It’s as if the oval face shape was made for beards. With the evenly balanced proportions between the jawline, forehead, and the cheekbones, many consider it to be the perfect face shape for men.
Other articles in this series:
- Beard Styles for Round Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Oblong Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Triangle Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Diamond Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Square Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Heart Face Shape
When it comes to finding the right beard style for your oval face, then you are in luck because nearly all kinds of beard styles are good fits for the oval face shape (except the ones with long sides and short chin area).
The oval face shape is known for its visible – but not angular – features, which is why you can easily compliment it with a beard style that adds a little bit of definition and sharp edges around the jawline and chin.
Let’s take a closer look:
What Does an Oval Face Shape Look Like
An oval shaped face is a balanced face where no feature really strikes out as dominant one.
The forehead, cheekbones, and the edges of your jawline (mandibles) all are close to each other in width, with the cheekbones often being slightly wider than the jaw and forehead, which makes your face nicely fit inside an oval shape.
One key feature of the oval shaped face is that it’s not very angular, but not round either. It typically features a slightly sloped jawline and visible but not overly prominent cheekbones.
Because of its balanced size and shape, many consider the oval face to be the ideal face shape for a man, although this is highly subjective.
Some popular men with with the oval face shape include: Jake Gyllenhaal, Adam Levine, Jude Law, and Idris Elba.
According to many studies, women tend to rate men with symmetrical, angular, and proportionally balanced faces as the most attractive, and one study in particular found that in men, the oval shaped face is indeed the most attractive one.
How to Know if you Have an Oval Shaped Face
It can sometimes be confusing to figure out what your face shape is exactly, and even at this far into the article you may be wondering…
“Do I have an oval shaped face or not?”
Well, there’s only one way to find out. You need to take out the good old measuring tape and do some measurements.
One from your jawline (the distance between the widest parts of the jawline under your earlobe on both sides), one on your cheekbones (from outer edge to another), one from your forehead (temple to temple on the outermost edges). And then also the height of the face from the chin to the hairline (or where your hairline used to be if you’re bald).
Here’s a picture so you can visualize from where you need to measure at:
You have an oval shaped face if:
- Your face height is greater than the width of any other measurement.
- The width of your forehead is slightly less than the width of the cheekbones.
- The width of your jawline is slightly less or equal to the width of the cheekbones.
- Your jawline slopes downwards at the connection point (mandible) to meet the chin.
What Kind of Beard Compliments the Oval Face
When it comes to growing a beard, men with oval faced shapes can consider themselves lucky, as the oval shaped face is a good fit for nearly all types of facial hair.
Since an oval face is already well balanced and there are no dominant features, you don’t need to hide or accentuate anything with the beard. This is why stubble and very short beard styles are usually a good fit for the oval face shape.
If you want to compliment an oval shaped face with a beard and add some definition to the jaw, then a beard style that is short on the sides and bit longer on the chin and jaw area would be the perfect fit.
In short: the goal should be to retain the natural oval shape of your face, or to add some emphasis and angularity to the jaw and chin.
What Kind of Beards Poorly Fit the Oval Face Shape
It’s hard to find a beard style that would not suit an oval shape, since it’s by far the most versatile face shape for any kind of facial hair.
That being said, there are still some ways you can mess up the proportions of your oval shaped face with a bad choice of beard style.
What you definitely want to avoid are beard styles that have long dominant sideburns and short lengths at the chin area. These kinds of styles will make your face appear round and short, which are known to be the least attractive features for men’s faces.
It’s also worth mentioning that scraggly unkempt beards, patchy beards, and pubic hair looking beards never really look good on any face shape, be it oval, square, round, whatever. So keep this in mind when trying to pick the right beard for your face shape.
Best Beard Styles for Oval Face
Heavy Stubble Beard
Multiple studies where women get to rate the attractiveness of different facial hair styles have found that the heavy stubble beard is the most attractive one.
Similarly, as explained earlier in this article, many studies have found that an oval shaped face is one of the most visually pleasing face shapes a man can have, thanks to its balanced features and proportions.
Put the heavy stubble beard and an oval shaped face together and you have yourself a winning style that is definitely going to turn heads and boost your confidence.
What’s so good about the heavy stubble is that it does not hide or accenuate any of your already proportionate facial features, it only adds to them and compliments your overall look with some scruffy masculine definition (that’s what facial hair does, makes you look manlier, even if its just stubble).
It’s easy to achieve and maintain heavy stubble. It’s roughly 10-days of beard growth, approximately 5mm in length. Longer than the 0.4mm five o’clock shadow and the designer stubble, but shorter than the boxed beard styles. And basically the only tool you need is a quality stubble trimmer.
The BeardStache
One of the hottest beard styles of 2020 has been then BeardStache.
It’s a very simple style that combines a full strong mustache with a full face stubble beard at a length of 0.4 to 5mm.
The reason why it’s a good beard style for oval shaped face is that it does not take anything away from your naturally proportional face features, and it only adds a bit of scruff and roughness to the bottom part of your face, while the mustache “frames” the face.
NOTE: We have a bigger more detailed guide on growing and trimming a BeardStache, so please check that out if you think this might be the perfect beard style for your oval face.
Goatee
If you can’t grow facial hair well on the cheeks, then full beard styles are something you shouldn’t even try to achieve.
So what else could you try then?
Well, a classic goatee and some of its variations like the extended goatee and even the Hollywoodian, fit the oval shaped face quite nicely
The reason why a goatee style looks so good on an oval shaped face is because it gives your chin a little boost, and at the same time creates a little step to your jawline which makes it appear more defined and angular.
By now you should know what a goatee looks like; it’s just a circle beard around your mouth with shaved cheeks and sideburns. The length is typically 10mm (3/8 of an inch), so it takes just about a month to grow.
Short Boxed Beard
Growing a short boxed beard is a great idea if you have an oval shaped face.
This kind of short beard style does not distract too much from your already ideal face features, while it still adds a little bit of definition and angularity to the jaw.
The short boxed beard takes about a month to grow (from clean-shaven starting point) and it’s typically half an inch (1.25 cm).
It features a neatly trimmed mustache, even length full face beard, and sharp clean-cut edges on your cheeks and neckline. The short boxed beard is sometimes referred to as the “corporate beard style” as it’s a good fit for workplaces with strict beard rules.
It’s up to you if you want to go with the “high box” beard which has the cheekline as high as it naturally grows or with the “low box” where the height of the cheekline is typically much shorter. No matter which one you choose, the short boxed beard is a good fit for oval shaped face.
Classic Full Beard
A nicely maintained classic full beard is a safe choice for pretty much any face shape.
It’s a nice fit for the oval face, especially if you keep the neckline nice and clean, the sides resonably short, and shape the bottom part of your beard to accentuate your natural jawline.
It normally takes roughly two to four months to grow a nice full beard around the length of 1-2 inches, and that’s roughly the optimal length for an oval shaped face if you want to maintain the balanced proportions.
The Verdi Beard
The verdi beard style features a short full face beard with a mustache that is styled to the sides or curled up.
It’s a good beard style for men with oval shaped heads because it really doesn’t hide any of your natural features, and the mustache gives a nice little boost to your face.
The verdi beard typically has a length of 2-4″ and it takes three to four months to grow out, with maybe a little longer for the mustache to get thick and long enough for styling.
You can read more on our full post about trimming and growing a Verdi beard.
The Garibaldi Beard
If your face is shaped like an oval, but you would like to add some definition and size to your jawline while retaining the natural look, then the Garibaldi beard style is your answer.
This beard style is known for its minimal trimming, and big wide rounded bottom part that can make your jawline really stand out.
When growing it out, your face shape will go from oval all the way to an oblong, but that’s okay because oblong faces are often deemed attractive and visually pleasing as well.
Typically a Garibaldi beard has a length of 2 inches and above, so it takes a while to grow; roughly four months (if we go by the average beards growth rate of ½ inch per month).
For more information about this beard style, take a look at our full guide on how to trim and maintain a Garibaldi beard.
The Ducktail Beard
Oval shaped faces normally have a sloped jaw, and if you want to accentuate that with a beard style that has a sharper angle at the connection point where the side of the face and the jawline meet, then the obvious choice is a beard style called the Ducktail.
A Ducktail beard is big, bold, and sharp, it will frame your face into more of an oblong/rectangle shape with a strong chin.
Where does the name come from you ask?
Well, the style is named after the chin area which is remarkably similar to the shape of a duck’s tail.
The ducktail beard is a longer beard style than most (typically 4-8″) and it takes a good while to grow out (eight months and upwards). It’s also the go-to beard style for hiding a double chin and weak jawline – if that’s something you want to do.
We do have a full detailed guide on how to trim and grow a Ducktail beard, so please do check that out if you’re interested in rocking this beard style on top of your oval shaped face.
Conclusion
The oval shaped face is a balanced face where no feature really strikes out as dominant.
It’s extremely easy to find good beard styles for the oval face, as you don’t need to accentuate or hide any strengths or weaknesses of your face shape with the beard.
For men with the oval shaped face, some good beard style choices include: stubble, BeardStache, short boxed beards, the classic full beard, Verdi, Garibaldi, and the Ducktail Beard.
If you have weak beard growth on your cheeks and sides, you may also try growing out a goatee, which adds some boost to your chin and can make your jawline appear more defined.
