Oval face
Think of an oval face not as a explicit shape, however rather as a collection of proportions: cheekbones just slightly wider than jawbones, and a balanced chin that’s vertically symmetrical together with your forehead.
“Whenever a bloke comes to me and asks for advice on his facial hair, I continually try to seek out one thing that will help him approximate an oval face form,” Guastella says. “That’s my rule.”
Therefore if you’re an oval-faced guy, congrats: You don’t really would like to balance something out. In fact, if you go overboard on a beard or mustache, you’ll even finish up throwing off your facial symmetry. Going clean-shaven is always a sensible possibility, as is a beard that hews fairly closely to your existing facial features.
Oval face study: Kevin Hart
Hart’s beard game is on purpose—and while he typically makes refined variations, he usually keeps it inside the identical classic spectrum. The comedian (and former Men’s Fitness cowl guy) often wears a thin goatee with slightly additional volume at the underside of his chin, which nicely frames his ever-present grin. Typically he’ll conjointly grow out a neat, trim beard below his jawline to square his jaw slightly, but it forever maintains the baseline oval shape of his face.
Oval face study: David Beckham
When he does grow some scruff, Beckham makes positive it’s proportional to his options. He balances out his wide, tapered mustache by growing his beard right up to his lower lip. Most importantly, he trims his beard so it maintains the essential form of his jawline (barbers usually call this a “soft corner”). End result: the same robust-jawed, oval facial profile as clean-shaven Beckham.
Round face
Guys with rounder faces sometimes have wide cheekbones, wide jawbones that sit at or below their mouths, and a brief chin. If your face is shaped like this, it’s smart to target facial hair sort of a Van Dyke or a goatee, since it emphasizes the middle/bottom of your face and creates the impression of a longer, additional pronounced chin. (Contrast this with the “triangle” face form, which results from wide cheekbones and a long, pointed chin.) Guastella’s professional tip: “If you have got a round face, don’t grow your hair or facial hair too wide—keep it narrower.”
Round face study: Jeremy Renner
The Bourne Legacy and Avengers actor encompasses a classic example of a rounded face. He’s often clean-shaven, however when he will grow out his scruff, he usually sculpts it into a trim Van Dyke. Note how it accentuates his chin and seems to lengthen his face, making the impression of a a lot of angular jawline.
Round face study: Mark Wahlberg
Wahlberg was often clean-shaven earlier in his career (keep in mind those Calvin Klein ads?), however he’s started to wear his goatee more typically as he’s shifted into action-hero-cool-dad mode. In movies like Transformers, as an example, Wahlberg typically goes for a horseshoe mustache/goatee combo with more scruff on the underside, effectively elongating his jaw and the center of his chin.
Triangular face
A triangular face (generally additionally referred to as a heart-formed face) doesn’t have to mean a tiny jawline. On the contrary, it’s a lot of likely that you’ve got a pointed chin, wide cheekbones, and narrower jawbones that sit high relative to your mouth. Triangular faces stand to learn the most from a beard—whether or not perma-scruff or full ocean captain’s whiskers—which will facilitate your produce the impression of a fuller, squared-off jawline. (Contrast the triangle with the round face shape.)
Guastella’s professional tip for bearded dudes: “Don’t trim your beard too high on your neck. There should be additional beard than clean-shaven skin below your chin. When the beard becomes too little, it’s more of a chinstrap—and then you lose the square-jawed impact.”
