By face shape
| Shape | Try | Skip |
|---|---|---|
| Round | Short at the cheeks, longer at the chin: a boxed beard, a goatee, a Van Dyke | A round, full beard the same length all over |
| Square | A rounded, short full beard; tapered corners at the jaw | Sharp, square beard lines that repeat the jaw |
| Oval | Almost anything; keep it in proportion to your head and neck | Extremes: very long or very wide |
| Heart | Stubble or a short full beard to add width at the jaw and chin | A pointed goatee that narrows the chin further |
| Diamond | A full or boxed beard, fuller along the jaw and chin | Bare cheeks with a narrow chin beard |
| Oblong | Fuller at the sides, short and flat at the chin | Length at the chin, which makes the face read longer |
Between two shapes? Read both rows and keep what they agree on. For a rectangle face, use the oblong row: keep the chin short.
Lines matter more than the style
- Neckline: imagine a curve from just behind each earlobe dipping to about one or two finger-widths above your Adam’s apple. Shave below it.
- Cheek line: either leave it natural or take off the few stray hairs above it. A line cut too low makes the face look heavier.
- One length: pick a length and keep it there with a trimmer guard, rather than letting it regrow unevenly.
- Moustache: keep it off the lip line.
If your beard is patchy
- Keep it short: even stubble hides gaps better than length does.
- Give a fuller style a few weeks before judging it; some gaps fill in as hairs lengthen, some don’t.
- If it doesn’t fill, clean-shaven or tight stubble is a good choice, not a failure.
- Skip beard-growth oils that promise new hair. Sudden patchy loss in a beard that used to be full is worth showing a doctor.
How strong is the evidence?
Limited. One study found that how people judge a man’s beard depends on the shape of the face under it (Dixson and colleagues, 2017). There is no trial of beard styles by face shape: the table is barbers’ convention, used the way the app’s plan uses it.
How the app handles this
In the app, facial hair is rated for grooming (an even, deliberate length and clean lines), never for whether you have it. You tell the app whether you keep facial hair, and the plan only offers beard cards to people who do. A beard that covers the jaw line means the jaw measurements behind it are left out on that photo and said so, not guessed, and the face shape is withheld.