Buzz Cuts Without Beards: A Complete Guide [Pics]

The buzz cut is known for its effortlessness. Keeping the face clear of facial hair is yet another way to make it look even sleeker and simpler. Here’s everything you need to know about buzz cuts without beards. 

Let’s get to it. 

What Does A Buzz Cut Look Like Without A Beard? 

A buzz cut without a beard looks like this: 

As you can see, the simplicity of the look can’t be denied. This specific buzz cut would equate to around a number 4 or a number 5 length at a maximum. 

It’s way too short to style and that’s one of the main benefits of a buzz cut – you simply have no need for styling. 

The same goes for having no beard. Having a clean-shaven face (or light stubble at most) is just as easy to maintain as the buzz cut. 

No need for brushing, combing, or oiling as you’d have to with a beard. Just regular shaving and moisturizing – that’s it. 

Overall, the look is a great option for men who value simplicity and efficiency when it comes to their grooming. 

Buzz Cuts Without Beards: More Examples

Here are a few more examples of buzz cuts without beards to serve as inspiration. 

Number 2 Buzz Cut With No Beard

You could say this was light stubble, but it’s certainly not a beard. 

This buzz cut amounts to approximately a number 2 in length (6mm) and works well with the nearly clean-shaven face. 

Shorter buzz cuts such as this work best for people with more angular and chiseled features. That’s because when you’ve got such little height and length up top there’s a risk of the face looking too round as a result. 

Having even just a little more length such as a number 4 may be a better option if that’s the case, especially because you haven’t got a beard to elongate the face from the bottom end. 

Number 0 Buzz Cut With No Beard

Here’s a number 0 buzz cut that’s most likely been achieved by trimming everything down using a pair of clippers with no guard attached. 

It’s almost as short as you can go without shaving. 

The main benefit here would be maintenance – washing and drying your hair will take about as much time as it would for your face. 

It’s also easy to DIY. There isn’t much skill necessary when all you’re doing is clipping all of your hair down with no guard attached. 

It almost looks like a 5 o’clock shadow on the scalp. While a bit of light or medium stubble on the face would work just as well, it looks great when paired with a clean-shaven face. 

Crew Cut With No Beard

Here’s one you should get to grips with. A crew cut is basically a buzz cut variation where the hair on top is left scissor-cut and longer than the buzzed sides. 

The hair on top graduates (i.e reduces) in length as you go from front to back, leading to a small quiff or pomp at the front when viewed from a side-on angle. 

There’s a very specific reason why this is a type of buzz cut that works so well without a beard. 

It’s because you’ve got enough length on top to actually add some height. When you haven’t got a beard and you have a naturally round-ish face, trimming a super short induction-style buzz cut runs the risk of making the face look even rounder. 

Having some length up top will allow you to add some height in the form of a small quiff, for instance, to make up for the fact that you can’t add length at the bottom end of the face with a beard. 

Buzz Cut With A Fade And No Beard

The buzz cut with a fade and no beard is where the sides gradually increase in length from the bottom to the top and the face is clean-shaven. 

Fades often work well with a clean-shaven face because beards often make things more complicated. Don’t get me wrong – there are plenty of people out there with fades and beards, but it isn’t as easy as going clean-shaven. 

The reason for this is that when you’ve got a fade and a beard, you usually need to taper the beard into the faded sides to avoid any harsh lines at the top of the sideburns. 

While this is simple enough for a barber to do for you, trying to DIY it isn’t as easy. 

As you can see from the picture above, buzz cuts look great with skin fades. 

This is where the shortest length of the fade is shaved all the way down before gradually and seamlessly increasing in length further up the sides and back. 

Because it’s a mid skin fade, it almost looks like the clean-shaven face simply extends halfway up the sides. 

Not only is this a sleek and effortlessly neat/tidy look, but it’s also a great effect. 

If you’re looking to get a buzz cut with a fade and no beard, it’s important to let the barber know how high up and how short you want the fade to be. 

Fades can be low, mid, or high. 

In addition, you can get skin fades, zero fades, 1 fades, and 2 fades – all varying in terms of how short the shortest length is before it gradually starts to increase. 

Buzz Cuts: Beard Or No Beard? 

If you’ve got a buzz cut and you’re deciding whether or not to grow a beard, consider your face shape as well as your willingness to maintain facial hair. Buzz cuts with beards are a better option for round faces while going clean-shaven would be better for longer faces. 

Here are the factors you should consider explained in a little more detail. 

1. Face Shape 

Both beards and buzz cuts can have a huge impact on the shape of the face. 

While you shouldn’t obsess over face shape when choosing your style, it’s definitely not something to ignore. 

When choosing both your hairstyle and your facial hairstyle (or lack of one), consider what face shape you align most closely with. 

Broadly speaking, you could fit the main face shapes into shorter, rounder ones and longer, more angular ones. 

Essentially, if your face is on the rounder/shorter end of the spectrum, there’s a good chance that a buzz cut will make it look even rounder and even shorter. 

That’s because you really can’t add much height up top at all. There’s not enough length to style even a small quiff, for instance, unless you had a crew cut. 

If you don’t mind this, that’s absolutely fine. But if you’re looking for a more balanced overall appearance, growing a beard to complement the short buzz cut would actually be a really good option. 

The length of the beard at the bottom of the face could be used to elongate it and compensate for the lack of height and length you’ve got up top. 

Buzz cuts without beards are a better option for those with longer face shapes such as oblong, diamond, and rectangle. 

They would actually benefit from having very short hair and no beard because they’re shortening the facial length and making it look more balanced as a result. 

Once again, it’s not something to overthink. But when deciding whether or not you should grow a beard with that buzz cut, face shape is probably the most important thing to consider. 

2. Beard Maintenance

Not everyone will be willing to put up with the maintenance requirements of a beard. 

In fact, people are often drawn toward buzz cuts because of how simple they are to maintain. 

Washing and drying are extremely simple and there’s really no need for styling in the morning. 

It should come as no surprise that the same people often want the same level of simplicity when it comes to their facial hair. 

That’s probably why it’s so common to see buzz cuts without beards. 

Beards need looking after – that’s no secret. 

Once you’ve got around 3 weeks of growth, the benefits of beard brushing can’t be ignored.

4 or 5 weeks after this, the beard gets long enough to benefit from the detangling and styling effects of beard combing. 

That’s not all – you’ve got oiling, waxing, balming, and more. In fact, the world of beard grooming can actually be pretty overwhelming when you don’t know where to start. 

In many ways, the maintenance is what puts people off from growing a beard in the first place. 

If you’ve got a buzz cut and want just as much simplicity and ease of maintenance when it comes to your facial hair, shaving it all off is usually the best way to go. 

Growing a beard should be considered a pretty big commitment. If you aren’t willing to tolerate the maintenance requirements, a buzz cut without a beard should be a lot more appealing. 

Conclusion 

There you have it. Hopefully, everything you could ever want to know about buzz cuts without beards. 

What it looks like and how to decide whether it’s the one for you. 

Enjoy.