How to make your beard look fuller: styling a thin or patchy beard

Reading time: 5 mins

Close-up of a brown-eyed man using the Philips OneBlade to trim away the cheek hairs from his full, short beard.

Many men have a thin, patchy cheek beard or moustache, and there are various reasons for it – and various solutions. There are certain things you can do to help fix patches, and we’ve got the lowdown on how to make your beard look thicker through hair care and diet. However, if your patches are symmetrical or minimal, you might be best off learning how to style patchy beard hair to your advantage. We’ll show you how to make a beard look fuller with the best beard styles for patchy beard hair.

Why you have a patchy cheek beard, chin beard or patchy moustache

It could simply be down to age – if you’re in your late teens or early twenties, it could just be a case of waiting until you’ve matured a bit. It might be down to low levels of testosterone or dihydrotestosterone. Or it could be down to genetics – other men in your family might have also looked into how to fix patchy beard hair.

If you have small, round, coin-sized patches it could be alopecia areata, which can be caused by inflammation.¹ Temporary hair loss in general can be down to stress, weight loss, illness, iron deficiency, or cancer treatment. It’s usually nothing to worry about, but make an appointment with your GP if you experience sudden hair loss, lose clumps of hair, develop bald patches, have burning or itching, or if you’re concerned about your hair loss for any other reason.²

The best patchy beard styles

There are plenty of cool beard styles for patchy beard hair, whether your cheek, chin or moustache hair is patchy. If it’s thin all over, then why not go for some sophisticated stubble? This is also a popular beard style for bald men, and it’s easy to achieve. The Philips OneBlade has three stubble combs for trimming to a length that works for you, whether that’s 1mm, 3mm, or 5mm.

Beard styles for patchy cheeks

The best beard styles for patchy cheeks involve leaving the cheeks bare and growing facial hair elsewhere. So if it’s your cheeks that have patchy growth, make the most of your chin with a style like a goatee, thick chinstrap or Van Dyke (a goatee with a moustache). When it comes to how to shape a patchy beard in these styles, you’ll want to use sharp blades to create a well-defined shape.

Patchy beard styles for patchy chins

If you want to know how to shape a patchy beard on your chin, the key is to choose a style that minimises the hair in this area, like a neat chinstrap. This style features just a thin line of hair from the sideburns down along the jawline, but it requires precision to look sharp. The dual blade of the OneBlade allows you to accurately trim, shave and edge your facial hair to make the most of your areas of thickest growth.

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Beard styles that work with a thin or patchy moustache

When it’s the hair on your upper lip that’s thin or patchy, you can take that area out of the equation entirely by opting for a beard style that doesn’t have a moustache at all, like a soul patch or chinstrap. You can also learn how to shave and trim a moustache properly to make the most of what you’ve got, and wear your moustache in a thin style.

How to fix patchy beard hair

Want to know how to make your beard look thicker? The first step is to simply leave it to grow. Patches can grow out or get covered by the rest of your beard, so with some patience (and three months of sticking with it) you might see improvements. Even if patches remain, proper grooming can make a massive difference. Follow essential beard care tips, like using beard shampoo and oil daily, to help your facial hair grow healthily.

You can even eat your way to thicker growth. Wait, what? Yep, you can learn how to make beards look fuller through diet. Iron deficiency is a well-known cause of hair loss, so eat foods high in iron like red meat, seafood, and dark leafy vegetables like spinach. Amongst others, zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin D deficiencies are also linked to hair loss, so eating good food that contains vitamins and minerals can help to supplement healthy hair growth.³

With these tips on how to style patchy beard hair and care for it, you can find a facial hair look that works for you.

¹ British Association of Dermatologists: Alopecia Areata Leaflet
² NHS: Hair Loss
³ NCBI: Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use