Face Form Finder
Beard Length Chart: mm, Inches, Guard Numbers — and How to Read Your Own Length
The chart below tells you what each guard number leaves behind. It cannot tell you what length you are wearing right now — and that is the only number you actually trim from. Measure the hair on your own chin first, then set the guard from that reading.
Common guard and length chart
Numbered guards are a shortcut, not a measurement. If your trimmer prints millimetres on the comb, that printed number is the length it leaves.
| Guard | Length in mm | Length in inches | How it reads on the skin |
|---|---|---|---|
| No guard / #0 | 0.5–1.5 mm | 0–1/16 in | Skin colour with a shadow over it, no length you can pinch |
| #1 | 3 mm | 1/8 in | Strands stand up on their own, and skin still shows between them |
| #2 | 6 mm | 1/4 in | Strands begin to lie over one another instead of standing apart |
| #3 | 10 mm | 3/8 in | Skin stops showing through when you look at it straight on |
| #4 | 13 mm | 1/2 in | The jaw line reads as shaped rather than shaved |
| #5 | 16 mm | 5/8 in | The chin edge casts its own shadow on the neck |
| #6 | 19 mm | 3/4 in | Volume starts to show from the side, not just from the front |
| #7 | 22 mm | 7/8 in | The beard hangs past the jaw line instead of following it |
| #8 | 25 mm | 1 in | Full cover, and the length begins to hide the chin |
Measure your own length before you cut
Press the zero mark of a ruler against the skin at the front of the chin and read where the longest hair ends. Measure the hair, not the shadow under it.
Take the same reading under the jaw and again at the sideburn. Those three numbers rarely match, and the chin is the one charts quote.
If your beard curls, pull one strand straight between two fingers before you read it. A coil hides length that is genuinely there.
A cloth tape lies flat on a curved jaw more easily than a steel ruler. Keep it against the skin rather than letting it bridge across the chin.
Take the reading twice, a week apart, before you change any setting. One reading inside a growth cycle tells you very little.
No ruler? Use something with a published thickness
Coins, cards and batteries are made to fixed dimensions, so they work as a rough gauge when the tape is missing.
| Anchor | Its size | Lands near |
|---|---|---|
| Bank card | 0.76 mm (spec allows 0.68–0.84 mm) | inside the #0 band |
| Dime | 1.35 mm | inside the #0 band |
| Penny | 1.52 mm | top of the #0 band |
| Quarter | 1.75 mm | just past #0 |
| Nickel | 1.95 mm | just past #0 |
| Two pennies | about 3 mm | the #1 mark |
| Three nickels | about 5.9 mm | just under the #2 mark |
| Six quarters | about 10.5 mm | the #3 mark |
| AAA battery | 10.5 mm across | the #3 mark |
| AA battery | 13.7–14.5 mm across | between the #4 and #5 marks |
Two pennies come to 3.04 mm, which is the #1 mark to within a rounding. Three nickels come to 5.85 mm, just short of a #2.
Six quarters and an AAA battery both measure 10.5 mm, and both land on the #3 mark.
Treat the pocket gauge as approximate. Coins are struck to a tolerance and a card is only specified between 0.68 and 0.84 mm, so this method can be off by a fraction of a millimetre.
Measure again after the cut
Measure again the same way after the cut, instead of trusting how short the beard feels. A reading taken afterwards is the only proof the trim did what you asked.
What the chart is for
Use the chart to line your measured length up with the look you want. It answers what a number means, not what you are wearing.
Once you have a measured length, compare it with the face-shape examples in Beard Styles for Face Shapes.
For how long each of those lengths takes to come in, see how long a beard takes to grow.