So you want to find the right beard style for your triangular shaped head?
That’s great. We can definitely help you choose the best matching beard according to your face diameters and shape, and it may even surprise you.
Other articles in this series:
- Beard Styles for Round Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Oval Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Oblong Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Diamond Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Square Face Shape
- Beard Styles for Heart Face Shape
But first a little summary:
The triangle shaped face has a wide forehead, medium-width cheekbones, and narrow jawline that eventually tapers down to a pointy chin. The best beard styles for this face shape are those that add width to the narrow jaw and help distinguish the pointy chin. It’s also a good idea to avoid adding any extra width to the already wide cheeks.
Want to learn more about how exactly should you choose a beard for your triangle shape and what are the top beard styles that match it?
Great. Let’s take a closer look then:
What Does a Triangle Face Shape Look Like
The triangle face is shaped like an inverse triangle, wide at the top and narrowing down to a point at the bottom.
What that means for your face shape, is that the forehead width will be greater than the width of the cheekbones, and the width of the cheekbones will be greater than the width of the jawline, which is the narrowest part of the face, tapering down to a pointy chin.
What sets the triangle face shape apart from the similar looking heart shape face, is the fact that the triangle face has defined angular and sharp features, whereas the heart has that same downwards narrowing shape but with much rounder and softer features.
Some popular men with the triangle face shape include:
- Ryan Reynolds
- Kiefer Sutherland
- Bradley Cooper
- Justin Timberlake
- Kevin Bacon
- Ty Burrell
How to Know if You Have a Triangle Shaped Face
It’s really hard to determine your face shape just by looking at it, which is why we are going to take out the trusty measuring tape and do some measurements to be sure.
The things you need to measure are:
- Face height (from chin to hairline)
- Forehead width (from temple to temple)
- Cheekbone width (under the eyes from edge to edge)
- Jawline width (horizontally from the two widest points)
Here’s a helpful image to see where to measure from exactly:
You have a triangle shaped face if:
- Your face height is 1.25 to 1.75 times the width.
- Your forehead is clearly the widest part of your face.
- The width of the cheekbones less than the width of the forehead.
- The width of the jawline is less the the width of the cheekbones.
- Your jawline tapers down to a pointy chin.
- The features of your face are angular and sharp, not soft and round.
What Kind of Beard Compliments the Triangle Face
The goal of matching a face shape with a beard style should always be to create balance by accentuating the weak parts and distinguishing the dominant features.
Since the triangle face shape has a narrowing jawline, the best beard styles for it are those that add a little bit of width and definition to the sides of the jaw which helps balance out the pointy jaw and makes your face more oval shaped.
However, since the triangle face has quite defined and angular features already, you don’t necessarily need to distinguish or hide anything about it.
Take the triangle faces of Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper for example: both of them are known of sporting stubble and short beard styles to highlight their natural jawline and chin without trying to mask or distinguish the narrowing features at all.
And it works, but that’s the magic of the triangle face, it has defined and sharp features, so you don’t need to balance out any softness or roundness with a well-shaped facial hair.
Bottom line: When growing a beard to match the triangle face shape, the goal should be to add width and definition to the narrow jaw, but since the features of the triangle face shape are already quite sharp and defined, sometimes a stubble or short beard is all it takes.
Beard Styles that Poorly Fit the Triangle Face Shape
Every face shape has some beard styles that just don’t fit it at all, and such is the case for the triangle shaped face as well.
Since the triangle face has wider cheekbones than the width of the jawline, you do not want to add any extra width to the sides of your face or you’ll risk further exaggerating the cheekbones, which makes your jawline look even narrower.
For this reason, beard styles like the mutton chops and basically anything else that has lengthy sideburns, should be avoided.
Some other types of beard styles that are not suitable for a triangle shaped face include the goatee and pointy chin beards like the Van Dyke beard or anchor beard.
The reason being that you already have a naturally pointy chin, exaggerating that with a pointy chin beard would be a recipe for disaster.
Best Beard Styles for Triangle Face
The Heavy Stubble
While the general recommendation is that a triangle face shape should be fitted with a beard that has some good length and width at the bottom to even out the narrow jawline, this doesn’t always have to be the case.
You see, the triangle face shape is known to have defined angles and sharp edges, which is considered attractive and masculine.
This is why sometimes just a good heavy stubble (a beard growth of 10 days) can work just well as a choice of beard style, as it gives some definition to the jaw, but does not hide the natural features underneath.
On top of this, there are many studies which suggest that the heavy stubble beard is the most attractive facial hair style.
The Garibaldi Beard
So what if you want to go with general recommendation of adding some boost to the lower part of your face?
Then go with the Garibaldi beard.
It’s one of the best, if not the best, of beard styles to match the triangular face shape, as it features a big wide rounded out bottom part that will completely transform your jawline and chin.
It will add so much width to your jaw that your face shape will shift from being a triangle, all the way to becoming either oval shaped or oblong (rectangle) shaped – which isn’t a bad thing at all.
It will take a whopping eight months or more to grow out the Garibaldi as the length should be at least four inches, and if you want to know more about this beard style, take a look at our full guide to trimming and maintaining a Garibaldi beard.
The Verdi Beard
The Verdi beard is bit shorter than the Garibaldi, and it features a mustache that is styled to the sides or curled up from the ends as its focal point.
The sides are kept short and the rest of the beard is kept somewhat natural-looking.
It’s a great match with the triangle face shape as it adds width to the jawline and hides the pointy chin, all while the mustache gives a nice frame to your face.
The Verdi has a length of 2″+ inches and typically takes about four months to grow (if we go by the average beard’s growth rate of ½ inch per month).
You can read more about growing and trimming the Verdi beard here.
The Hollywoodian
The Hollywoodian consists of a full extended goatee that has the extension part creeping up the cheeks to about 1″ above the jawline (but not any higher than that).
All the facial hair from the sideburns and the upper cheeks will be shaved, so that the beard is only around your mouth, chin, and at the bottom of your jawline.
It’s a rare and interesting facial hair style that does fit well into a triangular face shape, as it doesn’t add any width at the cheekbones, but still gives a nice little boost to the narrow jaw.
The typical length of the Hollywoodian beard is 1″, so it takes two months to grow. If you want to learn more, take a look at our guide to growing and trimming a Hollywoodian beard.
Short Boxed Beard
The short boxed beard is one of the most popular beard styles of all time.
It’s a clean and sharp style that features a short ½” full face beard that is trimmed and shaped in a way that all the edges and lines are angular and sharp, so that the end result is a “box” of facial hair that frames the bottom part of your face.
There are two variations so the style; the high-box which has the cheekline as high as it goes, and the low-box which has the cheekline about 1″ lower than where it normally grows.
Both variations are good beard style choices for the triangle face. If you want to hide the wide cheekbones a bit, then consider the high-box variant
If you would like to make your face appear taller, then try out the low-box variation as it exposes more of the skin in your cheeks which makes your face appear taller visually.
The short boxed beard is so neat and well-maintained that it’s often also called the “corporate beard“, and as you can guess from that name, it goes pretty well in a workplace with strict beard rules.
To learn more, check out our full guide on how to get a short boxed beard.
The Classic Full Beard
The classic full beard just looks good on pretty much any face shape, and such is the case with the inverse triangle as well.
It has a length of 2-4″ and creates a nice roundish boost around your natural jawline which will help balance out the features of a triangle face – especially if the sides are trimmed short.
You may read more about the full beard in our bigger guide here.
Conclusion
The triangle face shape is shaped like an inverse triangle with the widest part being at the top (forehead) and then narrowing down to meet the middle part (cheekbone) and the bottom part (jawline).
The narrowest part is of course, the pointy chin.
The best type of beard styles to bode well with the triangle shape include the Garibaldi, Verdi, Hollywoodian, short boxed beard, and the heavy stubble.
Triangle faced men should look to avoid any beard style that comes with a pointy chin part, as the chin is already pointy and exaggerating that further would not look good.
