What Beard Should I Grow?
Square, diamond, triangle, round or oval? Work out your face shape and find the right beard for it – with a celebrity role model, what to avoid and how to grow it.
Worried your facial hair makes you look like ‘Bhiku Mhatre’ who hangs around with local goons? Well worry no more, with our guide to growing the right beard for your face.
What shape is my face?
Stage 1, prep: You’ll need your face, a mirror and a rubber. If you haven't been rubbing things out lately, you can substitute this for a lip balm, your girlfriend’s lipstick or a permanent marker.
Stage 2, action: Slick your hair back and stand admiring your beautiful face in the mirror. Now trace the outline of your face onto the mirror with your rubber or marker.
Stage 3, cross-reference: Now, take a step back and look. What shape is drawn in the mirror? Have a look at our handy chart and compare, contrast and discover your dream beard.
The square (Gary Barlow)
If your face is as wide as it is long, with strongly defined angles on your forehead and jaw then there’s a high probability that you’re a right ol’ square.
- Celebrity beard role model: Gary Barlow, SpongeBob SquarePants
- Avoid: Full beards as they’ll make your head a massive cube.
- Ideal beard: Go for a five o’clock shadow or a light, closely cropped beard. It’ll help balance your facial proportions and soften the right angles of your ever-so-manly jaw.
- How: Let your beard grow for a few days, then trim it with a clipper on a No.1 guard, keeping the top part of your beard rounded in a half-moon shape.
The diamond (Robert Pattinson)
The signs that you’re a diamond are a narrow forehead and jaw with high cheek bones and a pointy chin, making the widest section of your face the middle.
- Celebrity beard role model: Robert Pattinson, Johnny Depp, Pete Wentz
- Avoid: The soul patch. That weird little hairy triangle just under your bottom lip, it’ll just act as a pointer to your pointy chin.
- Ideal beard: Have a full-blown major beard. By filling your jawline out with some hardy fluff you’ll strengthen the jaw, making your face more manly and appealing to the lady-fellas.
- How: Grow it out until you hit the length of about 1cm. Keep it that length using a clipper guard and make sure you keep the cheek line and throat neat.
The triangle (Ryan Gosling)
Triangular faces have a wide hairline and jaw with a tapering, narrow chin. Go and make the most of your angular awesomeness.
- Celebrity beard role model: Ryan Gosling, Olly Murs, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake
- Avoid: A goatee. It’ll make your already pointy chin even more pointy.
- Ideal beard: Monsieur triangle looks best with a beefed-up jawline. A nice shaggy, medium-length beard should suffice, but not too long or you’ll lose the natural elegance of your mush.
- How: Probably the easiest to grow and maintain, don’t wear it too neat and make sure you keep the cheek line clean or you’ll look like a tramp.
The round (Kanye West)
If your head is a bit like a football, a plate, a melon or the moon then this is definitely for you.
- Celebrity beard role model: Kanye West, Jack Black, Zach Galifianakis
- Avoid: Long sideburns, dude. They’re just gonna make your face look rounder than a round ball.
- Ideal beard: Rocking a goatee is definitely a good look for you. It’ll add angles and length to your angelic round face and make your chin more prominent and your mouth appear thinner.
- How: You wanna grow that beard out to a decent length and then clean shave all but the chin (and the adjoining moustache depending on what style you are rocking). Don’t grow it too long.
The oval (Tinie Tempah)
Your face is pretty much like an upside down egg (the length is equal to one and a half times its width). You’ve got nice proportions, well done.
- Celebrity beard role model: Hrithik Roshan, James Franco
- Avoid: Just grow it, try shit. If people laugh in your egg-shaped face then you know you’re probably not on to a winner.
- Ideal beard: Congratulations, your face shape is totes versatile. Why not try and experiment with many different types of beard.
- Don’t: Try too many beards on one face, that’s probably not going to work for you.
Illustrations: Robbie’s Brownshoes.
From the January 2012 issue of FHM India.
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