We all know that “bald-and-bearded” is one of the manliest looks you can have, but for a lot of guys, choosing the right look from all the beard styles for bald men out there can be something of a challenge. There are a LOT of looks you can go for, and while they can all look fantastic—well, they don’t all work for everyone.
So here we’ll go over all our favorite looks, and hopefully we’ve got something here that does it for you. After all—most guys don’t want to go bald, but if you can grow facial hair, who cares? We actually know guys who can grow a full head of hair who shave it so that they can get the looks below.
Why? Because bald and bearded is a real crowd pleaser.
One quick note: in our list, we’re going to travel from short beards to long beards—and they get more dramatic (and need more upkeep) the longer we go—so skip ahead if you want a longer “bald-and-bearded” look. Let’s jump in:
The Stubble / Full Five-o’Clock Shadow: Bald and Adventurous
Of all the beard styles for bald men that we’re going to talk about, this is perhaps the easiest look to emulate: all you really need to do is shave once, and then do nothing for a day or two, and wallah! You’ve got the stubbly, five-o’clock shadow look. Gorgeous!
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is the classic bald-with-beard look, and it’s inherently manly—it says, “I’m classy enough to shave, but I went out and had a few adventures, and now I look a little rugged.” There are a lot of celebrities who embrace this look—everyone from Jason Statham to Bruce Willis to The Rock to many, many others.
Possible Drawbacks: The great thing about beards is that they can change the appearance of your face and jaw, and stubble doesn’t really do that. This can be a great look if you’ve got a thick and/or square and/or strong jaw, but if you don’t, you may want to keep looking.
Upkeep Required: Of all the looks in our guide, this one actually takes the most effort, because you have to shave every couple of days. That’s not really a drawback, though, because shaving can be a pleasant activity.
The Bald with Goatee: Bald and Handsome
There are a lot of variations on this style, and while it does take a little grooming, it doesn’t take long to achieve (and in fact, it can be a “temporary take” on your way to a longer, thicker beard-and-balding look).
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: It’s clean, it’s sharp, and it’s professional. There are still a lot of places where beards are viewed with suspicion (large corporations, for example), but short goatees somehow get a pass. And perhaps the best part about it—that never gets mentioned—is that with short facial hair, you never get food and drink stuck in your mustache and whiskers.
Possible Drawbacks: This one of those looks that doesn’t seem like it takes grooming, but it does—you have to shave your cheeks every day. If you’re looking for a “no-hassle” bearded-bald style, this may take too much effort.
Upkeep Required: You’ll need to shave your cheeks, and use a beard trimmer on the mustache and goatee itself. That shouldn’t be too much, though, because you should be taking care of your bald head anyway.
The Short Beard: An Easy Bald Look
This is perhaps the “last stop” before your facial hair gets really long, and it’s a great in-the-middle bald-with-beard look that’s both masculine but not really threatening.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: For most of us, it only takes a week or two to attain this density of facial hair, and at this length, you can start to get creative with how you groom it. This guy has shaved the area beneath his lower lip, giving it a sort of “chin-strap” look that’s clean and professional yet also loose and masculine (and we’ll talk about chin straps in a moment). “Bald with short beard” can be a great look, and it’s one of the easier beards on our list.
Possible Drawbacks: It can take some practice to trim all your facial hair to the same length, and a lot of bald guys who are new to cropped beards mess it up (and need to shave the whole thing off!). Other than that, it’s a great “normal” beard—long enough to be a little rugged, but not so long that it’s “out there.”
Upkeep Required: It’ll need some trimming with a beard trimmer (and we usually recommend Wahl beard trimmers), but nothing too dramatic. This is the beard length where
The Thick Chin Strap: A Rugged Bald Look
If you look at this beard, the main feature is the thick ridge of facial hair that goes from one sideburn, under the chin, to the other sideburn.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: The main benefit of a thick chin strap is that it can really lengthen the look of your chin and jaw. Thick chins and jaws are almost universally seen as a sign of masculinity and handsomeness, and that’s never a bad thing. If you want to get creative, you can shave the skin between the lower lip and the chin, or you can shave all that and the mustache too, for a “true” chin-strap / Amish + bald look (which we talk about below).
Possible Drawbacks: Not everybody can grow facial hair thick enough for a full chin strap, and they’re hard to fake if you can’t do so.
Upkeep Required: These need to be trimmed maybe once a week, and they tend to need
The Circle Beard: A Playful Bald Look
This might be obvious, but when you run a website about beards and shaving, you tend to get very specific about your definitions—and in particular, you get very specific about how you refer to beards. In the images above, these two fellas have what are technically “circle beards,” with short facial hair that circles their mouths. Most people would look at these handsome bald fellas and say they have goatees, but that’s not technically correct—technically, a goatee is facial hair that grows at and under your chin, and ONLY under your chin. Now you know!
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: For the longest time, this was seen as a “dicey” beard, but that’s changed over the years, and it’s now a very popular choice, and it’s probably most recognizable from Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark / Ironman. It’s another fairly easy look to achieve, and you don’t have to wait too long for it—and if you don’t grow hair in your soul patch area, it’s not the biggest deal. This has become a great look when you’re fully bald.
Possible Drawbacks: This is one of those bald beards that requires you to be a VERY good groomer. If you look closely, you’ll notice the thin vertical strips of facial on the left and right of the mouth—those can be difficult to execute, so it takes a little practice to get this look right.
Upkeep Required: Circle beards and goatees require semi-daily grooming with a beard trimmer or stubble trimmer, so if you’re a “set-it-and-forget-it” bald guy (and many of us here are set-it-and-forget-it bald guys!), it may not be for you. The good news is that it doesn’t really require any beard products (although you can use
The Mustache / Mustache + Soul Patch: Stylish Right Now
Here we get into some of the more distinct bald + beard looks, and while this one isn’t for everyone, it can be a fantastic style if you can pull it off.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: Mustaches are a REALLY old-school take on masculinity, and they’ve become en vogue over the last few years (especially for us balded gentlemen). They’re somehow both manly and mischievous, and they can be a great conversation starter. You can play with it, too, and there are a lot of variations—the best variation being the bald head, the mustache, and the really long goatee. That can give your head a very triangular shape that can make your cheekbones “pop,” which is a great look for a bald guy. You can also grow or shave your soul patch, and that can vary the look as well.
Possible Drawbacks: Straight up—there are a lot of ladies who simply don’t like mustaches, regardless of whether you’re bald or not. It’s either too retro for them, or… something. We’re not sure. But we’re in the business of beards, so we know a thing or two about a thing or two, and this one does get a lot of negative feedback. There are plenty of ladies who really ARE into mustaches, though, and that’s worth remembering, but we feel obliged to inform you that that’s probably the biggest downside to this look.
Upkeep Required: These are great, because outside of some very quick trimming and grooming, they’re easy to clean. You don’t need beard wash or anything like that—they’re short enough for regular soap to usually do the trick. The longest part of this routine can be using a balding clipper to get all the hair off your head first.
The Mustache and Stubble: Cowboy Bald!
This guy looks like a modern fella, but put a 10-gallon hat on his head, and he’d be a rootin,’ tootin,’ Wild West cowboy.
This one is a little controversial—some guys love it, and some guys hate it—and it’s definitely not for everyone. With that in mind…
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: As with the 5 o’Clock Shadow look above, stubble is just inherently manly, and it looks great on bald and balding guys. It’s one of those things that just never goes out of style. It may not be appropriate for all occasions—a wedding, for instance, is probably not the best place for the stubbly bald look—but in most other situations, it’s fantastic. Possibly the best version of the mustache-and-stubble look is a really broad, thick mustache—thin mustaches don’t always work here.
Possible Drawbacks: A lot of these looks are great on MOST guys who are bald and bearded. A full beard and a bald head—and we’ve got images of that below—is hard to mess up, and it looks great on the vast majority of men. This, however… it’s hit or miss. If it works, it’s a stunning look. If it doesn’t work, it can make you look a little crazy. Also, as with most mustache-only looks, it doesn’t change the appearance of your head and skull, so it may not make you look any manlier—just hairier.
Upkeep Required: The “Cowboy Bald” look has a weird upkeep schedule, because you need to shave your chin and cheeks every few days, while ignoring your mustache. It’s not time-intensive, but you have to be paying attention to yourself to make it work, so if you’re one of those guys who likes facial hair because it means you get to ignore yourself for a while, this may not be the best choice. Of course, if you’re bald and shaving your head every day, you’re used to that upkeep, but it’s worth mentioning 🙂
The Pointy Beard: Stylish Bald
OK, first things first: you can ignore that little tie/knot at the end—that doesn’t do much for this bald look, and unless you can really pull it off, it’s a little crunchy.
With that out of the way, this is one of our absolute favorite beard styles for bald men (and it’s the one that a few of the fellas here at Rough and Tumble Gentleman go with most often—it’s can be very handsome).
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: If you’ve got a really blocky jaw or a very squared head, this can be a great strategy to give your head a little more shape—you create a “downward triangle” look that be very slimming (which a lot of bald guys like). If you have a very pointy jaw, you can also use this to make it look thicker—if you look closely, this guy has his whiskers growing outward, giving him the appearance of a thicker jaw, rather than a thinner one. One other thing: and we’re not sure why this is, but it can make your eyes look very clear, and that’s pretty cool.
Possible Drawbacks: If you’re bald and you’ve got a long face already, it might not be a good idea to elongate it further. Other than that, this is a pretty great look, and widely accessible to most guys.
Upkeep Required: Trimming once a week or so—nothing too onerous. Also—and we probably should have mentioned this elsewhere, but we forgot—if you need to do some beard trimming but hate the mess, a well-made vacuum beard trimmer can make clean-up a LOT easier.
The Medium-Short Beard: A Great Bald-with-Glasses Look
This is where we start to make a “commitment” to beard growth!
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is a great bald-with-beard look, where beards start to look much more “manly”—they’re bushy and full and they take up so much of your face, they draw peoples’ eyes away from whatever is happening on the top of your head. The other nice thing is that you can play with it—if you don’t like how this looks on you, you can shorten the sides and see if it slims you a little bit, or you can shave them all the way off and go for a circle beard / goatee.
Possible Drawbacks: This, too, is where it starts to take a while to get this bald look, so you’ll need to be patient while it grows in. It can also be a tough look to pull off if you’ve got a very round face—sometimes it can create the appearance of a “smiley-face head,” where your head looks very circular, instead of oval-ish.
Upkeep Required: The great thing about this look is that once you get it in place—once you shape it in a way that rounds your face—you can leave it be, and it should grow into a “Full Round Beard / Old-Timey Muscle-Man” look, which we discuss below. With longer beards such as this one, you’ll need to get into the habit of using a
The Medieval Monk: Bald Head with a Full Beard
With longer facial hair, now we start to get into the weirder looks!
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: Beards are always manly, but some styles—particularly the long, bushy ones—make you look “merry” instead of “masculine,” if that makes sense. This is a sort of stern, ascetic look—if you want to appear a little more serious or disciplined, this can help.
Possible Drawbacks: This look can be tough to fake—either you can grow a mustache, sideburns, and long beard, or you can’t… and if you can’t, it might not look right. For most guys, the sideburns are tough to pull off, and if your growth there isn’t very thick, this bald look can be hard to attain.
Upkeep Required: Beads of this length can get wavy and tangled, so in addition to daily or weekly shaping, you’ll need to start combing it once or twice a week. You’ll also need some sort of product to keep it healthy, like a
The Ducktail Beard: Quack Quack, Brothers
Ducktail beards—despite their silly name—are one of our all-time favorite long-beard bald looks, because they’re somehow devilish and masculine all at once. The style is—as you might have guessed—shaped like the back of a duck pointed downward.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: The ducktail beard has actually been very popular over the last few years, with a lot of bald male celebrities (actors, artists, and athletes), wearing it around. It looks a little more tailored than a big bushy beard, but it maintains some of the “unruliness” of those types of beards, and that’s a nice mix of styles.
Possible Drawbacks: A true duckbeard needs to come to a point, and if your beard goes in all directions, or if it has sworls and whirls baked into it—this can be tough to pull off (and you may need to use beard wax, which can be tough to remove from a beard). For most guys, though, this doesn’t happen, and after a point, the beard hair grows in relatively straight.
Upkeep Required: It can take a few weeks to a few months to grow in, and it requires some shaping to get right. One thing that guys overlook is that as you grow the hair beneath your chin for the “ducktail” part of the beard, your mustache will continue to grow and need grooming, and that’ll require scissors or clippers or a beard trimmer. Again, if you’re a bald guy who shaves his head, this isn’t the worst thing, but it’s worth mentioning.
The Short Full Beard: Tough to Pull Off, But Handsome
This is perhaps the “most manly” of the short-beard looks—it’s easy, it’s clean, and it’s masculine without being pushy, but it’s actually a little difficult to pull off (see below).
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This can be a great bald style because “complete coverage” conveys masculine maturity! We always hear about how people don’t like men to be too hairy (a claim we dispute, by the way), but with beards, that’s not the case! The more fully you can grow a beard, the more masculine the look seems. Plus, with a short full beard, you just have to wait around for a while to get the most masculine beard of all, which is the LONG full beard.
Possible Drawbacks: This is attainable for everyone. For a “full” beard, you’ll need to be able to grow hair on your entire face, and believe it or not, most guys can’t do that. A lot of guys can’t grow facial hair on their cheeks and above their chin. That’s not the worst thing in the world—there are a lot of bald guys who can’t grow whiskers on their cheeks and above their chin who have awesome beards—but they just can’t have this one.
Upkeep Required: This is relatively easy, because you don’t really need to get too detailed, and you can get this kind of look just with a beard trimmer. If your beard is short enough, you can even use a waterproof beard trimmer in the shower. Just use the trim guards and within a few minutes, you’ve got a clean, organized, manly look.
The Mid-Length Full Beard: Also Tough to Pull Off, But Handsome
This is where the rubber hits the road, and your facial hair transforms from “long whiskers” into what people would see as a true, manly beard. We’d put this in the “classic handsome” bald guy category.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: With a full beard, you become able to change the appearance of your head, which is one of the main benefits of combining “bald” plus “beard.” With the longer facial hair, you’re able to make your jaw look much thicker and your chin look much broader—both of which are almost universally seen as traits of an attractive, mature man. You can also start to get creative with it, too, because longer beards offer you a lot of options, and you can braid it, split it into a fork, and so on. If you like unique looks, long beards can be a lot of fun (and we’ll get to some unique beards in a moment).
This can also be great if you have a curly beard or a wavy beard—those beard characteristics can lend themselves nicely to this style.
Possible Drawbacks: While the good thing is that you can now go longer between trims and cuts, you really need to start grooming it and cleansing properly—and that means
Upkeep Required: See above.
The Soft and Flowy Bald Look: For Those Who Love to Be Petted
First off, how happy is this guy? We’re writing about this guy, but we should be asking him about his outlook on life—we could learn a thing or two!
There’s no official name for this look, but we call it “The Soft and Flowy Bald Look”—it’s basically wispy facial hair that’s thick in certain places but sparse in others. We included this fella because very often, guys with wispy facial hair think they shouldn’t grow beards, and while that’s sometimes true, very often it’s not—as is the case with this guy here. His beard is wispy and fluffy, and looks fantastic.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: There’s something wise-seeming about these kinds of beards, and sagacious—as those the wearer has a sort of calm peacefulness the rest of us are looking for. That may be because it’s a little less “rough” than other beards—most beards are itchy and scratchy, and the soft and flowy is the opposite of that—but who knows. Really, this can be a great look because people may want to pet your face, and that’s lovely.
Possible Drawbacks: The “Soft and Flowy Bald Look” usually works best with thinner facial hair, and a loooot of guys have thinner facial hair—but it can be a bit delicate. Your hair may break. Also, you can’t really use balm or wax on a soft and flowy, because then it wouldn’t be soft and flowy anymore.
Upkeep Required: This look requires some experimenting, because it doesn’t always come out right, and you need to figure out what you’re working with. Some bald guys with soft and flowy beards have a lot of growth underneath their chins, but none above their upper lip—in which case a true, under-the-chin goatee can be a great look—whereas other guys need to stick with just a mustache. Once you’ve figured out what works for you, you’ll need to do some every-day or every-other-day trimming, to make sure it keeps its shape.
The Amish: Hip, Somehow?
From the looks of this guy, the first step of “The Amish” look is to be really jacked and incredibly handsome! After that, you’d basically need to grow a chinstrap, and then let that chinstrap keep going for a few weeks. The Amish look isn’t for everyone, but it can be a really powerful style if you can pull it off.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: There are two great things about the Amish bald-and-bearded style. First, it can really accentuate the size of your jaw (so if you have a slight or thin jaw, you may want to consider it). Second, it’s a great way to have facial hair but not have to worry about food when you eat. When you have a beard that circles your lips, you are CONSTANTLY getting food in it, and it’s incredibly annoying. This is a fantastic way to avoid that.
Possible Drawbacks: This is an uncommon look, and it’s a bit ironic—it’s seen as a bit outlandish, even though the people who made it famous are not outlandish at all. Just the opposite, in fact—they’re pretty traditional! This is another one of those bald looks that gets a lot of commentary from people, so if you don’t like having to explain your beard again and again (and again), this one isn’t for you.
Upkeep Required: Outside of semi-regular beard care with a
The Full Round Beard / Old-Timey Muscle-Man
This is another archetypal look—the brawny dude with huge muscles and the BIG bushy beard. It’s difficult to grow, but very easy to maintain. This is somewhat like the Mid-Length Full Beard above, but it’s a little more rounded.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: Like a few of our other bald looks, this one sends a message—that you’re tough and rough and serious. It’s a GREAT look if you can grow your sideburns out fully and attach them to the facial hair at your cheeks, like the guy above. It’s also one of those beards that’s pretty versatile—you can wear it on a construction site, to a wedding, or to the office. This is one of those bald beards that seems super-manly but not creepy (the way that some pointy beards sometimes do).
Possible Drawbacks: If you’ve got a very round head, you may want to shy away from this, because it can make your head look like a bowling ball (which can be common with bald guys). If you’ve got a squarish or oval face, it can be a great option. The other drawback is that this one, despite its simple appearance, actually requires some maintenance.
Upkeep Required: This is important: you need to actually trim this beard quite often, and keep its round shape, because otherwise it just ends up transforming into a typical long beard. So you need to shape it, but then, because it’s so thick, you need to comb it, oil it, and then wash it every few days.
We should also mention—and we probably should have already!—that skin care for your scalp is pretty important too, so don’t forget about that.
The Classic Bald-with-Full Beard Look
Here’s where we get to the heavyweights of the beard styles for bald men—the beards that are full and thick and very masculine in a traditional way. This is another classic “handsome bald with beard” look.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is one of those looks that encapsulates all the good things we’ve written so far—it’s strong, it’s confident, it’s manly—but also, it looks HEALTHY. A bushy FULL beard makes the wearer look hale and hearty and vibrant.
Possible Drawbacks: Beards like this—and all full beards—are bacteria traps! You wouldn’t imagine it until you’ve had one, but full beards can get dirty in a way that trimmed beards just don’t. From dust and dirt on the wind, to food, to sweat and facial oils, long beards can be gross. Like, really gross. That’s not the end of the world, though, because you can keep them clean with some daily effort.
Upkeep Required: These require daily or almost-daily care. You’ll need to consistently wash them with a beard soap or beard wash, and you’ll need to keep them shaped, too, because an unkempt beard this size can make you look crazy (and that switch from “guy with a full beard” to “guy with a full beard that makes him look crazy” can happen pretty quickly).
The Long Beard / Coal Miner: Blue-Collar Bald
NOW we’re getting into the very stylish long beards. This is the first of the “truly striking” beards, and if you can make a commitment to it—it takes a LONG time to grow—it can be your signature style. We’d put this in the “rugged handsome” category.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is one of the most striking beard looks out there, and it has a sort of “old-timey” feel to it—people equate it to moonshiners and assorted geezers (and we’re not knocking that—that can be a lot of fun). That doesn’t need to be the case, though, because as you can see from the guy above, it can also be a serious, dignified look—something you’d see on shamans or gurus. This is one of those “what you make of it” bald looks.
Possible Drawbacks: This kind of beard looks like you just forget to shave for a few months (or years) and you end up with a long beard, but that’s not the case—a you need to really care for a beard like this, otherwise it looks awful: it can get stringy, and sparse, and very oily. Also, it can take an incredibly long time to grow, because you need to shape it every couple of months and remove the strays and extra whiskers.
Upkeep Required: Beards this long actually require daily brushing! That’s actually a good idea no matter how long or short your beard is—brushing can stimulate the skin underneath your beard, and keep it healthy—but it’s an absolute must for a beard of this length. A twice- or thrice-per week
The Handlebar Mustache + Beard: Tough-Guy Bald
Chances are very strong you know (or knew) a bald guy with a handlebar mustache and a full beard, and chances are very strong that guy was a CHARACTER. This is one of those looks that you don’t need character to pull off—simply wearing this beard *means* you’re a character!
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is one of those “masculine-yet-also-rascally” bald styles. There’s something inherently silly about a handlebar mustache—something playful and funny—but it’s something that only a grow man can physically do, which makes it a sort of “best of both worlds” style. This, too, isn’t something that all men can physically do—not everyone can grow a long mustache, and not everyone can grow a beard full enough for this look—and that makes it even more special and unique.
Possible Drawbacks: Let’s be honest here: it can look a little crazy. With styles that are both masculine and silly, well… sometimes you look silly! It’s part of the equation, and that’s doubly true for us bald and balding gentlemen. If that’s something you don’t want, you can always go for the traditional “full beard with full mustache” look.
Upkeep Required: Maintenance for the handlebar mustache + beard is the same as for all full beards—daily or semi-daily washing, along with a
The Wispy Broom Bottom: A Great “Bald-with-Grey-Beard” Look
This look is unique, because it’s broad at its base, whereas most long beards are rounded or pointed at their base. This is another look that seems easy to pull off, but only certain guys with long beards can make it happen.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: The main benefit of this one is something that a lot of guys overlook: it looks soft! One of the most common complaints that wives / girlfriends / partners / etc. have about beards is that they’re prickly and sharp, but this look gets around all that, it is nice and plush. Plus, it can make your head look a bit smaller, which can be great for guys with huge domes.
Possible Drawbacks: It can be a pain to keep wispy hair like this healthy, and you’ll need to give it some TLC in order to maintain it. It’s one of the more “delicate” beard styles for bald men, and you have to be mindful of it.
Upkeep Required: The Wispy Broom Bottom is a little tricky, because you it can be tough to achieve if you’re using a
The Salty Old Seadog / The Old Sailor
Aye! Been a good season for cod, hasn’t it, matey! This photo doesn’t really do justice to the “Old Sailor” look—ideally he’d be wearing a knit cap and wool sweater, and not lazily looking at his phone—but he’s got the shape of the beard right, so we’ll go with it.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: This is another one of those “hale and hearty” looks, that’s very rugged—pretty much everyone equates it with some type of hard living. It’s kind of the first-cousin of the lumberjack beard, and people equate it with strength and vigor. It’s almost universally seen as rough and tumble.
Possible Drawbacks: Again, this is one of those bald styles that only a few guys can pull off. You need to be rocking serious growth at your mustache, on your cheeks and chin, and along your jaw. Then, if you can do all that, it takes a lot of time to grow out and shape. It’s also a tough look for younger guys to get—for the most part, this look is reserved for older gentlemen who can really grow some facial hair.
Upkeep Required: Only seafoam and salty air, lads! And a daily beard wash +
THE DOUBLE BRAID! The Most Rugged of All Bearded Bald Looks!
Of all the beard styles in our list, this is the most intense, the most severe, the most Viking of all beards: the DOUBLE BRAID. A little bit Nordic, a little bit Gaelic, a little bit dwarvish, 100% manly.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: Short of joining a motorcycle gang, there are few looks that are as “bad boy” as DOUBLE BRAIDED BEARD on a bald guy. There’s really not much we need to say about this one—it’s about as hard-core as you can make the hair growing out of your face. It’s pretty severe, and if you need to intimidate the people you run into—perhaps you’re a bodyguard, or a bouncer, or just like to be a little bit frightening—there’s no better look out there. There’s no “silly” factor to it, either, like a lot of other long-beard styles have—it’s just a gnarly look. If you can pull it off.
Possible Drawbacks: You can’t really fake the DOUBLE BRAID, and if you go for it and fail, it can look really weak. Plus, a bald beard like this requires a lot of upkeep.
Upkeep Required: Of all the beards on our list, this requires the most grooming. First you’ve got to grow it, and that takes forever, and then you’ve got to comb it and oil it to make sure it stays healthy, and then you’ve got to actually braid it (which takes some skill). Then, you’ve got to unbraid it every week or two so that you can clean it, and then you’ve got to braid it again. Oh, also—most guys who go with the DOUBLE BRAID need to straighten it in order to get it braided, and that takes some time. So it takes a lot of effort. But if you’re into it, and you can pull it off, it’s the Superman of beards.
The Pony-Tail + Bald Style: Tough to Pull Off Sometimes
Like the DOUBLE BRAID, this is also a Viking-ish look (although, admittedly, a lot less so). This is also a unique look, and one that few guys go for. It’s a little metal, a little punk, and a little odd—a nice trio.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: There are very, very few guys who go for the under-the-chin ponytail, and so right off the bat, you look unique. This is a great look for guys who want a long beard but don’t really grow that much facial hair, because you don’t really need that much hair to grow a ponytail. You can even twirl it up to make it denser, if you like.
Possible Drawbacks: This is another bald-with-beard look that gets a lot of feedback. Some people will think you look great, while others will say you have a rat-tail hanging off your face, etc. People shy away from it because 1) it takes a long time to execute; 2) there are other looks that people want more; and 3) it doesn’t change the shape of your face much, which is one of the things bald guys like most about beards. All that said, if you can pull this off—or if you enjoy it! we don’t mention that enough; this is all about what you like—then this can be a fantastic style.
Upkeep Required: This would seem like a “set-it-and-forget-it” bald look, but that’s actually not the case. The rubber bands (or whatever) that you’d use to bind a ponytail are actually really hard on your facial hair (we’d suggest a cloth one), so you need to untie this every once in a while and comb it, wash it, oil it, etc.
The Shovel Beard: A Big Look for a Bald Fella
Last but not least: the Shovel Beard! This one is kind of Viking-esque, and it’s similar to the Wispy Broom Bottom, but it needs to be much thicker.
Why It Can Be a Great Look for Bald Guys: Like the DOUBLE BRAID, and all other Viking-like beards, it’s just a rough-and-tumble look that says, “Don’t mess with me.” It’s manly with a *little* bit of menace, and that’s a really powerful combo.
Possible Drawbacks: Alas, like most longer beards in our list, you need time and the right DNA to grow the Shovel Beard. It takes a while to grow, and you need the ability to full grow the whiskers at your jaw and chin. And for a lot of guys, you need to start out with a thick jaw and chin in order to make it wide enough.
Upkeep Required: Time and whiskers!
Bald Men Looking Great with Beards
Alright! There you have it: a pretty good overview of the various looks and styles you can attain with facial hair and a bald head. If you’ve got one that we’ve missed, definitely let us know, and we’ll update the list.
Perhaps we’re begin too confident, but we believe, without a shadow of a doubt, that bald-and-bearded is a FANTASTIC look. Hopefully there’s something here that works for you. If you need anything else, or if you have any questions, drop us a line and let us know. In the meantime, be good, have fun, and happy beard!
Michael Morris is the head writer here at Rough and Tumble Gentleman. He's got a ducktail beard and loves Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He's married to the woman of his dreams and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
