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6 Tips For Beards That Only Grow Under The Chin

May 2, 2023
6 Tips For Beards That Only Grow Under The Chin

A lot of men are faced with a distribution of beard hair that’s different from what they’d hoped for. The “patchy beard” is common, but can be beaten. So, what’s the fix for a beard that only grows under the chin or jawline? 

The main ways to deal with a beard that only grows under the chin include giving the beard time, trimming it down to stubble, or choosing a style that makes the problem less obvious. 

Those are the cliff notes, but I wanted to dig deeper. 

Here are some great tips that’ll always serve you well. Let’s get to it. 

N.B – This is a general style/grooming article, not professional advice. If you have any concerns about an uneven or unusual distribution of growth, seek professional advice. 

1. Give It More Time

Some beard problems tend to resolve themselves over time. As frustrating as the journey may be, things often sort themselves out. 

Although it isn’t guaranteed, you may find that over time your cheek hair and mustache hair will fill itself out. 

The beard will look more even and not so bottom-heavy. 

Some men’s beards simply mature at a later age than others. That’s why it’s never a good idea to give up hope. 

 2. Grow It Out Longer

By this, I mean longer than you might be used to

While the first tip was to wait until your growth reaches its maturity, this tip is about not trimming down prematurely. 

Understandably, many men trim down or shave out of frustration over patchiness or lack of growth. 

Because of this, they may not be giving the full beard enough time to really start filling out. It just doesn’t get a chance to. 

It gets trimmed or shaved down before it does. 

Some patches of hair just take longer to sprout or grow at a slower rate than others. If you trim or shave down before it gets a chance to develop you’ll always believe that it won’t ever develop. 

3. Love The Goatee

Learn to love the goatee. 

Goatees are defined by there being hair on the chin but not on the cheeks

For men who can only grow a beard under the chin or on the jawline, this really is ideal. It’s perfect because with goatees, you don’t even need hair on the cheeks or even the mustache area. 

All you need is hair on the chin. 

To be more specific, you’d be better suited to a classic and traditional goatee, where there’s only hair on the chin and nowhere else. 

No hair on the cheeks or mustache area. 

This is a perfect example of working with what you’ve got, instead of trying to achieve something that might not ever be possible. 

Goatees can be long or they can be short. They can also be combined with a mustache if you’re able to grow one. 

The mustache and chin beard can be “connected” or “disconnected”. An example of a disconnected goatee would be the Van Dyke, where the chin beard is pointed and the mustache is curled into a handlebar. 

To sum that all up, there are plenty of men who get by with no (or very little) hair on the cheeks and do just fine. 

Sometimes, the hair on or under the chin is all you need. 

Check out this article for a more in-depth look at goatees.

4. Love The Chinstrap

If you’ve got enough hair under the chin to wrap under the lower jawline as well, you could be in luck. 

You might not be a fan of the traditional goatee. That’s fine – perhaps you yearn for something a little more modern. 

The “chinstrap” is a strip of hair that extends from one ear to the other, closely following the angle and curve of the lower jaw. 

For men with enough hair to pull this off, it may be the perfect solution. You don’t need any hair in the mustache area or on the cheeks. 

However, if you did have a mustache you could extend this style to form a goatee with chinstrap style. 

What’s great about chinstraps is how they add definition to the lower jaw. They just make it look more chiseled and defined. 

They may not have the best reputation and can sometimes come across as looking a bit immature. But not for everyone. 

It’s worth experimenting with.

5. Don’t Accept The “Neckbeard”

This one might be a tough one to hear. When you can only grow hair under the chin or jawline, neck hair, and neck stubble might account for a significant proportion of the beard you’ve got. 

But don’t be tempted into thinking that a “neckbeard” is a valid form of beard – it isn’t. 

A neckbeard is a coating of hair over your neck, way more than would be considered acceptable. 

When the hair on your neck starts to crawl toward your chest hair, the result is almost always untidy and unattractive. 

No matter what your distribution of beard hair is, you need to try to maintain some form of a neckline.

Neckbeards may have been acceptable centuries ago, but the modern man shouldn’t experiment with them. 

So, if the majority of your beard is on your chin or under your chin, make a point to “draw the line” somewhere. You’ll need to find a point on your neck beneath which you won’t keep any hair. 

Beneath this line (your neckline), you’ll be shaved or at the very least, trimmed.

6. Stubble Might Be Less Obvious

This might sound like it contradicts tip no. 2 (grow it out), but hear me out. 

Sometimes, trimming the hair down very short may be a better option for you than growing it out longer. 

The reasoning behind this is that differences in hair length across your beard will be less obvious when the hair is super-short. 

Stubble is defined as facial hair that’s < 5mm in length. 

If all of your facial hair is centered on or under the chin, growing a long goatee might just make this fact more obvious. It might just draw attention to the absence of hair on the cheeks or mustache area. 

Trimming a stubble goatee instead may well be a solution. You’ll still get some of the benefits of a goatee, like elongating the face and adding prominence to the chin. 

But the fact that you’ve got so little hair on the cheeks will just seem less obvious when the hair that you do have is so short. 

You can choose light stubble, medium stubble, or heavy stubble.

Stubble is a lot more versatile than people give it credit for and has the benefit of being incredibly easy to maintain. 

It may not be for everyone, especially men who have always dreamed of long, lustrous beards. 

But chin stubble can be shaped in different ways, including goatees and chinstraps. Try it out and see whether this solves this problem. 

Conclusion

The best way of dealing with a beard that only grows under the chin is to face it head-on. To deal with it, embrace it, and work around it. 

Hopefully, you’ve found something here you can try out for yourself to see whether it does the trick for you.