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Beard Styles Chart: 34 Beard Styles by Name, Length and Face Shape

Most beard style lists show you photos and leave you guessing. This chart does the opposite: it names every mainstream beard and mustache style, tells you how much hair each one actually needs, roughly how long it takes to get there, and which face shapes it tends to flatter. Thirty-four styles, one table, no scrolling through a gallery to work out what the thing is called.

Use it two ways. If you already have a look in mind, find it by name and check the growth time before you commit. If you only know your face shape and how much beard you can realistically grow, read the chart the other way round: filter by length first, then by face shape, and you will be left with three or four honest options instead of forty.

The beard styles chart

Styles are grouped by family so related looks sit next to each other. "Length" is the beard length you need before the style reads as intended, not the maximum you can grow it to. Growth times assume average growth of roughly half an inch per month.

Beard styles chart naming beard and mustache styles with the length needed, growth time and best face shapes for each
Beard Styles Chart — 10Trim.com
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Style name Family Length needed Mustache? Growth time Best face shapes
Light stubble (five o'clock shadow) Stubble 0.5-1 mm Optional 1-3 days Almost all; good on round
Heavy stubble Stubble 3-5 mm Connected 5-10 days Square, oval, triangle
Short boxed beard Full (short) 10-20 mm Connected 3-4 weeks Square, oval, heart
Corporate beard Full (short) 15-25 mm Connected 4-6 weeks Oval, square, round
Full beard Full 25-50 mm Connected 8-12 weeks Oval, heart, diamond
Hollywoodian Full (detached) 20-40 mm Connected 6-10 weeks Oblong, square, diamond
Garibaldi Full (long) 100-150 mm Connected 4-6 months Oval, heart
Ducktail Full (long) 75-125 mm Connected 3-5 months Round, square, oval
Verdi Full (long) 100-150 mm Styled, separate 4-6 months Oval, heart
French fork Full (long) 125-175 mm Connected 5-8 months Round, square
Old Dutch Full (long) 125-200 mm Shaved 6-9 months Oblong, oval
Bandholz Full (long) 150 mm+ Connected 12+ months Oval, heart, diamond
Yeard (one year beard) Full (long) 150 mm+ Connected 12 months Oval, oblong
Classic goatee Chin 10-25 mm None 2-4 weeks Round, oblong, triangle
Circle beard Chin 10-25 mm Connected 3-4 weeks Round, square, oval
Van Dyke Chin 20-40 mm Separate 4-6 weeks Round, square, heart
Anchor Chin 10-20 mm Separate (chevron) 4-6 weeks Oval, square
Balbo Chin 15-30 mm Separate 5-7 weeks Oval, oblong, diamond
Extended goatee Chin 15-30 mm Connected 4-6 weeks Round, oval, heart
Petite goatee Chin 5-15 mm None 2-3 weeks Round, heart
Royale (musketeer) Chin 15-30 mm Connected, styled 4-6 weeks Oval, square
Zappa Chin 15-25 mm Thick, separate 6-10 weeks Oval, oblong
Soul patch Chin 5-15 mm None 1-2 weeks Square, oval
Chin strap Jawline 3-8 mm Optional 3-4 weeks Round, oval, heart
Chin curtain (Lincoln) Jawline 20-50 mm Shaved 6-10 weeks Oblong, diamond, heart
Sideburns (burnsides) Cheek 10-30 mm Optional 3-6 weeks Oblong, oval
Mutton chops Cheek 25-50 mm Shaved 6-10 weeks Oblong, oval, heart
Friendly mutton chops Cheek 25-50 mm Connected 6-10 weeks Oblong, oval
Beardstache Hybrid Stubble + 15 mm Dominant 6-10 weeks Square, oval, triangle
Chevron mustache Mustache 10-20 mm Only 4-8 weeks Oval, square, triangle
Horseshoe mustache Mustache 15-30 mm Only 4-8 weeks Oblong, square
Handlebar mustache Mustache 25-50 mm Only 3-6 months Oval, oblong
Walrus mustache Mustache 40-75 mm Only 4-6 months Oblong, square
Pencil mustache Mustache 3-8 mm Only 3-4 weeks Oval, heart, diamond
Imperial mustache Mustache 25-50 mm Only 3-5 months Oval, oblong

How to read the chart

Family tells you what part of the face carries the style. Stubble and full beards cover everything; chin styles live below the lower lip; jawline styles trace the mandible; cheek styles keep the sideburns and drop the chin. Styles inside a family share the same grooming problems, so if one Balbo-type look does not suit you, its neighbors in the same block probably will not either.

Mustache is the column people get wrong most often, and it is what separates styles that look nearly identical in photos. A classic goatee has no mustache. Add a connected mustache and it becomes a circle beard. Detach that mustache and point the chin hair and you have a Van Dyke. Same hair, three names. Our guide to goatee styles and the Van Dyke walkthrough both cover where those lines fall; the mustache and goatee combo guide handles the hybrids.

Growth time assumes you are not trimming while you grow. Most men grow around half an inch (12 mm) of beard per month, but density matters more than speed: a patchy grower needs the extra weeks to fill in before a short boxed beard looks deliberate rather than unfinished.

Beard styles by length

Length is the most honest filter, because it is the one constraint you cannot argue with. If you have three weeks of growth, a Garibaldi is not on the table no matter how well it suits your face.

  • Days (0-10 mm): light stubble, heavy stubble, soul patch, pencil mustache.
  • Weeks (10-25 mm): short boxed beard, corporate beard, classic goatee, circle beard, chin strap, anchor, chevron mustache. These are the short beard styles most men actually end up wearing.
  • A few months (25-75 mm): full beard, Hollywoodian, Van Dyke, Balbo, chin curtain, mutton chops, handlebar. This is medium beard styles territory and the sweet spot for shape.
  • Half a year and beyond (75 mm+): ducktail, Garibaldi, Verdi, French fork, Old Dutch, Bandholz, yeard. See the long beard styles guide for the maintenance these demand.

Beard styles by face shape

The principle behind every recommendation in the chart is simple: a beard should push your face toward an oval. Round faces want length at the chin and tight sides. Long faces want the opposite, width at the cheeks and almost no chin extension. Square jaws want softening; weak jaws want definition.

Face shape Goal Best styles Avoid
Oval Keep the balance Nearly anything: short boxed, full beard, Van Dyke, stubble Extremes in either direction
Round Add vertical length Van Dyke, ducktail, extended goatee, Balbo, chin strap Mutton chops, wide cheek beards
Square Soften a hard jaw Circle beard, short boxed with rounded corners, heavy stubble Hard chin straps, sharp boxed edges
Oblong / rectangle Add width, not length Mutton chops, chin curtain, Hollywoodian, horseshoe Goatees, long pointed beards, ducktail
Heart Weight the chin Full beard, Garibaldi, chin curtain, extended goatee Soul patch alone, pencil-thin styles
Diamond Fill chin and jaw, trim cheeks Chin curtain, Balbo, full beard kept short at the sides Wide cheek styles, heavy sideburns
Triangle Draw the eye up Chevron, beardstache, light stubble, classic goatee Anything that adds bulk below the jaw

The face shape rules are guidelines, not physics. Hair texture and growth pattern override them constantly: coarse, tightly curled hair builds width far faster than straight hair at the same length, which changes which styles read as "full" and which read as "heavy" (our guide to beard styles for Black men goes into that in detail). If you want the face shape logic worked through with photos and worked examples, the square, oval and round face guide is the companion piece to this chart.

Which beard styles need a mustache?

Three groups. Mustache required and connected: full beard, short boxed, corporate, circle beard, extended goatee, Garibaldi, ducktail, Bandholz, friendly mutton chops. Mustache required but detached: Van Dyke, Balbo, anchor, Verdi, Zappa. The gap between mustache and chin hair is the whole point of these; close it and you have changed the style. Mustache shaved off: classic goatee, chin curtain, Old Dutch, mutton chops. If you can only grow a thin mustache, the shaved-mustache group is where your options are, and the mustache styles guide covers the standalone looks.

What is the easiest beard style to maintain?

Heavy stubble, by a distance. One pass with a trimmer at a fixed guard length every two or three days, no line work, no products, and it suits more face shapes than anything else on the chart. Next easiest is the short boxed beard: a weekly trim, one cheek line, one neckline. The genuinely high-maintenance entries are the detached-mustache styles (Van Dyke, Balbo, anchor), because the gaps have to be re-shaved every two or three days or the style collapses back into a circle beard, and the styled mustaches, which need wax daily.

How do you ask a barber for a style on this chart?

Give the barber the name and one measurement, not just the name. "A short boxed beard, guard three on the sides, guard five on the chin, cheek line natural, neckline two fingers above the Adam's apple" gets you what you want. "Short boxed beard" on its own gets you the barber's interpretation. If the style is an unusual one such as mutton chops, bring a photo, because regional naming varies more than the chart suggests. And say explicitly whether you want the cheek line shaved straight or left to grow naturally, since that single decision changes the character of every full beard style more than length does.

Using and citing this chart

You are welcome to reference this beard styles chart on your own site, in a barbershop, or in a class handout, provided you credit the source with a link back to this page. If you quote the table, please keep the growth times and length ranges together, since a length without a growth time is the part people misread.

Suggested attribution: Beard Styles Chart, 10Trim.com, linked to this URL.

Once you have picked a style from the chart, the execution matters more than the choice: our step-by-step beard trimming guide covers the cheek line and neckline that make or break every style here, and the beard trimmer buying guide explains which guard lengths you actually need for the length ranges in the table. For the broader look at what suits whom, start from the best beard styles guide; if you want the tidier end of the spectrum, the well-groomed beard styles shortlist narrows it further.

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