The Van Dyke beard gets its name from a 17th-century painter who was famous for religious and regal themed paintings. Van Dyke preferred to paint men with a particular style of facial hair that included a pointy mustache and a short pointy chin beard.
How to Style Van Dyke Beard The Right Way?
Proper Growth
Achieving a Van Dyke beard begins with growing your facial hair properly. The idea is to combine the growth of a van dyke mustache and a van dyke goatee to form a Van Dyke beard. For the Van Dyke style to work, you’re going to want to achieve a beard length of about 1 inch long.
Combing and trimming are the two most important aspects of proper grooming technique. For the van dyke beard style, you’re going to want to comb your mustache and beard downward. The van dyke goatee does not require hair around your cheeks. You can go ahead and trim that to the skin.
What’s great about the Van Dyke beard style is that it leaves some aspects open to interpretation. Depending on the look you’re aiming for, you can keep your van dyke mustache neat or long and messy. The choice is yours.
The Space in Between
The defining factor of a Van Dyke beard is that the Van Dyke goatee and Van Dyke mustache are disconnected. Most beards are connected from the chin to the mustache. However, the Van Dyke beard style requires that you separate these two elements to produce the desired badass look.
Before shaping your beard, come to terms with your desired thickness and mustache size. Next, remove hair between your beard and mustache. Creating that evident gap between the two is the essence of the Van Dyke beard.
Don’t forget to take things slow. With such intricate maneuvers necessary, one wrong move can mean the end of your experiment.
Go Slow
Depending on how quickly your hair grows, you may have waited 2 weeks before attempting to groom this style. Don’t waste that time, and ensure you make calculated movements when a razor or trimmer is in your hand.
For those who never sported a goatee, getting the proper trim may prove difficult. Remove most of the hair under your chin, especially along the sides of your mouth. You’re going to want to leave hair in the area between your chin and halfway to the top of your mouth. Don’t forget to clean up your neckline.
Making Use of Balm
Styling the Van Dyke beard style is all about the products at your disposal. What with all of the precise trimming and shaving, you’re going to need a proper trimmer. Ensure that the trimmer can reach small places for intricate cuts. Next, beard balm is a must.
Always comb your beard before applying beard balm. Due to the Van Dyke mustache and Van Dyke goatee’s complex nature, any flyaway hairs will be more noticeable than usual. Once the beard is combed, it is time to apply beard balm.
Beard balm, also known as beard wax, will help shape your beard in the direction of your choice. As previously mentioned, there is room for variety when it comes to the mustache.
Some prefer a neat look while others will grow a pointed mustache of several inches. If you opt for the long mustache, you must use balm or wax to keep it in place.
Best Van Dyke Beard Styles
Although this style way very popular in the 18th century it is slowly coming back but with several modern variations to make it look trendy. Below are a few pictures of some of the modern ways to wear this beard.
# 1 Youthful Twist
A large mustache can really age a man. However, with style with the turned edges and the tapered, pointy beard, you retain your youthful appearance. It adds a somewhat mischievous twist to your look.
# 2 Minimal Peaks
Here’s a toned-down version of the beard. The mustache is thin with long, twisted ends. The beard is equally small, a sharp point growing from the center of the chin. It’s clean, sharp and low-maintenance.
# 3 Modern Casual Variant
This modern take on the look is softer and lacks a point in the beard. There’s a gentle connection between the tame mustache and the thick chin beard.
# 4 Stubble Van Dyke
Here’s another modern variant, this time for guys who dislike longer facial hair. You get the general shape of the Van Dyke beard but it’s just a few days’ worth of stubble. A great starting point if you want to go longer later.
# 5 Rugged and Lush
The end of the beard is more round than pointed here and only connects lightly to the soul patch. However, the hair is lush and works wonderfully on a ruggedly handsome face.
# 6 Coarse Curls
For men with thick facial hair, this mustache with its curled ends works wonderfully. The soul patch and thin beard connect thickly, drawing the eye. However, the beard isn’t pointed like the classic look.
# 7 Van Dyke & Jawline Beard
For men who want to go more full coverage, extend the beard to the jawline. The mustache is short and modern and the beard lacks a point, but the Van Dyke shape remains distinct.
# 8 Light & Patchy
For men whose facial hair grows in lighter, consider this style. It’s a little patchy but still distinct, with the beard kept short and the mustache lacking the pointed ends.
# 9 Bold Van Dyke Look
Here’s a look that’s very Van Dyke beard, without question. The mustache has the upturned ends and the beard is thick, wide and tapered to a point. It connects lightly to the soul patch.
# 10 Clean Cut Twist
If you like to look a little fancy and clean, this middle-parted mustache with upturned gelled ends is an eye-catcher. The beard is basic and there’s no soul patch so its lightly pointed nature stands out on its own.
# 11 Blunt and Grown Out
Modern styles have no specific parameters to conform to, and so this one maintains the connection between the mustache and chin beard, but it is grown out to make it look natural.
# 12 Classy with Sideburns
The sideburns make all the difference in this design. They not only make it look modern but also provide a stylish option for men who would not wish to get rid of all the hairs on the sides of their face.
# 13 Disconnected Without Pointy Ends
This design lacks the essential connection between the goatee and handlebars, but it still looks very elegant. It also does not have the pointy ends, and the goatee also has an Old Dutch curtain look.
# 14 Fresh and Relaxed
Although this beard style does not have the precise lines of other Van Dyke designs it has a unique relaxed and clean appearance that makes it look very natural. The sides do not have a clean shave, but they are short enough not to interfere with the beard design.
# 15 Naturally Grown Out
The full facial hairs in this style are what makes it look very polished. These strands grow in a perfect pattern, and you do not need to do any precise cut to create the style since a few trims for some uniformity will be enough.
# 16 Classy Van Dyke
This beard has the traditional classy style that you would expect to see with Van Dyke himself. The level of detail and precision in shaping the goatee and the mustache is very impressive. And the clean sides help to ensure that all the attention remains on the beard style.
# 17 Cute and Neat French Style
Some men prefer to keep things short and straightforward, and this is especially those that do not have a big mustache and so this design will work perfectly for them.
To create it you only need to maintain a short goatee and keep the sides at a level that will make them appear like you have not cut them for a couple of days.
# 18 Gentleman Look
The disconnection in the mustache is one of the things that make this style perfect. It also has a short curtain goatee and cleanly shaved sides that create an elegant gentleman look.
# 19 The V-Shape Goatee
This style is ideal for men with full facial hairs and a mustache. It is also very easy to create as you only need to give it an outline with a razor and reduce the sideburns slightly. You should then finish by giving your goatee a V-shape.
# 20 Rockabilly Beard
If you have full facial hairs and would want to have a beard style that is low maintenance, then you should try this rockabilly design. It has the classic Van Dyke goatee and mustache, but it also has neat sideburns and a soul patch that help to accentuate the overall appearance.
# 21 The Long Stubble
This beard style is very easy to create provided you have full facial hairs. To create this look, you only have to shape it and trim it slightly with scissors to give them a consistent look. However, you should also leave the chin beard a little longer.
# 22 Short Ducktail Design
A short ducktail is another twist of the full beard look, and you can also use it to create a Van Dyke appearance. To make this design you should trim your facial hairs short but make the bottom of the goatee resemble the tail of a duck.
# 23 The Extended Goatee
In this modern variation, you only need to extend your goatee a little bit towards the area that is usually occupied by your sideburns. You should also make the whiskers blunt, and you can vary the look by changing the shape of your goatee.
# 24 Full Goatee and Moustache
Although this design looks slightly unkempt, it still makes a lovely style. And the good this is that it is very easy to achieve as you only need to let your goatee and mustache grow out.
# 25 Moustache, Soul Patch, and Stubble
The beauty of this style comes from combining a pointy French mustache, a neat soul patch, and medium stubble. It also has as small and a fancy goatee that helps to spice up the Van Dyke look.
# 26 Hollywood Beard Style
This design consists of a simple mustache that is connected to a simple beard but with very short sideburns. It is not a very attention-grabbing design, and so it will be perfect for a man who wants a simple everyday look.
# 27 Funky Hipster Look
A hipster appearance like this is ideal for any gentleman who wants to keep up with the times and it consists of funky whiskers and a short but neat chin beard.
# 28 Bearded Villain
Villain looks are very trendy, and if you can be patient enough to grow out your beard for some weeks or months depending on how fast your hair grows, then you can create this modern design.
It still has the Van Dyke connection between the handlebars and goatee but the hairs are fuller than what one would expect, and this is what creates the villain look.
# 29 Full Beard and Chin Puff
This design is another perfect idea of how you can wear your full facial hairs. It is medium in size, but everything is connected. However, it also has a lovely chin puff that helps to spice up the look.
# 30 Short French Stubble
Short stubble is just a variation of the full beard with the only difference being that it keeps the hairs very short. Apart from this it also has blunt handlebars and a soul patch that make it look very adorable.
# 31 Imperial Van Dyke Design
This design is another example of classic Van Dyke facial hairs with a modern touch. The modern look comes from extending the goatee on the sides, but the handlebars should be retro.
# 32 Balbo with Small Goatee
A Balbo is perfect for any man who wants to add some extra girth to his thin frame. It consists of a small and round goatee and neat whiskers, but the two are not connected. This style also has a small soul patch that adds a twist to the look.
# 33 Box Shape Beard
This design is a typical Van Dyke style, but it has a box shape that makes it look modern and distinct. The sides also have a clean shave to ensure that they do not draw attention away from your refined style.
# 34 Polished and Chunky
The volume of the disconnected facial hairs on this style is what makes them look edgy. Although they do not have perfect outlines they still look very cute and this is what makes this design worth trying out.
# 35 Neat and Tight
It is amazing how a small soul patch can make a huge difference. Although it is not the center of attraction on this style it helps to spice up the connected handlebars and the short goatee.
A Van Dyke beard is the best thing that can ever happen to your facial hairs. And contrary to what most people think it is very versatile since you can create several different looks. The 35 above are a few examples of what you can do to create a refined gentleman look.