Want a beard that’s the perfect combo of rugged, bold, imposing, uncompromising, casual, un-fussy, stylish, sexy, shapely and very low-maintenance? Then the Garibaldi beard might be for you! It’s awesome and it’s friggin’ simple!
The Garibaldi is named after the 19th century Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi, who not only helped unify and forge the Kingdom of Italy, he did all that while looking killer with his kickass beard.
It’s a distinctively shaped full beard (usually 6-8 inches long) that’s worn just slightly unkempt to make a big ballsy statement. In recent years, you’ll have seen Garibaldi beards on the faces of people like MMA legend Conor McGregor, actor Zach Galifianakis, and Questlove (front man for The Roots). Even Bradley Cooper has gone full Garibaldi a few times – and we know that dude makes everything sexy.
Settle back, visualize your new grand gentlemanly look, and trust The Rugged Bros to show you how to grow a Garibaldi beard and how to look after it.
At first glance, it might be easy to see a Garibaldi beard and think it’s just a mountain man’s beard that’s been left to grow wild and woolly. Nope, not at all. It has special features that set it apart, including special rounding below the chin, fairly short sides, and a thick mustache that connects up with the rest of the whiskers.
It’s pretty simple. In fact, it’s so simple, it can seem too good to be true. But sometimes simplicity is everything.
First, let your beard grow for a few months. The thing you need most is patience. Let it develop length and volume to become a full beard of at least 3-4 inches. (As we said earlier, 6-8 inches is ideal for a Garibaldi.) Sure, you can create a Garibaldi shorter than this, but its statement won’t be as powerful.
You must let it grow and thicken on your neck so as to achieve some bulk and size. Maybe just trim your cheek lines in minimalist fashion (i.e. straighten only, don’t hack away) and trim/pluck away any flyaway hairs if you wish.
If your mustache hairs above your lip are bugging you, feel free to trim the ends to match your lip line, but whatever you do don’t take away volume at all. Importantly, let the side hairs of your mustache grow.
Believe it or not, that basic growth over time will give you your Garibaldi beard. All you have to do now is trim and sculpt away some edges to reveal it.
If you want success with your Garibaldi beard, you must have success with your base beard. That means it has to be healthy. Although the Garibaldi is a simple beard, there’s some basic regular maintenance you need to take care of to prevent it turning into a frizzy, matted mess.
Throughout your growth phase:
OK, once your beard has decent length and volume, it’s time to give it the Garibaldi shape.
Work slowly. The trick here is… less is more. (Less screwing around with your beard, that is, not less hair.) The Garibaldi beard has a distinctive shape in the eagle eye of an experienced beardsmen, but to the layman it kinda looks like nothing much has been done to it. It’s supposed to look pretty natural and casual.
The key word is round. Start with the basic rounded shape under the chin and jaw, from ear to ear. You can use clippers or scissors to map out the outline that blunts it from narrowing to a chin point. Use scissors to clean up the edges. Remember that taking off too much can wreck the rounded look and create “narrowness”.
If you want a clean neckline, a combo of clippers and a razor will achieve that.
Now the cheeks. Create clean lines from your ear holes to your mustache.
Next, using clippers very sparingly, trim away a little bulk from your sideburns (if you want to, of course) and from any woolly cheek hairs. There’s a balance to achieve between the rounded look of the Garibaldi beard and streamlining your cheeks and sideburns so your entire face doesn’t look too round, so take your time.
The result should (1) be wide and round at the bottom, (2) look a little “unkempt” and not too angular, and thus (3) still looks a lot like a thick beard that has grown that way naturally.
Part of the Garibaldi beard style is that the edges of the mustache connect to it. Other than that, it’s your choice how to trim your ‘stache. We recommend lightly snipping at the ends of hairs that poke into your mouth and letting the edges grow and flow into the rest of the beard.
For a super sexy and striking touch, grow out your mustache edges, brush them outwards each day, and develop yourself a handlebar.
And that’s how to grow a Garibaldi beard and keep it looking awesome. This style is a perennial winner with bros nationwide because it looks badass while being pretty damn simple to shape and maintain. Just remember to be ruggedly ruthless with your beard grooming routine so you can keep it splendiferous (yes, that's actually a word) and make your fellow bros – bearded or not – jealous.
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