Possibly the hottest beard trend as of late has been the beard fade.
And today you will be learning what is it, how to do it yourself, why it’s not always the best idea to do it yourself, and lastly what face shapes are a good fit for the faded beard.
Of course we are not leaving out the juicy part of what are the best faded beard styles out there right now, as you most likely will want to see some visual examples and ideas to figure out if a tapered beard actually looks good or not (it’s subjective after all).
Without further due, let’s begin our complete guide to the faded beard styles. ↓
What is a Beard Fade or Tapered Beard
The definition of a faded beard (also known as the tapered beard) is that it’s a beard style that tapers down from the sideburns and gradually reaches its normal length down at the chin level.
It’s exactly the same thing as a faded hairstyle, but in reverse and for your facial hair.
There are many types of beard fades out there, but most commonly the fade starts with bald skin or extremely short stubble at the top and then gradually gets longer and longer with increasing beard trimmer guard lengths the lower you go on the face.
How big the sections of each length setting are is completely up to you, but they can’t be too long however, as there’s only limited amount of space you can deal with.
Tools that You Need for Fading your Own Beard
There are certain beard tools that are needed to properly fade a beard.
These include:
- Beard trimmer or stubble trimmer with an adjustable guard.
- Razor or a shaver for finishing the beards neckline and the cheeks.
- Beard shaping tool with ruler markings for easier visualization.
- Barbers pen for making it easy to draw the sections on your beard.
- Beard scissors for snipping off rogue hairs around the longer areas.
NOTE: These are the tools you should use for best results and minimizing the chance of failure at the beginning. Once you get more used to fading your own beard you can usually do it relatively well with just a trimmer and free handing it.
How to Fade a Beard at Home
- Make sure your beard is clean and roughly trimmed to the shape you want it in. Use a beard brush to go through and then comb down to clear the knots.
- Start fading from the top of your sideburns, most fades will include a light stubble of 0.4mm length for the whole length of the ear.
- Next take out your barber pen and some type of measuring device (ruler works) and draw sections on the sides of your face one after another that measure roughly 1″.
- Now these sections will be what you use to actually taper the beard and fade it. Start from the top section with lowest beard trimmer guard setting, then move to next section with the second lowest length-setting, and continue this until you are at the edges of your chin.
- And that’s where your fade should end. Now just use the beard trimmer to free-hand trim the bottom part of your beard to your liking. (remember there are many ways to fade, you could use longer sections, less of them, etc.)
Like said, there are many ways to fade a beard. You can experiment with different angles, different lengths of sections, and it’s up to your preference where you want the fade to end.
NOTE: Remember, fading is extremely difficult, and the risk of ruining your beard is very high.
Why Fading a Beard at Barbeshop is Better
You can get reasonably good results fading the beard at home, and obviously doing it more and more will mean that you’re constantly getting better at it.
But, if you really want a sharp and great looking beard fade, you need to go to a professional barber, no question about it.
But what should you ask and how much does it cost to get a professional beard fade?
Typically the prices range between $20-80 and most barbers who deal with beards will know exactly what to do if you just ask for “men’s beard fade”. Even better if you show a photo example of the style you’re going for (we will have plenty of examples below).
What Face Shapes Best Fit a Faded Beard Style
Tapered beard styles are amazing at making the face look thinner and longer, considering that they add volume to the jaw and chin area, with the sideburns area being close to clean-shaven.
Due to the thinning and face elongating effect a faded beard has, it’s a perfect fit as a fat guy beard style, or for guys with naturally round and short face shapes such as the round face shape and the heart face shape.
NOTE: This doesn’t mean that faded beards can’t work with other face shapes, but where they really shine the brightest is in wide and short face shapes. If you need to hide a weak jawline and chin with a beard, then tapered beards are your friend for sure.
How to Style and Maintain a Faded Beard
Styling a faded beard is just like styling any other beard style. That means you should be using some beard oil to give it extra moisture and shine, and perhaps some beard wax if you need hold for the bottom part.
Beard brush is always useful no matter what your beard length is and if you like to keep the bottom part of your tapered beard longer then getting a beard comb to deal with the knots is what we suggest.
When it comes to beard fade maintenance, that’s where things get a bit more tricky.
You see, facial hair grows at a rate of half-an-inch per month, which means that the top part of your fade will quickly grow in and the fade effect will get less noticeable in just a week or so.
To combat this, you can either go to a local barber and have him maintain the fade for every two weeks or so (this can get expensive) or you can try and maintain the fade yourself at home with a beard trimmer (this is risky, but you’ll learn to master it eventually).
There’s also an option of just letting your freshly faded facial hair grow out. It will still look tapered for months since all the individual parts will keep growing at somewhat similar speeds (so your beard will remain tapered, just the fade into skin will be gone quickly).
Top 10 Tapered Beard Styles of 2024
1. Short Faded Beard
2. Medium-Length Faded Beard
3. Long Faded Beard
4. Sculpted Big Beard Faded into Sideburns
5. Ultra-Sharp Beard Fade
6. Scruffy Minimally Tapered Beard
7. Beard Fade with Faded Haircut
8. Beard Faded into a Bald Head
9. Natural Looking Beard Fade
10. Casual Beard Fade
Conclusion
If you wanted to learn how to taper your own beard, this article hopefully helped you.
But remember, fading a beard at home is not easy, it’s often a better decision to go to a professional barber for best results. The risk of ruining your beard and having to wait for months for it to grow back is very high when you DIY fade the facial hair.
But if you feel like you have what it takes, all you need to do to is to grab a beard trimmer and start from the sideburns area, then section by section just increase the length in your beard trimmers guard as you go down on your cheeks, and eventually you should have a perfectly tapered beard.
