Beard styles for long faces

Width, not length

A long face, sometimes called an oblong or rectangular face, is noticeably longer than it is wide. Forehead, cheekbones and jaw sit at roughly the same width, the sides run fairly straight, and everything is stretched vertically.

The job here is the exact reverse of the round face page. There, you add length at the chin and keep the sides tight. Here, you build outward at the cheeks and keep the chin short, because anything hanging below the jaw makes a face that is already long, longer.

That single rule rules out a surprising number of popular styles. A goatee, a van Dyke, an anchor beard and a pointed ducktail all concentrate hair on the chin and draw the eye down. They are excellent styles. They are the wrong ones for this face.

Check it is actually a long face

Length against width. Measure or just look: a long face is clearly taller than it is wide. If the two are close, you are round or square, and the advice reverses.

Straight sides. The outline runs fairly parallel from temple to jaw rather than curving in or out. Softer, curving sides point to oval.

Compare it to oval. An oval face is also longer than wide, just less so, and it tapers toward the chin. Oval faces can wear almost anything. Long faces cannot, so it is worth being honest about which you are.

If your face is long *and* your jaw has hard corners, you are rectangular, which is a long face with a square jaw. Everything on this page applies, and it is worth also reading the square face advice about rounding the bottom edge.

What actually adds width

Three mechanisms, and every style below uses at least one.

Volume at the cheeks and sideburns. The most direct approach. Hair grown wide across the sides physically broadens the outline and shortens the vertical line.

A horizontal focal point. A strong moustache draws the eye across the middle of the face rather than down it, which breaks a long face into two shorter halves.

A flat or rounded bottom, never a point. Where the beard ends matters enormously. A rounded or squared-off bottom edge stops the eye. A point carries it downward and undoes everything the sides are doing.

The styles that work

Mutton chops are the single most effective style on this page, and most men dismiss them without trying. The modern version is a long way from the Victorian one: bushy sideburns down the cheeks, connecting to the moustache or not, chin clean. Nothing else adds that much width, and they are one of the few styles genuinely designed for this proportion rather than adapted to it.

If that is bolder than you want, the wolverine is the same idea joined to a moustache, and the beardstache does the horizontal trick with far less commitment.

For full coverage, the full beard works well provided you keep the cheeks full and the bottom rounded. Do not taper the sides in, which is standard advice on every other face-shape page and wrong here. And do not let the chin run long.

What to avoid

Anything pointed at the chin. A van Dyke, an anchor beard, a goatee or a pointed ducktail. All good styles, all working against you here.

Long, narrow beards. Length is only a problem when it is narrow. A long wide beard is fine, a long thin one adds inches to your face.

Tapered sides. The instinct is to trim the sides close because it looks tidy. On a long face it removes the width you need.

Drooping moustaches. A Fu Manchu or a horseshoe runs vertically down past the mouth. A wide chevron does the opposite job with the same amount of hair.

A high, tight cheek line. Cutting the cheek line low and tight narrows the beard. Keep it natural and higher, so the beard stays wide.

How long each one takes

Getting the shape right

Keep the cheek line high and natural. The opposite of the round face advice. You want the beard occupying as much of the side of your face as it can.

Trim the chin shorter than the sides. This is the reverse of almost every other trimming guide, and it is the single most useful thing on this page. If you use guards, go a size or two *higher* on the cheeks than at the chin.

Round or flatten the bottom. Never a point. On a full beard, cut a gentle curve. On a boxed beard, keep it level.

Do not set the neckline too low. A low neckline extends the visible face downward. Two fingers above the Adam's apple, as usual, and no lower.

Where it goes wrong

Growing a long pointed beard. The most common mistake, because pointed beards look impressive in photographs and they are the exact wrong shape here.

Tapering the sides out of tidiness. Understandable and counterproductive.

Picking a goatee because it is easy. It is easy, and it lengthens your face.

Trimming at day ten. Everything looks wrong at day ten, on every face.

Assuming width means bushy. A wide beard can still be short and neat. A boxed beard at ten millimetres adds width if the sides are left full.

Questions we get asked

What beard style suits a long face? Mutton chops or a wolverine for maximum width, a beardstache for the least effort, a full beard with a rounded bottom and full cheeks if you want proper coverage.

What beard styles look good on men with oblong faces? The same list. Oblong and long are two names for the same shape, and rectangular is a long face with a squarer jaw.

What makes a long face look shorter? Width at the cheeks, a horizontal focal point across the middle of the face, and nothing hanging below the jawline. All three at once is why mutton chops work so well.

Should I avoid a goatee with a long face? Yes, along with the van Dyke, anchor beard and any pointed style. They concentrate hair at the chin and pull the eye downward.

Can I have a long beard with a long face? Yes, if it is wide rather than narrow and rounded rather than pointed. A Garibaldi or a Viking works. A ducktail or a French fork does not.

Which beard looks good on a long face if my cheeks are patchy? A beardstache, since it puts the work on the moustache. Failing that, a chin strap defines the jaw horizontally without needing cheek density.

Do mutton chops actually work? For this face shape, better than anything else. The modern version is neater than the name suggests and it is worth trying before dismissing.

How is this different from an oval face? An oval face is longer than wide too, but less so, and it tapers. Oval faces can wear nearly anything. Long faces need width, which rules out roughly a third of the styles on this site.