One of the most popular beard styles for men is the Garibaldi. Believe it or not, this style has been around since the 1800’s. Many guys shape their beard like this, and they do not even know what it is called. It is common because it is easy to wear, and it works for many different face shapes.
We will review the history of the Garibaldi beard, and we will learn how to style it.
What Is A Garibaldi Beard?
The Garibaldi beard style is a wide full beard that is rounded at the bottom. It also has a mustache that is integrated into the facial hair. The mustache must connect to the beard, and the sides of the beard are kept short.
The key to this beard style is the thick and rounded beard under the chin and the thick handlebar mustache. Typically, there is no skin showing on the chin. It will be completely covered up with beard hair. Without those two things, then you lose the signature look.
Who Is Garibaldi?
This beard style was first made famous from Giuseppe Garibaldi. He was an Italian General in the 1800’s.
Here are a couple of old pictures of Garibaldi with a beard. This can give you a visual of what the original looked like back in the 1800’s. As you can see, he has a rounded beard and his mustache connects. The facial hair on his cheeks is also short.
How To Grow A Garibaldi Beard
If you want to grow a Garibaldi beard, then you need to let your facial hair get at least 2 inches long. You also need to let your mustache get long and thick. It will need to cover your upper lip almost completely. One of the most difficult spots for this beard style is under the bottom lip. This is because I lot of guys cannot cover this entire area easily. You will need to let this area grow as much as possible. It may look scraggly for a while, but you need to let it grow.
The Garibaldi look means that you cannot have any patchy spots showing under your lip.
We also have a guide on how to trim your beard to get this shape.
- Grow your beard out several inches past your chin
- Let your mustache get long enough to connect to your beard
- Make sure your facial hair completely covers your chin
How To Shape A Garibaldi Beard
Once your beard is 2 or 3 inches below your chin, then you cant start shaping your beard.
You can use beard scissors or an electric beard trimmer to round out your facial hair. Either tool is fine. Use whichever you feel more comfortable with. Once you have rounded out the bottom of your beard, you need to shape your neckline. Any neckline shape is fine because your beard will be long enough to cover it.
You will also need to trim the facial hair on your cheeks. This is a personal preference, and we have some style guides below. This will give you some visual examples on what you may like. The original version has shorter hair on the sides, and that is what we recommend. You can use scissors or an electric trimmer with a guard to shorten your beard hair. Trimming your beard here should be easy. The cheeks do not have to be perfect.
- Trim your beard into a round shape below your jawline
- Trim your neckline
- Shorten the facial hair on your cheeks
How To Maintain A Garibaldi Beard
If you want to keep and maintain this look, then you will need a good beard grooming process.
Here is what you need to do:
- Wash your beard at least three times per week. This will keep it clean and shiny.
- Apply a product to soften your beard daily. This could be a beard oil or a beard butter.
- Make sure to brush your beard daily. Do this after you apply beard oil.
- Make sure to trim it with beard scissors every other week. This will allow you to keep your beard rounded on the bottom.
Garibaldi Beard Styles
Here are some examples of different versions of the Garibaldi:
The Original Garibaldi Beard
This is the classic Garibaldi. As you can see, there is a thick rounded beard at the chin. There is also shorter facial hair on the cheeks, and there is a mustache that connects. His entire upper lip is also hidden under the mustache.
The Full Garibaldi Beard
The only difference for the Full version is the long scraggly facial hair on the cheeks. This gives you a more fuller look. There is no distinct thickness difference between the chin and the cheek areas.
Short Garibaldi Beard Style
The Short Garibaldi is one of the most popular beard styles for guys today. You don’t have to worry about growing our your beard for a long time. This style is also easy to maintain. You need to keep the hair on your cheeks trimmed up a bit
Long Garibaldi Beard Style
For the Long version of this style, you need to grow out your beard. You should grow your beard at least 3 inches below your chin. Of course, it also needs to be rounded out.
Faded Garibaldi Beard Style
This is an example of a Faded Garibaldi. Everything is the same except the facial hair on the cheeks is faded. This beard style works great for men with a bald head.
Garibaldi Beard Vs. Bandholz
The difference between a Garibaldi beard and a Bandholz is the length of the facial hair on the cheeks. The Garibaldi has short hair and the Bandholz has beard hair that goes below the jawline.
These two beard styles get compared a lot because they are very similar.
Here is a side by side comparison of them. You can see Eric on the left. Notice how long his beard is on his cheeks. It goes way down past his jawline. The Garibaldi is much shorter there.
