15 Best Beard Styles for Bald Men (2023 ideas)

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Bald with beard

Going bald can be daunting and requires you taking control of your hair loss.

Being bald doesn’t mean sacrificing your style. Now bald men’s style allows you a way to take back that control and give your look a major upgrade by adding a beard.

The bald with beard look is in, and those who rock this stylish trend look like vikings. If you’re balding, then you can easily upgrade your look with a mustache, goatee, or beard.

With the proper guidance, a new look is easy to achieve and maintain. Keep reading to find your new style.

How to Look Good Bald with a Beard?

Many men lose their hair as they approach their 20s, 30s and 40s. While this process can be devastating, it doesn’t have to define you and is a great opportunity to upgrade your style with a beard.

Looking good is easy with a few tips:

  • Let’s start by growing the beard out.
  • Always keep your clean, neat and trimmed.
  • Keep your style on point. That means dressing well at all times.
  • Wear cologne. Seem obvious most men don’t.
  • Add accessories like eyewear, bracelets, rings, necklace, hats & beannies.

Is the Bald and Beard Look for Me?

There are bald men with beards all over Hollywood. While just looking at one of these guys may be intimidating, this look can transform you into Bryan Cranston as Heisenberg, Jeff Bridges in Iron Man, Tom Hardy, or John Travolta, and all it takes is getting comfortable with your skull.

Bruce Willis is probably one of the best known for this look. He’s been sporting the shaved head with a beard look for over a decade. With his devil-may-care attitude, this look adds that extra edge to his action sequences.

Why Do Bald Guys Grow Beards?

The simple answer is a misdirection of focus. Having facial hair will shift the focus to the well-groomed cut of the beard rather than the lack of hair on top.

We’re asked many questions about how baldness, beards and the combination of the two are received by others. A few common questions are:

  • Do bald men look better with beards?
  • Do beards make you look hotter?
  • Are bald men attractive?
  • Is baldness a turn off?
  • Do girls like beards?

The answer is that people have their own style preferences and physical attributes that make them attractive to others.

However, from my personal experience with balding, I can say it definitely affects your confidence. It’s that lack of confidence that’s outwardly noticeable to others and that can make you less desirable.

A Beard Will Boost Your Confidence

The sheer sight of a beard enhances a man’s outward appearance and exudes masculine power. This new feature has a profound effect on others that see it. Once the effect of your new beard is felt, you’ll get a natural boost in confidence – I certainly did!

So, if you’re ready to accept that your mature hairline is no more, then the promises of a clean-shaven head with a kick-ass beard are far too good to ignore. Easily achieve these amazing looks at home with a pair of clippers, or visit your barber.

Beard Styles for Bald Men

The latest bearded trends partner well with a bald head. Here’s a beard guide rundown for the modern balding man. My top picks…

1. Bald with Long Beard

Long, luscious beards work great with a clean-shaven head. These beards typically grow out along the jaw and slightly into the hollows of the cheeks.

Bald with Handlebar Mustache and beard.
Bald with la long beard. See more Long Beard Styles

They also wrap around and connect over the lips, but you should keep your mustache hair clipped over upper lip. With a beard comb and beard oil, you can easily maintain a soft yet professional bearded style.

2. Full Beard with Walrus Mustache

This is a bolder, full bearded style that works with bald hairstyles. You place all the emphasis on the grooming of the beard so it’s thick and illustrious.

The beard with walrus mustache is the truly unique part of this look. You style it with a bushier mustache on top that can be curved up at the ends slightly.

Bald head and beard style
The bald look is better with a beard and mustache.

3. Stubble or Short Beard

For those men who want to keep a short beard and dislike long locks hanging off their jawline, then a shorter stubble look may be the best option.

These also work better for men with patchy beards that don’t come in as fast. You can continue to grow out your beard while using a #2 clipper to shape your stubble and keep it short on your cheeks, jaw, and sidles up to the ear.

Stubble or Short Beard for balding men
Stubble beard is a good look for a bald man.

4. The Hollywood Beard

This full beard wraps around the jawline and helps shape out your jaw to look longer or more squared off if you have a narrow jawline.

The style also connects the full beard to a tightly kept mustache. If you have a round face shape, you can trim this beard so it lines up with the bottom of your ear.

Tom Hardy shaved bald and beard
Tom Hardy has one of the most famous Hollywood looks with a shaved head and beard.

5. The Heisenberg

If you were a fan of Breaking Bad, then you know this look. Kingpin Walter White shaved his head bald after losing his hair to chemotherapy.

The Heisenberg is also known as a circle beard that resembles a rounded shape around the chin and connects to the mustache. This is a thick, short, well-kempt beard for those who want to accentuate their chin.

Played by Bryan Cranston, Walter White sports the Heisenberg Beard with a bald head on the hit show Breaking Bad on AMC
Bryan Cranston as “Walter White”. Sporting the Heisenberg Beard with a bald head – Courtesy “Breaking Bad” on AMC.

6. Van Dyke (Pointed Beard And Mustache)

For those who like the goatee and also a pointed beard, the Van Dyke is a well-groomed beard that’s styled thick around the thin with longer strands that form a thick point underneath the chin.

It typically connects to a standard or handlebar mustache, but it’s thin around the corners of the lips. Hair is tapered and faded into the hollows of the cheeks and towards the ears.

The Van Dyke beard compliments a bald head perfectly
Longer Van Dyke Beard with bald head.

7. Ducktail Beard

The ducktail beard is thicker, fuller beard that’s designed to cover the chin with a thick patch of hair. It’s tapered up into the hollows of the cheeks, but it has an extended point at the chin or bottom of the beard.

The beard is clean cut and faded back to the ear and shows a little sideburn style that lines up with the top of the ear. This widens and elongates the jaw.

Bald and Ducktail Beard
Bald and Ducktail Beard.

8. Mutton Chops

Some men love this look. We happen to think it’s the most unique look for bald men to try. You can style mutton chops (YouTube) thick and long around your chin.

The main result of this beard is that the chin is exposed with a small patch of hair underneath your bottom lip, AKA the Soul Patch.

Ambrose Burnside Mutton Chops beard and bald head.
Ambrose Burnside Mutton Chops beard and bald head.

The hair to the left and right of your chin is thick and attaches to your mustache. Then, you can grow it out up to sideburns. Typically, mutton chops are thick around the jawline and go into the hollows slightly at the start before tapering off towards your ears and sideburns.

9. The French Fork

With a thicker beard that you can trim and style with clippers and a comb, the French fork is the ultimate choice for a manly beard and bald head. These beards grow quite long, but they’re styled to have an indent in the center that gives this look a forked edge.

Bald with French Fork Beard
Most of the time, these beards connect to your mustache and grow thicker sideburns. These styles widen your jaw and define your cheek bones. Perfect for the bald look.

10. Traditional Box Cut Beard

This well-groomed look is more traditional and often works best if you have thick beard hair. Basically, after growing out your beard to be long and thick, you may opt for this neatly blended and trimmed down box beard look.

Looks amazing with the bald style!

This is a tamed, thick beard style rather than the wily long beards that aren’t trimmed as much. The whole point of this look is to fade and taper the edges and sideburns, too.

Boxed beard styles look great with a bald head
Boxed beard styles with a bald head look great when kept trim and close to the jawline, but medium boxed beards are grown 1/2 inch to a full inch longer.

11. Chin Strap Beard

If you want to grow a beard without a mustache, you can try this beard style. With thick hair that covers the jawline and chin, you typically have higher and thicker sideburns with this look.

The chin strap beard may grow into the hollows of your cheeks, but you rarely grow a mustache. If you do, it’s very short and well-trimmed. It compliments the bald style perfectly.

Chris Daughtry's chin strap beard without a mustache and bald.
Chris Daughtry – Bald and chin strap beard.

12. Classic Goatee

The classic goatee is often confused with the full goatee (#13 below). The classic goatee has well trimmed hair on the chin, jaw and soul patch – but no mustache.

Djimon Hounsou's Soul Patch with classic goatee and bald head
Djimon Hounsou – bald with a classic goatee.

Let’s clear up a common misconception. … The “classic” goatee consists simply of neatly trimmed facial hair on the chin (like a goat) with no mustache being the major difference between it and a full goatee.

13. The Full Goatee

The full goatee also has well trimmed hair on the chin, jaw and soul patch… plus a mustache.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, sporting the bald and goatee look
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is sporting his bald and goatee look. See more bald celebrities.

14. Soul Patch

The soul patch is a tuft of facial hair that floats above the chin and below the lower lip.

Classic Howie Mandel - Bald with Soul Patch.
Classic Howie Mandel – Bald with Soul Patch.

15. Balbo Beard

The Balbo beard has a disconnected mustache and no sideburns. It slightly resembles a small boxed beard and is perfect for those with a round face and bald or shaved head.

Hugh Jackman is bald with a Balbo beard
Hugh Jackman shows off his bald with a Balbo beard look.

See also Bald with Mustache Styles

What’s Next

If you still haven’t given up on your hair, there are always ways to slow balding, regrow hair or even get a hair transplant.

However, with so many trendy beard shapes and styles available, it’s your chance to get your swagger back. Keep your new beard meticulously groomed and you’ll turn heads. Remember, you deserve to look your best!

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AUTHOR

I'm the founder of Bald & Beards, an amateur barber and I've been obsessed with men's grooming, styles, and trends for over 20 years.