Styling Different Types of Facial Hair
Facial hair is personal, and every style has its own upkeep. Whether you wear a full beard, a moustache, a goatee or just well-kept stubble, a little know-how goes a long way toward keeping it looking deliberate rather than neglected. Here’s our Abingdon stylists’ guide to grooming the most common facial hair styles at home.
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The full beard: A full beard lives or dies by maintenance. Trim regularly to keep the length even and the shape tidy — a beard left to its own devices quickly looks unkempt rather than rugged. A good beard oil or balm keeps the hair soft, moisturised and manageable, and brushing or combing daily helps train it to sit the way you want.
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The moustache: A moustache is all about definition. Use a precision trimmer or scissors to keep a clean, deliberate shape, and keep the area above the lip clear of strays. A little moustache wax lets you hold a style, from a neat everyday shape to something more characterful.
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The goatee: A goatee is a versatile, timeless option. The key is keeping the chin hair at a length that suits your face, and the edges clean and symmetrical — symmetry is what separates a sharp goatee from a scruffy one. Beard oil keeps it soft and adds a bit of shine.
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Stubble: Stubble is the lowest-maintenance look, but “low maintenance” isn’t “no maintenance.” A trimmer with an adjustable guard keeps the length uniform, and tidying the edges — neckline and cheek line — is what makes stubble look intentional. Moisturise underneath to avoid dry, itchy skin.
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A more defined, sculpted beard: If you like sharper lines and a more structured shape, that precision is genuinely hard to get right at home — the edges and angles are easy to overdo. This is the point where it’s worth getting a professional eye on it rather than risking an uneven result.
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The basics that apply to everything: Whatever style you wear, the fundamentals are the same: wash facial hair regularly to keep it clean, moisturise the skin underneath to prevent dryness and itch, and use decent tools — cheap trimmers pull and tug. Good habits matter more than any single product.
A note on getting it right
The hardest part of facial hair isn’t growing it — it’s the lines. Where the neckline sits, where the cheek line falls, how the beard meets your hairline: get those right and even a simple style looks sharp. If you’re blending shorter facial hair into your hairline, our guide on blending short facial hair covers exactly that.
Well-groomed facial hair works best alongside a good haircut — the two should suit each other. If you’re due a cut, take a look at our men’s hair services, or get in touch and we’ll talk through a look that works for you.
