Beards have long been a signifier of masculinity. Men express their personal style through the way they wear their beard. With modern barbering techniques, beard design has evolved into an essential part of men’s grooming. Through shaping, styling, trimming, and maintaining men can show off their personality and complement their facial structure. How you style your beard may even reflect your lifestyle.
These are some of the most popular beard styles for men in 2025. This may even give you inspiration for your next trip to the barbershop!
Balbo Beard
The Balbo beard is the combination of a disconnected beard and mustache with no sideburns. Both the mustache and beard are neatly manicured. This creates a clean, sophisticated, sculpted look that accentuates angular facial features.
How to achieve this look:
To create the Balbo, allow the mustache and beard to grow independently, but without the two connecting. You can trim the mustache to a moderate length, and keep it detached and distinct from the beard. There is no hair on the rest of the face. This beard design relies on precision and manicuring to a defined shape.
Goatee
The goatee is a classic beard style that just requires facial hair on your chin. It gets it’s name from the way it looks like a goat’s beard. Grow out the facial hair below your bottom lip and shave the rest. You can keep it trimmed moderately short, or let it grow a little. It’s easiest to maintain when it’s overgrown stubble to about an inch long. This look doesn’t require cheek hair or a mustache, so it’s good for men with patchy facial hair. Works well for men with a square or angular jaw.
How to achieve this look:
To create a goatee, grow the facial hair on and around the chin and keep the cheeks and neck clean shaven. Use a razor or trimmer to maintain clean edges that accentuate the jawline. Can be used with a mustache for a edgy look or clean-shaven face for a streamlined look.
Verdi Beard
The Verdi beard style is inspired by an Italian opera composer named Giuseppe Verdi. There is a lot of flexibility with this beard style, but the characteristics are: a mustache separated from the beard, cleanly shaved neck, symmetrically shaped beard.
This is a full beard with a mustache with fully grown ends. The beard is slightly faded on the cheeks, blending seamlessly into the jawline beard.
The Verdi beard requires a special flair to wear, but it exudes confidence and masculinity.
How to achieve this look:
Grow your beard as normal for a few weeks and trim periodically. Avoid trimming the ends of your mustache and make it seem separate from the bottom part of the beard. Fade the cheek hair slightly to accentuate the jawline beard hair.
Anchor Beard
The anchor beard is a modern style featuring a goatee with a mustache. The goatee is on the chin with a vertical strip from below the bottom lip to the chin. This forms the shape of an anchor. The mustache should not connect to the goatee. The cheeks remain clean-shaven or optionally, a light stubble. Works best with round faces but can fit any shape face. Also works good if you have a patchy beard.
How to achieve this look:
To create an anchor beard, grow the facial hair along the chin and jawline, also a strip from your bottom lip to the chin (like a soul patch). This should form an “anchor” shape. Keep the cheeks well shaven. Grow a detached mustache and keep it moderately trimmed with well-defined edges.
Full Beard
The full beard is very fashionable in the mid-2020s, making a powerful fashion statement and displaying a rugged look. You can also keep it trimmed for a more professional appearance. This is a lower maintenance beard than some of the others on the list. The full beard creates a commanding masculine presence.
How to achieve this look:
Let your beard grow out naturally – it may take several months to achieve. Trim the edges, cheeks and neckline, shape the beard periodically with trimming, use beard oil to keep it soft, supple, and well-conditioned. Trim up split ends every so often. Keeping the full beard well-groomed is key to making this aesthetic look good.
Garibaldi
This beard is named after Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi. What defines this beard is full beard with a rounded bottom and neat trimmed mustache. James Harden is a great example of someone who wears this style of beard. The rounded bottom is what differentiates it from other beards.
How to achieve this look:
Grow your beard to full volume, and trim the mustache to arch over the lips without extending into them. Brush the beard to get it to set and trim it to a rounded or squared bottom. Get the edges trimmed neat. This beard is about the volume below the chin.
Stubble Beard
Sometimes known as 5 o’clock shadow, the stubble beard is a rugged, gritty, masculine look that is a carefully cultivated appearance. Jason Statham and George Michael are two stellar examples of a signature stubble beard look. Every man must gauge how long to let his beard grow to cover the face in stubble. It may take three to seven days to get the initial stubble grown in. You’ll want to trim the hair carefully every few days to maintain the look. Define the edges on the jawline and neck using a professional trimmer.
How to achieve this look:
Let your facial hair grow, but use a high-quality trimmer with adjustable lengths to keep the hair a few millimeters in length. Trim it every few days to keep it from getting too long. You can use beard oil to make the stubble softer and less coarse.
Beardstache
The beardstache is a striking contemporary look featuring a shortly cropped beard and prominent mustache. This versatile look makes a bold, masculine statement. This bold, modern beard style fits all face shapes.
How to achieve this look:
Grow your beard and mustache, and make sure your mustache especially is voluminous and prominent. Trim your beard to a short length, accentuating the mustache, creating natural contrast.
Short Boxed Beard
The Boxed beard is a short beard with thin neatly trimmed sides. In some companies, this is the most beard that office workers are allowed to grow out. A neatly trimmed beard that stays close to the face.
How to achieve this look:
Grow the beard for about 2 to 3 weeks, keep the length uniform with regular trimming. Define the upper edge of the beard along the cheeks. Fade sideburns in to the beard. Clean up the neckline and keep the edges tight.
Keep the beard close to the face, trim the sides and create clean edges. Trim every few days to maintain.
Faded Beard
This modern look combines a full beard with faded sides, blending the sideburns into the beard seemingly effortlessly. It creates an aura of sophistication and precision. The thick part of the beard transitions into the short stubble, creating a very polished, refined and cultivated aesthetic.
How to achieve this look:
Grow your beard for about 4 to 6 weeks, visit the barber and get a professional fade that transitions from your hair to the beard. You may also get the cheek hair blended to the jawline hair. Maintain this look carefully using professional trimmers at home. Trim the sides every few days to keep it looking right.
Circle Beard
Sometimes mistakenly referred to as a goatee, the circle beard is an unbroken circular beard which connects a chin strip and mustache. Can include a connected soul patch. Mustache goes down to connect to chin beard, forming a circle around the mouth area.
How to achieve this look:
Grow beard for 2 to 3 weeks, use a trimmer to shape beard and connected mustache to desired length. Shave cheeks, jawline, and below the chin and neck. Keep edges uniform and well defined.
Mutton Chops
These are extreme sideburns, the chin is shaved clean, but the cheeks and sideburns are prominent. Usually there is a mustache which connects to the cheek hair, but you can also go without a mustache with mutton chops. Two good examples of mutton chops are Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead. The chin is the only part of the facial hair which is always kept shaved clean.
How to achieve this look:
Grow the beard and mustache for several weeks. Shave the bottom of the beard at the neckline, trim the sideburns and cheek hair to desired length, if you have a mustache, make that the same length. The mustache should connect to the rest of the beard. Keep the chin clean-shaven.
Van Dyke Beard
The Van Dyke beard was popularized by Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. It features a neatly trimmed, pointed goatee and detached mustache. The mustache is typically styled with was to have tapered ends. This is a distinct, artistic look that work well for men with angular or oval faces. The goatee accentuates the jawline and creates a striking, sophisticated appearance.
How to achieve this look:
To create a Van Dyke, grow a full mustache and small extended goatee. Neatly trim the goatee into a downward facing triangular shape. Keep the edges sharply defined. Grow the end of the mustache and use beard wax to twirl the ends into tapered ends.
Ducktail Beard
The Ducktail is a masculine beard that fits well on oval faces. It gets it’s name from the V shaped beard that extends about two to four inches below the chin, resembling a duck’s tail. It looks best when the sideburns and cheek hair is kept relatively short in comparison, created a sculpted look. This well-groomed look is a bit rebellious and edgy, but professional enough for every setting. This look is sophisticated with regular grooming required.
How to achieve this look:
Grow out the hair on your chin to several inches, leaving the sides shorter in a symmetrical pattern, blending carefully. When the chin hair is long enough, trim and shape the hair into a “V” pattern. Style with beard wax to maintain a consistent shape.
Chin Strap
The Chin Strap is a minimalist beard style that works well with darker facial hair. This can be combined with a goatee or mustache for different styles. Sometimes known as the chine curtain, the facial hair wraps along the jawline, generally the rest of the face is clean shaven, but can be combined with a mustache.
How to achieve this look:
Grow facial hair along the jawline and trim it close, keep the edges tight along the jawline, the rest of the face is clean shaven, may be paired with a mustache.
Extended Goatee
This is a longer version of the traditional goatee, with the hair extending an inch or more down the chin. This look requires grooming to prevent looking disheveled. Look for examples where John Legend wore this longer goatee for a good example. Think more sophisticated and less grizzled.
How to achieve this look:
Grow a normal goatee, but let it overgrow by a few inches. Keep it well shaped and manicured. Use beard balm to shape the beard and keep it looking styled.
Corporate Beard
The Corporate beard style is a modest length beard that is kept short and meticulously groomed to strike a professional appearance. This look combines the authoritative professional look with an assertive masculine appearance. The corporate beard usually includes a well-manicured mustache. This beard looks good in any setting.
How to achieve this look:
Grow your beard and mustache out for 2 to 3 weeks and use a trimmer with guard to trim the beard down to less than an inch from the face. Keep the neckline and cheek lines well-defined to keep a clean professional look.
Chevron
The Chevron is a classic mustache with an authoritative, timeless quality. The iconic look is bold, with a thick, wide shape, neatly covering the top lip.
How to achieve this look:
The Chevron covers the entire width of the top lip, with the edges extending slightly past the corner of the upper lip. It follows the natural lines of the upper lip. It’s easy to maintain, just trim it up regularly.
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