
Full Beard
A full beard usually takes between one and three months to grow. Full beards give the appearance of manliness and work well for men with strong and recessed chins alike. Men with rounded faces, however, should opt for a longer or tapered beard.
Long Beard
Long beards can either give the appearance of wisdom or raggedness, so be careful to trim the ends and area where the neck meets the jaw every once in a while. Long beards can work for many face shapes but can also hide pleasant features. If your face is on the rounder side, consider growing a longer beard or leveraging styles like the ducktail beard
Mustache
Mustaches can give any man a dashing old-school aviator look and are ideal for those who have patchy facial hair or thin upper lips. The current style is has been trending away from mustaches, but who cares? Confidence is guaranteed to beat transient trends any day.
Experimenting With Beard Styles
Among the best things about having a beard is that it’s easy to figure out which style works best. Just stop shaving, stay disciplined, and document your progress with pictures. Don’t be afraid to trim — it does grow back.
Learning how to keep the right beard styles is a skill just like any other manly venture. For more manly content and advice, make sure to check back with The Rugged Standard