It has been said that actions and character reveal a man's masculinity. And wearing a stylistically appropriate beard can be the exclamation point on the character traits that a real man shows to the world.
And for strong black men who want to show their best to the world, it's important to rock the right beard style according to facial features and beard growth rate.
It takes great style sense and responsibility to wear a beard. Get your beard grooming supplies and style advice at Beard Gains.
Related: Why Some Men Can't Grow A Beard
The Most Popular Beard Styles For Black Men
You should wear a beard style that best suits the shape of your face and the length of time it takes for your beard to grow.
Also, wearing a popular beard style requires the sacrifice of maintaining good grooming habits and regular trimming.
If you have a long face head shape, avoid wearing a beard style that will make your beard look even longer. Do you have a roundish face shape? Then choose a suitable beard style that will make your face appear longer instead of rounder.
And keep in mind that you or your barber will have to trim and maintain your beard once to twice a week. Some beard styles will require you to trim it every day or every two days.
Here are six popular beard styles for black men.
The Five O'clock Shadow
The Five O'clock Shadow, also known as the Five O'clock Beard, is the extremely close-shaven version of the Vintage Full Beard look.
Think about it - the Five O'clock Shadow is essentially the short follicle outline or shading of the Full Beard.
A Five O'clock Shadow is almost like the shadow of a Vintage Full Beard. However, this is not a disparaging descriptor – The Five O'clock Shadow is a deceptively cool and sexy beard look for black men.
The trick to mastering the Five O'clock Shadow is professionally maintaining the shaven outline of the beard around the neckline and cheek. And that may be a minor drawback for any black man who wants to rock this style – maintenance.
You will have to trim and maintain the Five O'clock Shadow beard every two to three days. Otherwise, the Five O'clock Shadow will just become another ungroomed scruffy beard.
However, the sacrifice for mastering any strategic beard style is strategic maintenance. So, strategically maintain and trim the outlines of the Five O'clock Shadow every 48 to 72 hours. It is worth it to perfectly express the effortless cool of this beard style.
The Vintage Full Beard
Not everyone can pull off a full beard look. And not every man can grow a full beard without visible bare facial voids and patches throughout.
As long as you can grow a full beard, the look can be adjusted, coiffed, and shaped to any facial style. Black men with bald heads, afros, clean-cut trims, or dreadlocks can rock a full beard.
With the help of a professional barber, the full beard can be proportionally sculpted to create a great aesthetic contrast with any hairstyle. You can also learn how to do this yourself with studied practice in the mirror.
Just be forewarned that it takes about 90 days to grow a full beard, so be patient. It can take some men as long as 120 days to grow a full beard.
The follicle volume and the amount of facial real estate that a full beard takes up is immense. Think about it – a full beard could probably cover your face from the top of your throat to your cheekbones. So, remember to keep it well-groomed at all times, no matter the follicle length or density.
The Soul Patch
The Soul Patch is one of the retro-coolest beard styles for black men. The Soul Patch is just a patch of facial hair that extends down from the lower lip to the bottom of the chin.
Another way to think of the Soul Patch is as a chin-only variation of the Goatee.
The Soul Patch can be modified and sculpted in any way. A Soul Patch can be thin, wide, closely shorn, or densely grown out.
And even though the Soul Patch is diminutive in aesthetic appearance, it commands a lot of style attention. Sometimes a bald head or closely cropped hairstyle goes best with a Soul Patch.
The Soul Patch draws attention to the lips, curves of the face, and the eyes because the face is practically bare. More than any other beard style, the Soul Patch invites people to visually inspect the face's features.
You can grow a mustache to complement the Soul Patch, but it is a beard style that can work independently.
The Tony Stark
The Tony Stark, named after the Marvel Comics character, is another name for the traditional Anchor Beard style. The Anchor Beard is a goatee-style beard that resembles a ship's anchor aesthetically.
The Anchor Beard is kind of like a thin-stripped Soul Patch that starts at the lower lip and meets a swept-out beard that is shaven from the edges of the lips and meets the Soul Patch strip. And the result is a beard that aesthetically resembles an anchor from the front.
There are a few ways to rock the Tony Stark beard look. You can wear it without a mustache or with a connected or unconnected mustache.
The Tony Stark beard looks optimal on black men with square, rectangular, or round facial features.
The Chin Strap Beard
The Chin Strap is a beard style that resembles the chin strap connected to a helmet, hence the name. It is a half-circular style beard that traces the chin line and goes up to the temples on both sides of the face.
The Chin Strap can be connected or unconnected to a mustache. It is a very stylish look that works well for black men who enjoy wearing formal wear a lot.
The Garibaldi
The Garibaldi beard is similar in style to the Full Beard. But the Garibaldi calls for a well-trimmed, follicle dense and voluminous, scraggly but stylish kind of beard.
This style of beard is named after Giuseppe Garibaldi. He was a 19th-century Italian general and strategist renowned for his military prowess and wooly beard covering the bottom half of his face.
And that is the thing about the Garibaldi style of beard – there is a very thin line between it being a scraggly unmanageable mess and beard style worthy of a man of importance. The Garibaldi beard style exudes masculinity and power when worn correctly, so make sure to keep it well-groomed and trimmed regularly according to preference.
NBA player James Harden and rap star Rick Ross are two examples of celebrities who know how to rock the Garibaldi beard style the right way.
Harden began growing his Garibaldi in 2009 and just stopped shaving. And now Harden's beard is his sports signature and powerful look.
Your beard is your most important style accessory. Take care of it. Beard Gains has all the beard grooming products and information you need to maintain your style cool.