How Long Should Sideburns Be? 7 Tips for Men

How long should sideburns be is a question I often think about, especially when I am forced to regularly shave for my day job.

I remember as a kid, I’d go to the barbershop, and my barber would never consult me on what I wanted when it came to my sideburns.  Rather, he would just shave them straight off, leaving nothing but a horizontal, straight line, right over the top of my ear.

I didn’t like how it looked, but I also did not think there were any other options at the time.  Plus, I didn’t want to be an ass to the guy who was cutting my hair or hurt his feelings.  I know I’m not the only one who does not enjoy telling the truth to a barber after they get done with a sub-par haircut.  “It looks great!” tends to be the only responsive I have ever given throughout my life, even on the worst of haircuts.

I remember as a teenager in the mid 2000’s, all of my friends were able to grow facial hair before me.  Like Ricky Bobby, they would extend their sideburns all the way down to the bottom of their ear lobes.  I was jealous to say the least.

This brings me to the present, where I now have moderately dense facial hair and have to shave just about every other day.  Every time I do it, I think to myself, how long should sideburns be?  Without putting much thought into it, I have been shaving and trimming my sideburns to the middle of my ear, but is this the best length?

It turns out, after performing some research on the subject, I had been trimming a little too high.

Check out some of these tips that may help you when it comes to deciding how long your sideburns should be.

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How Long Should Sideburns Be?

1. Always Have a Side Burn

This is rule number one for a reason.  Not having any sideburns is out of fashion these days.  Unless you are bald, it is important to have sideburns in order to properly frame your face.

2. Never Go Above the Middle of the Ear when Trimming

Every face shape can be accommodated by following this rule.

In general, shorter sideburns go with longer faces, and longer sideburns go with short faces.

Short Sideburns=Middle of the Ear

Long Sideburns=Bottom of the Ear

3. A More Customized Approach

There are 7 types of face shapes: Square, Oval, Rectangle/Oblong, Round, Diamond, Heart, and Triangle.

If you need help figuring out your face shape or would like some suggestions on haircuts for face shapes, check out Best Haircut for Your Face Shape, a Men’s Guide.

In number 2, we said that no sideburn should be above the middle of the ear.  For that reason, we classify short sideburns at the middle of the ear, long sideburns at the bottom of the ear, and medium sideburns between the two.

See the below diagram for face shapes in relation to sideburn length.

4. Too Much Work? Find the Universal Length

If figuring out your face shape will take too much time, there is an alternative.  There is a near perfect, “universal”, sideburn length that will work with most face shapes.

First, you will need to find the tragus.  The tragus is the small pointy piece of cartilage that sticks out at the entrance to the ear canal (see picture below).

For the universal length, shave to the bottom of the tragus.  (This is basically a medium length sideburn)

5. Keep Sideburn Density in Check

There should not be an inverse relationship between sides and sideburns.  In other words, long, bushy sideburns should not be paired with short, clean sides and vice versa.

Rather, sideburns should blend nicely up into the sides.  With most modern haircuts, sideburns will generally be tight to the face anyway.

6. Leave a Natural Width

Never make the sideburn skinnier.  Keep them a natural width and just worry about shaving/trimming the bottom.

For other grooming “don’ts”, check out 10 Men’s Grooming Habits Women Hate.

7. Don’t Use Both Ears as Reference

Ears are often not symmetrical on the face, and one can be higher or lower than the other.  Once you decide where you are going to trim one sideburn, trim it and place an index finger there.

Then, imagine a horizontal line running from the top of the finger, across the face to the other side.  This is where you will trim the other sideburn.  After trimming both sideburns, put both index fingers up at the bottom of each sideburn and compare heights to ensure they are even.

Trim accordingly to make even.

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These 7 tips on How Long Should Sideburns Be? will be all you need when deciding where to trim the next time you get a haircut or have to shave your face.

Check out Best Beard Trimmer in 2018 With Guide, where we recommend some of the top beard trimmers on the market today, including the Philips Norelco Beard & Head Trimmer Series 5100 (BT5210/42) $49.72

 

As always, these are just suggestions to help shed light on the topic that some men (myself included) may not have known.  At the end of the day, our goal is to provide information that gives you confidence in your daily life.  If you feel most confident by not following any of these tips, we are okay with that!  We just want you to consistently kick ass in everything you do, especially when it comes to grooming and style.

Thanks for reading How Long Should Sideburns Be? 7 Tips for Men,

Chris

Also, thanks to my sources!

• Fleischman Salon
• Men’s Health
• Dorco
• I Am Alpha M.

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