Have you noticed how some of the best things in life are named after famous people? The Van Dyke beard is a classic look, a celebrity favourite and one of our best beard styles. We like it because it’s instantly recognizable, it’s iconic, it looks exceptionally stylish and it’s more versatile than it seems.
This facial hairstyle includes a Van Dyke moustache and a Van Dyke goatee that aren’t connected. This beard will give you a very distinguished air with the classical old-timey vibes it brings to the table, but it can also have a modern interpretation with a fun and approachable side. So, yeah, we kind of have a new short beard style crush that we’ve decided to share with you.
Read on to find out how to get the Van Dyke beard look and to check out our top 15 inspirational beard styles.
What Is A Van Dyke Beard?
This super trendy beard style is named after a famous Flemish painter named Anthony van Dyck. He lived in the 17th century and became the leading painter in the English court and a trendsetter in modern times.
The Van Dyke beard is a crowd pleaser and you’ve probably seen a fair number of celebrities showing it off. What you get with this style is a smooth blend between an awesome moustache and a cool goatee. The result is stylish, imposing and polished.
How to tell the difference between a goatee and a Van Dyke?
To get a classical goatee beard style you’ll need to grow a chin beard while keeping your cheeks, jaw and upper lip areas completely hairless. The Van Dyke shape will require you to combine a goatee with a floating moustache. This basically means that your chin hair should not be connected to your moustache.
How to Grow & Style Van Dyke Beard?
Give It Time To Grow
To achieve this masterpiece of a beard, you’ll need about an inch of beard growth. Facial hair tends to grow with a speed of about half an inch a month, so there’s a bit of waiting involved before you can start styling and trimming.
The two key elements of this style are the chin beard and the floating moustache. You can trim the hair on your cheek area and jawline to a very short stubble, or go all-in with a close shave.
You can perfect the Van Dyke look by combing your beard regularly and training your hair to grow downward. The hair training process is more successful if you start during the first stages of beard growth.
Create Space in Between
While most beard styles out there represent a moustache-beard combo where everything is connected, the Van Dyke beard keeps its elements separated. Now, before you start trimming the area between your moustache and chin hair, you’ll need to figure out the shape and thickness of your moustache.
You can start with a precision trimmer to create an outline of your Van Dyke moustache and goatee. If you’re satisfied with the results, you can begin trimming the areas that separate the two elements.
You can also shave the hair off if you want to have clean shaven areas between the beard and moustache. Just keep in mind to avoid spreading the shaving cream over the edge of the moustache, so you won’t clip it and affect its appearance. The clean shaven look can highlight your look.
Don’t Rush
Shaping your Van Dyke beard will require a bit of patience and precision. You’ll need to focus on symmetry after establishing the perfect shape and size of your elements.
We find that it helps when you work in increments. As a pro tip, you can start trimming a small area on one side of your face, then immediately trim the same area on the opposite side of your face.
The Van Dyke is one of the styles where a rushed job actually shows. Remember that one slip of the hand with your trimmer can undo weeks of waiting for your beard to grow.
Making Use of Styling Products
The Van Dyke beard should look perfectly groomed, and it will require you to really stick to your beard care routine. This means keeping your facial hair hydrated and using a beard comb to train your hair to behave properly and stick to a specific direction of growth.
You can also use a product like beard wax to keep your facial hair perfectly styled throughout the day. Your basic beard care kit should include things like beard oil, beard wax, and a beard wash to keep everything clean.
15 Best Van Dyke Beard Styles for Men
1. The Tony Stark Beard
Iron man wouldn’t look the same without his iconic beard. Tony Stark’s whiskers check all the boxes for a classy yet modern Van Dyke beard. You can achieve this look by trimming your facial hair relatively short and letting your goatee connect with your soul patch.
This short Van Dyke beard style is instantly recognizable and it will hopefully help you channel some genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist vibes.
2. Funky Hipster Van Dyke Beard
Funky hipster beard styles are an acquired taste, but we can all probably agree that their general quirkiness is a guaranteed head-turner, and often makes for a bold statement look.
Hipster styles are usually well-groomed and ultra styled. You can get a Funky Hipster Van Dyke by trimming your chin hair to be short and neat and pairing it with an interesting moustache. Some great choices are styles like the Handlebar and the English moustaches.
3. Gentlemanly Look
This Van Dyke beard is a good choice if you’re looking for an elegant look that doesn’t feel like it’s `too much`. The gentlemanly look demands cultivating perfectly styled facial hair. Basically, no hair should be out of place for the effect to be complete.
The moustache should be a simple style like a thin painter’s brush. The rest of your face should be clean shaved. Unfortunately, you won’t be getting away with stubble with this one.
4. Simple Moustache and Beard
Some of us are looking for a style that’s easy to achieve and maintain, and this beard is a great way to get a Van Dyke look while keeping it simple. You can get away without a lot of shaping and upkeep.
All you need to do is grow a floating moustache and a simple goatee. Nothing elaborate and fancy is needed, and you can keep your facial hair natural, even if it’s curly or kind of patchy. This beard style will look effortless, but you’ll have to make sure you’re keeping important areas like your cheeks and neck areas clean.
5. Anchor Van Dyke Beard
This look is a blend between an Anchor beard and a Van Dyke. The anchor beard can be described as a goatee that spreads along the jawline and connects with the soul patch in the center of the face.
The Anchor Van Dyke Beard requires growing an anchor chin beard and combining it with a moustache of your choice. This beard style will look sophisticated and polished, and you can also wear it with a wider chin beard.
6. The Rockabilly Beard
Believe it or not, there is a way to get the classic effect of a Van Dyke style, while sporting a full beard. You’ll need to trim the hair on your cheeks and jawline short to make your moustache and chin beard stand out.
This facial hairstyle is a great choice if you’re looking for a fuller beard with the pleasing, classic lines of the Van Dyke.
7. The Van Dali
The Van Dali is a combination of two very different facial hairstyles named after two famous painters. You’ll end up with something cool and unique, an eye-catching style meant to delight your inner creative persona.
This look is all about the Dali moustache. You’ll need to trim your upper lip hair in a thin band, grow it long and style it so that the edges are curved upwards to create a distinct and highly recognizable `U` shape. This moustache will be paired with a goatee, and we recommend trimming it short and neat to match your iconic moustache.
8. The Van Dyke & Jawline Beard
This beard style is rugged and gives off some truly manly vibes. It has grown in popularity because it’s easy to style and maintain. To achieve this look, you’ll need to trim your hair to create a floating moustache and a goatee for that classic Van Dyke look.
You can let your goatee spread along the lower edge of your jawline towards the edges of your face. This will help create some definition by accentuating your jawline. You can keep the rest of your face clean-shaven or you can rock a subtle covering of stubble.
9. The Van Dyke With Light Stubble
A Van Dyke beard will still be impressive even without creating perfect lines. Another great thing is that you can make it work even with a bit of stubble. To achieve this look, you’ll need to pair a goatee with a floating moustache of your choice.
The space between these areas can be connected by a short sprinkling of stubble. This look is also a great choice if your beard is naturally patchy. Remember to keep your neck and the tops of your cheeks clean and neatly trimmed. You don’t want your stubble to look like you’ve forgotten to shave.
10. V-Shape Van Dyke Beard
This is a good beard choice if you’re looking for a style to elongate your features. This works by directing the eye towards the chin area and creating more length to the face. To get the V-Shape Van Dyke, you’ll need to keep the upper lip hair short and simply styled and focus on the hair on your chin.
Let your goatee really grow out and trim it in an elegant V shape. The overall effect will be spectacular and sophisticated while sticking to the more classical lines of the Van Dyke style.
11. Short Stubble Van Dyke Beard
If you’re a fan of stubble beards, then this modern variation of the Van Dyke is something you should check out. You will need to trim your facial hair to form the distinctive disconnected moustache and goatee and keep the rest of your face hairless with a clean shave.
This facial hairstyle is very user-friendly because there isn’t a lot of trimming and grooming involved. Another advantage is that you can achieve the look fairly quickly because you won’t need to wait over a month to get a full beard before shaping and trimming.
12. The Classy Van Dyke Beard
In this situation, keeping it classy actually means bringing it back to basics. This beard style variation is what you would see in one of Anthony Van Dyck’s paintings. This really fancy beard is something you can easily pair with more formal attire, and it’s perfectly suitable for the work environment.
13. The Long Stubble Van Dyke
Sometimes, the best way to go is short and neat. You’ll need to find the sweet spot between a short beard and stubble, then start trimming your Van Dyke look.
You’ll need a floating moustache and a goatee, and you can keep the rest of your face perfectly hairless, or you can spice it up and cultivate a very short stubble to blend everything together. This beard style is a great choice if you like the Van Dyke look but you aren’t a fan of extended grooming sessions.
14. Modern Casual Van Dyke
Think casual and relaxed, but with the sophisticated air of a classic Van Dyke beard. We picked this style because it brings a modern twist to the 17th-century beard style.
This Van Dyke facial hairstyle will help create a softer look, and you won’t need a bushy moustache or a long, pointy goatee beard to go along with it. This is a casual beard that you can enjoy without putting in tons of effort.
15. Van Dyke & Chinstrap Beard
This Van Dyke look can be paired wonderfully with a chinstrap beard. You’ll need to combine three elements, namely, a floating moustache, a goatee, and a beard that’s trimmed short and runs along the edges of your jawline, to meet your sideburns.
This is a super stylized and modern beard style that you might have seen worn by some serious A-list celebrities. So, grow your own Van Dyke beard to get the red-carpet look.
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