Facial Hair Styles - How to Achieve and Maintain Them

When it comes to grooming and men’s style, some things are timeless & others are only deemed "cool" within some circles. It is hard to deny that certain styles are unquestionably sharp regardless of personal taste, like a 1950s “Mad Men” style hair cut, black tie attire or more simply a starchy white shirt with dark coloured chinos.  Other looks might be a little more unique, even edgy. This isn't bad, but the potential risk of being considered off-beat, or even odd, for some is a fate worse than death so it's worth having a feel for where you stand on the fashion spectrum.

Generally, when it comes to executing a style, both head hair & facial hair are connected.  They are a reflection of the individual's personality. If you saw a dude with slicked back hair, wearing riding boots, a white shirt and leather jacket but he had a Craig David Beard Circa 2000s (remember that song 7 Days?) then regardless of what subculture you belong to you can definitely identify that this is a combo that doesn't usually go together.

We're big advocates of trying to find a style that you connect with. Whether because it's easy to maintain, it makes you look better, it gives you confidence, or a whole mixture of things, it doesn't matter.  You might even change up your look from time to time.  

Sometimes though, the journey towards achieving a look that connects with you is difficult, especially when there are so many options out there. To help you on your way, we decided to do list of some popular beard styles for dudes and how to style & maintain them to achieve a look you can be proud of.

1.  Full Natural

Growing a big bushy beard has been dubbed many things over the years; the lumberjack, the grizzly, the hipster, the homeless, the “I bet that guy only drinks craft beer” or the Ned Kelly. Regardless of preference, it it safe to say that this beard style is a highly desired and envied facial hair structure at the moment.

The amount of time needed for this marvelous creation can take some blokes a year or even two to grow, so admiration from fellow blokes and ladies is well deserved and hard earned. With a big beard comes a lot of comments & a lot of people wanting to touch it, pet it or buy it a beer.  So with all this action beard oils and balms as well as daily combing & brushing are imperative in maintaining the look.

2.  The Neat Short Beard

This style is popular amongs many white collar workers who still want facial hair but don’t want to commit to the lumberjack in an office environment. While the beard is not as long as the “full natural”, regular upkeep is still needed to make this style look sharp. Slight grooming of the hair growth on the cheeks and neck with a clear gel or shave oil is needed to accentuate jaw line structure.

As the beard is shorter the skin beneath the facial hair is more visible and as a result looks less full. To hide this beard transparency a beard brush can be used for two reasons, one: to ensure all beard hairs a groomed in the same direction and two: evenly spread beard hairs so that they are not bunched together, this makes for a fuller look.

3.  The Moustache

• Ensure both sides are symmetrical
• Ensure that the moustache is trimmed so there are no stray hairs
• Use a mo-wax to ensure your mo stays perfect all day
• If you are not going to use a mo-wax then ensure it is short
• And finally if no product is used, then trim you mo along the lip line with either scissors or a beard trimmer to ensure it looks the same over the course of the day

If you follow some of these rules then you’ll have a pretty dope mo.

4.  The Goatee

Like the mo this look has many forms and grades of styling and maintenance needed.

• If you want to grow a natural one like Walter white Breaking Bad style, then the only thing needed to be shaved are the the cheeks, neck and jaw line. For this a shaving cream or shave gel will work well.
• You could style a disconnected goatee where the facial hair only grows on the chin and mo. For this we recommend either a shave gel or a shave cream for the majority of the shave, when you start removing hair closer to the growth areas you wish to keep we suggest using just the shave gel or even a shave oil to ensure you style is achieved with precision.
• You could just rock the chin goatee whereby everything else including the mo is removed. Again Shave cream or gel for majority of shave, just gel or shave oil for the styling areas.

Finally, the ultra-styled goatee. This could be a pencil thin goatee or a goatee where you need to trim and shave in between the bottom lip and the chin line. For this there is very little room for error, using a beard trimmer (carefully and slowly) for this is imperative for making those sharp lines, follow up the grooming with a sharp styling razor, coupled with some shave gel or oil for maximum visibility and greater precision.

5.  Sideburns

Whenever I think hear sideburns or seem them I think of that episode in the The Simpsons when Mr. Burns yells at Don Mattingly “Mattingly! For the last time get rid of those sideburns!”. Sideburns are a great accompaniment to some of the other facial hair styles mentioned above, and can varying in size from an unassuming mid ear length to some epic manky chops.

Right now in the fashion cycle I feel a safe bet is (if you're not a musician, or in a Motorhead cover band paying tribute to the late great Lemmy Kilmister) to try and avoid the huge ones unless you are coupling it with a 3 day growth, a moustache or goatee. For this style a beard trimmer and shave lubricant (gel or oil) is excellent for getting them looking sharp and neat.

We hope this has been a helpful read. If there are any other styles you’d like us to comment on then don’t hesitate to comment below. Beard on my brothers