Garibaldi Beard: Growing & Trimming (4 Easy Steps)

Updated:

Garibaldi beard

The Garibaldi beard is a wide, bushy style named after the legendary Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi. Typically, the beard style is thick, with a rounded shape around the chin, and looks unkempt.

The style is very sophisticated looking. To get the Garibaldi style, you’ll first have to grow your beard approximately 7 to 8 inches in length.

I’ll show you how to get this beard look easily, as well as several ways to style it like a pro with just minimal trimming.

The main style of this beard is that all the facial hair connects so that you have a thick mustache that connects to a full beard and long chin hair. The beard connects fully to the sideburns, which may be trimmed shorter than the rest of the beard if you like.

In addition, this beard should appear naturally grown and doesn’t require a lot of maintenance. Besides trimming a bit for length and keeping the rounded shape, you won’t have to do very much to get this look.

Garibaldi Beard Styles

The Garibaldi beard is a full, rounded beard that covers your jawline up the sideburns entirely with a fully connected mustache and soul patch. It’s meant to look thick, full, and slightly neglected.

I wanted to share some examples of the best Garibaldi beards. Many men have grown out their beard hair just to achieve this look. It typically takes many months to get this thick, full beard.

Here’s a look at some of the best Garibaldi beard examples:

Nick Offerman's Garibaldi beard style
Nick Offerman aka Ron Swanson sports a salt and pepper Garibaldi beard.
the Garibaldi beard shape is rounded with a moustache
Garibaldi beards are full and rounded along the bottom.
The Garibaldi beard looks great as a longer beard style
Garibaldi beards can be grown to any length, so long as it’s trimmed with a rounded edge and fully connect to the mustache.

How to Trim a Garibaldi Beard

Before deciding you want this beard, you’ll need an incredible amount of thick facial hair. In fact, these beards typically don’t have any patches and completely connect to your mustache and sideburns.

While there are shorter Garibaldi beards, you at least want to fill in your patches before trimming and shaping this beard. That’s why it’s best to grow your beard as long as possible before following this guide.

1. Start with the Right Tools & Products

A pair of electric beard trimmers are best for this look, as you’ll go in and simply trim the rounded shape without using a comb guard.

Beard oil or beard balm is also recommended to keep your thick beard hair smooth and soft, avoiding any coarse, wiry hairs as you grow out your beard.

2. Shape the Garibaldi Beard

Here’s a look at a typical Garibaldi beard shape once more:

garibaldi beard shape guide
Garibaldi beards may be trimmed every day or left slightly unkempt after the first trim to round the edges.

The main focus of this style is the wide, rounded chin hair that blends in with the hair along your jawline. You’ll run your beard trimmer along the bottom carefully without a comb guard, just rounding out the bottom and slowly buzzing up to your sideburns.

Remember to keep the length of your beard and take off as little beard hair as necessary. You don’t want to create an oval shape or boxy shape, so go slowly and really try to round the edges of your beard.

3. Clean the Neckline and Cheeks

After buzzing the rounded shape of this beard, you can now start shaving your neckline. Ideally, you keep your neckline above one inch above your Adam’s apple.

Check out our neckline shaving guide if you need more help with this.

When shaving your neckline for this beard, remember to follow the same rounded angle so that it matches the shape. Additionally, cheek lines should look natural but clearly show the cheekbones. These angles should also look rounded, like the bottom of your beard.

4. Apply Finishing Touches

At this point, you should see the Garibaldi shape and don’t need to do too much more trimming. You may want to trim down your sideburns using a comb guard of 1 or 2 inches, depending on how you like to fade your beard into your hairline or leave them longer if you like.

Next up, the mustache of a Garibaldi beard is quite natural and long, but you can use a pair of mustache scissors to trim along the upper lip if you don’t want it to grow too long.

Why is it called a Garibaldi beard?

The beard style is named after the famed Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi some consider the greatest general of the modern era. He’s best known for his military operations in Europe and South America and his contributions to the Italian unification in the late 19th century.

How long does it take to grow a Garibaldi beard?

Depending on your genetics, the average Garibaldi length can take 3-4 months. However, for fuller styles, can take up to 6 months.

Photo of author

AUTHOR

I'm the founder of Bald & Beards, an amateur barber and I've been obsessed with men's grooming, styles, and trends for over 20 years.