Whether bold or subtle, sideburns frame the face, create balance where needed, and enhance your best features. But trimming and shaping may prove somewhat tricky; if there’s going to be a facial hair mishap, it won’t be my mustache—it’ll be my sideburns.

Maintaining the right length and width and making sure each side is identical takes a little time and practice. It’s while correcting these details that I’ve often ended up shaving them off altogether.

I can’t imagine I’m the only man who’s encountered this problem.

But before we look into trimming and shaping, let’s find out which length of sideburn suits which face.

Sideburns to Suit Your Face Shape

To determine the type of sideburn that would flatter you most, consider the shape of your face.

The five most common face shapes are square, round, oval, diamond, and heart. Subcategories of these include the inverted triangle and oblong or rectangle. But few of us fall strictly into any one category. To make it easier, consider the width of your forehead in relation to your jaw and chin, and the length of your face compared to its width.

The Square Face

The square face is of about the same length and width with a heavy-set jaw.

To take weight off the jaw and create an overall slimmer impression, wear your sideburns long. For best effect, they should extend below your earlobes.

If, however, your face has more length than width (oblong or rectangle), keep your sideburns short: as a general rule, the longer they are, the longer and more slender your face will seem.

The Round Face

This face shape is equal in length and width, with full cheeks and a soft, rounded jawline and forehead.

Add length and definition with long, angular sideburns. Or try mutton chops, which you can shape and contour to suggest a more angular jawline.

The Oval Face

Your face is oval if it is rounded at the forehead and jaw with more length than width.

For this type of face, keep your sideburns at mid-ear length. As with the oblong or rectangular face, wearing them any longer could add unwanted length.

For more structure, try aligning the ends of your sideburns with the slant of your cheekbones.

The Diamond Face

If your cheekbones are wider than your forehead and jaw, your face is diamond-shaped.

Sideburns can narrow down the cheeks, but keep them at mid-ear length unless you want to elongate your face. And don’t let them get too bushy since this will only add unwanted width.

The Heart Face

The heart has a wide forehead by comparison to the jaw and chin. But if your forehead is somewhat angular and your chin pointed, you fall into the inverted triangle category.

Short sideburns that end at the top of your cheekbones are your safest bet. Wearing them any longer could take weight off your already small jaw. Experiment to find out what suits you best.

You’d probably be better off with a full beard or stubble.

Source: Pexels

Hair Length

All men can wear stand-alone sideburns. The only exception is men with a shaved head, in which case the sideburns must be attached to a full beard and angled off or faded before reaching the tops of the ears.

The length of your sideburn hair should otherwise be the same as the hair around your ears. Of course, if you wear a longer hairstyle, your sideburn hair should be relatively shorter.

As a bald man, I have only a horseshoe hairline. If I buzz it, I buzz my sideburns, too. If I want them bushier, I go to the barbers since the few hairs on my head will then also need to be worn longer—unless I’m buzzing or shaving, I always leave the hair of my head to the experts, regardless of how little I have.

But what do we do between visits to the barber in order to maintain well-groomed sideburns?

How to Trim and Shape Your Sideburns

I grew my first sideburns as a teenager without giving a second thought to trimming. I grew them to mid-ear length and assumed they’d stay that way if I simply shaved the lower contour each day. But they crept down my face until I looked like Elvis Presley.

I soon learned that it’s best to take them to task once a week. In this post, I’ll show you how I do it when wearing a longer hair length.

Tools Needed to Trim and Shape Sideburns

• A comb, either carbon or hand-sawn
• A pair of mustache or hairdressing scissors
• A beard trimmer
• A razor
• An extra hand mirror

1. Comb Your Sideburns

Comb your sideburns downwardly in the direction of growth. Because we’ll first be dealing with bulk and stray hairs, they should be dry.

2. Check for Stray Hairs

If you want to remove bulk, skip this step and move on to step three.

If your sideburns are not yet in need of thinning, skip step three and check only for hairs that don’t lie flat.

Snip these with mustache or hairdressing scissors.

Alternatively, use a beard trimmer, running it down your sideburns in the direction of growth. Start with the longest guard, reducing size until all stray hairs are removed.

3. Reduce Density

If you want your sideburns to retain a defined shape, you’ll need to thin them, which means trimming away bulk.

When thinning, you’ll be safer using a trimmer, although scissors and a comb can give a more professional-looking result if done properly.

Thinning With a Trimmer

Again, begin with the longest guard, reducing size until you hit the desired hair length.

Set the trimmer about a third of the way up your sideburns and trim downwardly in the direction of growth. Do the same again from the two-thirds spot. This should be enough to give you a neat finish without going into your hairline, which you should leave for your barber.

Or carefully thin the final third with a comb and scissors for a more blended look. But I warn you: this is how most of my mishaps occurred.

Thinning With a Comb and Scissors

For this, you’ll need a steady hand and a good eye.

Push a comb into the lower contour of the sideburn and pull away from your face until only the hair length you wish to remove pokes through the comb’s teeth. Snip with scissors. Proceed up the sideburn in the same fashion, gradually reducing the length to be trimmed as you approach the hairline.

4. Clean Up the Contours

The Lower Contour

If you keep your sideburns very trimmed, you can use a razor for this. Otherwise, a trimmer without a guard would be better.

First, wet your sideburns and comb downwardly in the direction of growth. This will show up hairs that protrude beyond the lower contour.

Now set the blade of whichever instrument you’re using on the contour and sweep downwardly.

If your sideburns need shortening, proceed in the same way, setting the blade at the spot you’d like them to end.

Your Side Contours

Comb your sideburns toward the center of your face and snip off hairs that protrude beyond the main contour. For the opposite contour, comb toward the ear and clip in the same way.

To reduce width, you may need an extra mirror in order to get a better view of the side of your face.

Again, comb your sideburns toward the center of your face. Then set the blade of your beard trimmer vertically on the sideburn at the width you’d like to reduce it to. Once you’re satisfied, shave clean with a razor.

Source: The Neat and Tidy Man

How to Check That Your Sideburns Are of the Same Length

I’m very lucky in that my ears are symmetrical. This means I can use them to measure the length of my sideburns. But for most men, this apparently is not the case.

So I’ll tell you how my barber checks for symmetry.

He straightens my head if it is leaning fractionally to one side. He then sets an index finger at the lower contour of each sideburn and checks in the mirror that they are pointing at one another exactly. If one sideburn is longer, he reduces its length.

Sideburns and Coloring Products

There’s more to keeping sideburns looking good than trimming and shaping. Unfortunately, they often turn gray before all other hair, which could leave you thinking about color.

I’ve dedicated entire posts to covering gray hair and dyeing facial hair, but here are a couple of tidbits relating to sideburns specifically.

• If you’re covering gray hair on your head, use the same dye on your sideburns. Just for Men produce dyes for the head and beard in corresponding shades.
• If dyeing only your sideburns, blend the coloring product into the hair around your ears, too.
• Dye your sideburns before trimming since the color at the hair ends usually turns out more saturated, which can appear artificial.
• If you can’t decide between two shades, opt for the lightest. A shade too dark will look unnatural and is more difficult to correct.

© 2025, J. Richardson. All rights reserved.

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