A beard style that says a lot with a little bit of hair, the soul patch is an enduring beard style with plenty of character.
If you’re keen to try out short beard styles, this is a great place to start. A soul patch beard is a style you can grow out in a relatively short time. If you find this facial hair look works for you, it’s also easy to grow out other areas and join them into any kind of style you like.
To make sure your soul patch beard is well trimmed and defined, you’ll need a beard shaping tool that’s up to the task. We’ll take you through the features to look out for in your next beard shaper and how to groom this iconic short beard style.
What is a soul patch beard?
If you don’t know what a soul patch beard looks like, it’s a defined and often triangular area between your lower lip and chin. This short beard style doesn’t take long to grow as you don’t need to wait for chin or cheek hair to fill in.
If you’ve had a longer beard style that you’re not attached to, you can even shave around this area under your lower lip, just leaving the soul patch intact.
If you’re wondering where this style came from, it’s traced back to jazz musicians and was also sported by Frank Zappa. Today you can see musicians and actors like Bruce Springsteen or Robert Downey Jr pulling it off.
If you want to follow in their facial hair footsteps, you’ll need a precision trimmer and some styling skill.
How to trim a soul patch beard with your desired shape and style?
To trim a soul patch style, one of the best possible tools is a beard trimmer with its range of attachment combs. These make the device highly customisable to whatever grooming style suits you.
With a beard trimmer, you can also decide whether you want a particularly close shave. To achieve this, remove any comb you may have used and finish with the precision shaving head.
To use this for a soul patch style we suggest trimming down any facial hair growth you might have between the 3-5mm mark.
To make this distinctive beard style well defined, you should then leave a hard-edged or softer tuft in the middle of your chin. With your precision trimmer, you’re free to style this your way and experiment to see whether you prefer edging with sharp lines or a more natural look.
Once you’ve got this style nailed we’d suggest trimming every few days to avoid facial hair that looks messy or overgrown.
Tools you will need
If you’re not familiar with beard trimming, you might be unsure how you’d trim between a 3 and 5mm length. With a Braun beard shaping tool, you simply use the precision dial to select the right beard length.
You also need to attach the short beard comb, tailored for 0.5 to 10mm length hair before you start trimming.
Along with this beard shaper, we’d suggest finding a moisturizing shaving gel to keep the skin under your beard healthy and reduce your chance of developing ingrowing hairs.
Alongside beard trimmers, we also offer electric shavers which can also be used for styling short facial hair styles like the classic soul patch.
If you have particularly sensitive skin, a device like the Braun Series 9 is designed to glide over your skin through the power of sonic vibrations so could be the ideal shaving option for you.
Face shapes and soul patch beard
When it comes to choosing which beard styles for men might be best suited to you, a tried and tested approach is looking for a style that will complement your face shape
For men with the hard lines of a square jaw, something like a goatee beard can soften these angles.
Guys with a rounder face shape may wish to go for something that will give a more angular edge such as the Van Dyke beard.
The soul patch beard is similarly shaped to chin beards like the Van Dyke so if you fall into the less square-jawed camp, it could be a great choice for you.
If you find the soul patch works wonders for you, it’s also easy to grow this out further into something like the Van Dyke chin beard.
How to maintain a soul patch beard
To maintain a soul patch style, make sure you keep the rest of your face clean-shaven, across your neck and cheeks.
One of the best things about this minimal style is how little styling it needs. Once you’ve got the growth you need and shaped it, just keeps things tidy and the soul patch will add some stylish flair to your look.