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Do you want to know how to shape a beard for your face shape? When a beard is shaped properly, it can give you a more masculine appearance and a stronger jaw line. We know you are reluctant to start trimming your precious mane that you spent months growing but trust us, it's not as hard as it looks, and we will show you how to do it step by step. So with that being said, let's get trimming.

Finding The Best Beard Shape For Your Face

We will give you an overview of which beard shapes work best for your face shape. If you want to learn more about the best beard styles, we made a guide you can check out here.

Best Beard Shape For Men With Square Faces

Beardstache, Ducktail, Royal Beard, Circle Beard, Goatee.

Best Beard Shape For Men With Triangle Faces

Van Dyke Beard, Anchor Beard, Balbo beard,

Best Beard Shape For Men With Round Faces

Ducktail, Box Beard, Anchor Beard, Van Dyke beard,

Best Beard Shape For Men With Oval Faces

Circle Beard, Chevron Mustache, Stubble Beard, Beardstache.

How To Shape Your Beard

So now that you know what beard styles are best for your face, it's time to start whipping it into shape. Before we get started, you will need a few products.

Products You Need

Electric trimmer
Close trim razor or Zero-Blade
beard comb or beard toothpick
Mirror

Wash And Prep Your Beard

Before we start trimming, you need a nice clean beard. I know you are excited and want to start trimming but don't skip this step. Washing your beard helps the hair lay straighter and makes it easier to comb. Not to mention it's just good hygiene. You can use a beard wash or a mild shampoo. You want something that doesn't irritate your skin and is ok for you to use every day.

After washing your beard, the final step is to take a towel and make sure your beard is perfectly dry. You don't want to start trimming with a wet beard because the hair will appear longer when wet, and you may cut more length than you want.

Comb And Blow Dry Your Beard

Start using your beard or regular comb to give your beard a light brush. If you have a particularly longer beard, you can use a beard toothpick, a longer style comb made specifically for longer and thicker beards. The goal is just to remove any tangles that may be in your beard.

After the first initial comb, you want to comb it again using a blow dryer to straighten the hair.

You want to comb from the top of the beard downwards with the blowdryer right above where you are combing with the airflow blowing down. You want a nice natural beard shape. Don't comb or puff the beard to the sides.

Trim and Shape The Sides

Ok, now we can start shaping your beard. It's important to reference the exact beard style you want. Most beard styles have the goal of making your face look longer and narrowing the face. So to achieve that effect, we will start by trimming the sides of the beard first.

When trimming the sides of your beard, you want to make sure to use a trimmer with guards to get the perfect side length you want each time. Most beard side lengths fall in the range of 2 to 4. If you are worried about trimming off too much hair, you can start with a longer length guard and progressively go down to shorter guards until you find the length that looks best for your style.

You want to start at the top of your cheek and trim downwards with the trim guard right against your cheek.

When you get to the lower section of the beard by your jaw, don't roll the trimmer inwards under the beard. You want to continue vertically down in a straight line until you reach the end of your beard.

Once you have done this for both sides, go ahead and give your beard sides a quick comb to see if all the hair is cut evenly, you might have to go over it again to get any uneven spots where you might have missed some hair.

Shape The Sideburns

Next, it's time to shape the sideburns. Take your trimmer again but this time, place a slightly shorter guard on around a two or three. You want to start trimming at the top of your sideburns with the guard placed against your skin and work your way down to the top of your beard.

When you reach the top area of your beard, you want to scoop a little outwards before removing the trimmer from your face. Make sure not to trim the area of your beard.

If you did this correctly, your beard should have a nice even taper from the top of your sideburns to your beard. Everything should have a nice even blend.

Trim the Bottom of Your beard

Now it's time to trim the lower part of the beard, also known as the shelf. Before you start trimming, reference the style you are going for because some feature a more squared-off shelf, while others, like the ducktail beard, feature a pointed shelf.

This time you will use your trimmer without a guard, so be careful.

You want to hold the clipper upside down and then tilt your head back and begin trimming from your chin to your Adam's apple. You don't want to trim off tons of hair. You want to lightly graze the bottom of your beard to remove the hairs that are hanging down and don't make up the bulk of the beard.

Optional: If you are going for the ducktail style or want that defined jawline, then you can use a comb in this step as a guard to get that super straight and sharp chin line. We actually created a step-by-step tutorial specifically for Viking beards and ducktail beards here.

Define The Back Jawline

So now that you have the general shape of the beard, we need to start defining the beard and making it look sharp. We are going to start with the lower part of the beard first, also known as the baseline. That just refers to the lower outline of your beard around the neck and the back of your jaw that goes up to your ear.

Before we get started, make sure you are using a close trim blade like the Zero-Blade to get that nice sharp appearance. A regular beard trimmer without the guard isn't going to give that super-defined look, and a razor could cut you.

Start at the back of your sideburns right in front of the ear and trim downwards to the corner of the jaw. You want a nice clean straight line on both sides.

Define The Neck Line

Now we are going to define the bottom horizontal neckline. You want to make sure to follow the natural shape of the beard. Some necklines are slightly curved from the point of the jaw to the Adam's apple, while others are more straight. Just follow the natural line you already have or the style you want.

Use your trimmer with the Zero-Blade upside down again and trim it down, then in little sections until you have a nice clean neckline.

Once you are done defining the neckline, you can flip the trimmer right side up to a softer position and clean the rest of your neck up to the neckline. You want to trim all remaining hair on the entire neck to give a clean appearance.

Define The Top Of Your Beard

Ok, now it's time to trim the top line of the beard on the cheeks. This can change depending on what style you want and your face shape. If you have a round or more full face, then you want to keep the line as straight as possible. If you have a triangular or narrow face shape, then you want to give it a little roundness. Reference below if you are going to trim a straight line or a slightly rounded line. You want to use your trimmer with the zero blade again for this step.

Trim a straight line.

Trimming a straight line is simple; you want to hold the trimmer right side up and then trim upwards in little sections until you have a nice straight line from the corner of your mouth to your sideburns.

Trim a rounded line.

Trimming a rounded line is a little more tricky, but you can use a simple trick. You pull the skin from your cheek up a little right below the eye until you see the section of hair rise.

You then take your trimmer and trim from your sideburns straight to the corner of your mouth and straight through that section of risen hair. When you release the skin, you will notice that the straight line falls back and creates a nice gradual curved line.

Trim The Mustache

Your beard should look excellent, but we aren't done yet; we need to trim the mustache. If you have a thinner mustache, you want to trim the hair above the lip. If your mustache is thicker, you can let it hang over the top lip a little, but never let it touch the bottom lip.

Start by giving your mustache a quick comb. Now use your trimmer with the Zero-Blade flipped upside down and sideways. Start at the middle of the mustache's lower section, trim the center, and slightly roll the trimmer to one side and a gentle curve. Trim until you have reached the end and flip the trimmer to the other side and trim the other side of the mustache the same way.

Optional: if you want to curl your mustache, then make sure to leave the ends or peaks of the mustache longer.

Next, you want to take your trimmer and trim the outside of the mustache to make sure you don't have any loose hairs growing in a weird direction and to give it that nice defined appearance. You don't want to cut off too much; we want to remove the tiny hairs that don't make up the shape of the outer mustache.

Finishing Touches

The last step is to add moisturizer and beard balm. Make sure to add a good moisturizer of your choice to the exposed areas of skin on the cheeks or neck. You always want to take care of your skin to avoid razor burns or ingrown hairs.

You can now add beard balm or oil to your beard to ensure the hair is strong and doesn't become brittle. Beard oil keeps the hair soft and helps keep the shape of your beard. Make sure to use nonscented beard oil because it will be very close to your nose, and if you are sensitive to artificial scents, this could cause headaches.

There you have it, the definitive guide on how to shape a beard for your face shape. If you followed our steps and with a bit of practice, you should be rocking the perfect beard. If you have any questions or comments, then feel free to leave us a comment below!

Thanks for reading!

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