The Hollywoodian Beard: Definitive Guide to the Classic Style

Last Updated: 10/11/2022

When you’d like to grow a beard but don’t want it to hide your facial features, you may want to try a beard style like the Hollywoodian (also known as the Tailback beard).

The Hollywoodian beard style looks like a full beard without sideburns, although the upper cheek growth is also shaved down so that the cheeks and jawline look more like a wide chinstrap.

This style gets its name from being an extremely popular beard style among actors during the “golden era” of Hollywood somewhere around the 60’s. This is why some call it a Vintage beard style, although it has kept its popularity quite well even to this day.

Some popular actors who sport the Hollywoodian beard style include: Leonardo DiCaprio, Viggo Mortensen, Charlie Hunnam, and Chris Hemsworth.

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What is a Hollywoodian Beard Style

The Hollywoodian beard style features a goatee, full mustache, and a wide horizontal chinstrap that extends to the edges of the mandible. The shaved upper cheeks and sideburns mean that the beard doesn’t obscure the lower portion of your face like a regular full beard would.

The typical length of the Hollywoodian facial hair style is 1-2 inches (2.5-5 cm), and since the average beard growth rate is ½” per month, it will take anywhere from two to four months until you have enough beard hairs to shape your facial hair into the Hollywoodian style.

NOTE: The Hollywoodian is strikingly similar to the extended goatee beard style, the only difference being the fact that the Hollywoodian has a wider “chinstrap” part and longer length at the bottom.

Hollywoodian Beard Style Examples

charlie hunnam hollywoodian beard example — Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) in the hit series Sons of Anarchy with a light, short, and patchy Hollywoodian beard style.

A photographer with a thick medium-length Hollywoodian. Here you can see the side profile and just one of many examples on how the horizontal line can be done.

leonardo dicaprio hollywoodian beard — Leonadro DiCaprio sported a Hollywoodian beard style in the movie Django the Unchained. This example has a narrow chinstrap at the jaw (could almost call the style an extended goatee) and a similar pointy chin that you can normally see in a ducktail beard.

where to shave the cheekline in hollywoodian beard style — If your beard grows patchy from the upper cheeks and sideburns like in this example, it would be easy to just create the sharp line in the middle of your cheek and shave everything above it for a nice looking Hollywoodian beard.

How to Trim and Grow a Hollywoodian Beard

Growing a Hollywoodian takes some time. You first need to put down the razor and wait roughly 2-4 months until you have enough beard hairs to go for this style.

Luckily, even men with weak to non-existent cheek growth can pull of a good looking Hollywoodian beard, as the problematic upper portion of the cheeks will be shaved anyway

After you have grown your beard out for a couple of months, you will be ready to begin the actual trimming process of a Hollywoodian beard.

The tools you need include:

Shavette or Razor.
Beard trimmer (see our list of best beard trimmers).
Beard scissors (see our list of best beard scissors).
Mirror and a steady hand.

The steps to trim a Hollywoodian Beard:

Use beard trimmers 1-2″ guard-comb to even out the whole beard area to match roughly the same length.
Remove the guard-comb and define a sharp horizontal line from mustache to mandible (use comb, ruler, or beard shaping tool as guide if you need to).
Tilt your head upwards and define your beards neckline 1-inch above the highest peak of the Adam’s apple.
Using a razor or shavette, shave hairs below your neckline and above the horizontal line you defined on the cheeks.
Finish off by snipping away all the scraggly beard hairs with beard scissors, also even up the mustache and remove fly-away hairs.

What Face Shape is Best for the Hollywoodian Beard

The Hollywoodian beard style is best fit for diamond, triangle, and oval face shapes which have prominent cheek bones and could have some extra definition in the chin and jaw area.

When shaped well, it can also give some much needed length to a round shaped face, without adding any volume to the sides which would make the face look even rounder.

Men with square face shape typically have impressive jawlines already. This is why Hollywoodian isn’t necessarily the best choice as it covers up the most defined parts of your jaw and chin, hiding your best assets.

Useful Beard Products for the Hollywoodian Style

Because the Hollywoodian is such a simple and quite short beard style, maintaining it is easy and inexpensive.

Sure there are plenty of different beard products you could choose from, but realistically a Hollywoodian only needs some high quality beard oil and a beard brush, and that’s about it.

If you do have a curly beard that refuses to co-operate, then getting a tin of beard wax might provide useful as well (we have a list of best beard waxes here).

Simple Hollywoodian beard maintenance routine:

Use beard brush daily to exfoliate the skin under your beard.
Apply 2-4 drops of beard oil thoroughly to your beard area and the skin underneath.
Brush the beard again to evenly spread the beard oil into your beard hairs.
If your beard still has curly, scruffy, rogue hairs, rub a pea-sized amount of beard wax into it and brush for a third time.

Conclusion

Armed with this knowledge, you are now ready to grow your very first Hollywoodian beard style.

As a reminder, these are the key factors you need to master before you can pull off a proper Hollywoodian beard style…

Make sure the beard won’t connect to the sideburns. Leave a 1-2″ horizontal patch of hair extending from chin to mandible on each side, and keep the beard length at around one to two inches.