A double chin may be a sign of an unhealthy lifestyle, obesity, or too much stress. Most men who have a double chin look for ways to hide it naturally. Although there are many ways to cover up and get rid of a double chin, growing a beard may be the easiest one.
A thick, full-grown beard can easily conceal a double chin, provided it’s not too short. The longer the beard is, the easier your double chin blends in.
You only need to take care of the beard properly to ensure that it becomes thick enough to cover the chin. You can grow it long in the chin area, but make sure to pay attention to grooming and maintenance to avoid looking scruffy.
How Does a Beard Hide a Double Chin?
According to a study on beards and masculinity, women from larger cities preferred men with thick beards. The results show that women also shape the concept of masculinity itself in different nations (Dixson et al. 2017). Having beautiful facial hair is a highly desirable sexual trait that plays a huge role in mate selection.
Another study compared men with beards to men with clean-shaven faces. The results showed that attractiveness scores are high in men with beards, enhancing their dominance and masculinity. The reason behind these findings is that the beard amplifies the craniofacial structure, especially the lower facial features (Dixson et al. 2017).
Improving facial appearance is one reason why men would prefer to grow a beard, but concealing a chin is a great reason for men to grow that facial hair. The first thing you need to assess is what type of beard suits your facial structure. A great beard can either make or break your appearance.
When you want your beard to cover your double chin, you need to focus on beard length. The beard gives your face more definition and, at the same time, gives the illusion that your face has less body fat. If your beard is too short, it will only provide visibility of the fat underneath, and your jaws will lose definition. You can opt to grow your beard thick, and check out some of our tips.
A longer beard allows for the opportunity to hide the upper portion of the neck. This makes people think you have a slimmer face, when in fact, your double chin is hiding freely underneath the beard. Keep in mind that a well-maintained beard makes you more appealing, so you may need to go for a trim every once in a while.
If you’re having problems growing your beard, you can try using minoxidil. It’s a liquid or foam solution that helps increase blood circulation to the hair follicles. You can read more about it here.
Other Ways to Hide a Double Chin
A double chin is usually a sign that you are aging, or you have put on extra weight. Growing a beard is not the only natural way to hide your double chin. Here are creative ways you can hide your double chin.
Chin Exercises
1. Chewing gum
Chewing gum may be the most straightforward chin exercise you will do. It’s as simple as it sounds; you have to open a pack and chew one for several minutes. When you chew gum, you exercise your jaw muscles, and it helps lessens your double chin.
2. Tennis Ball Exercise
Place a tennis ball under your chin then slowly press your chin on it. After a few counts, release your chin slightly. You can do this exercise for ten repetitions. While this won’t get rid of the fat, it will tone the muscles of your neck.
3. Chin Lifts
Make sure that your neck and back are straight, then lift your chin towards the ceiling. Then make a kissing pose while you’re looking at the ceiling. You can do this ten times. Doing this exercise helps strengthen the muscles around the face, and for best results, do this every day. Again, this doesn’t help with fat loss but can tone the muscles and raise the hyoid bone.
4. Focus on Your Platysma
The platysma is a neck muscle that’s essentially a giant sheath that covers your neck and jaw. You will need to stand up with your neck in a straight position, then clench your teeth and move the corners of your mouth in a downward position. Do this for ten seconds and about ten times a day. This exercise may seem like you’re just making a frowning face, but this helps make sure that your neck muscles are getting engaged.
Diet
A double chin is a visible sign that you’ve gained extra weight. By fully accepting this, you’ll know that the main thing that you need to do is lose weight. You can do this by managing your diet and exercising. Keep in mind that diet and exercise will only help if you are confident that your double chin is solely from weight gain. If you think that you have a double chin for as long as you can remember, it may be due to genetics, and it may be difficult to lose it.
For more info on losing weight, check out our article.
Mewing
Correct proper tongue posture with 24/7 commitment for years creates tremendous changes to your facial features. With years of proper mewing, you get forward facial growth and improved chin projection. Check out some mewing before/after photos and some of the scientific background behind mewing.
What mewing does it that it makes the mandible grow forward, therefore affecting the position of the chin and the surrounding tissues. Also, when your tongue is continuously at the roof of your mouth, your maxilla will force the lower jaw to move upwards and the mandible to follow along with it, provided that you’re still growing.
The biggest impact of mewing on the double chin is that it raises your hyoid bone due to the continuous muscle activation required in the neck to keep your tongue up.
However, you have to consider that mewing alone might not be as useful for hiding your double chin. It would help if you paired mewing with other exercises and a healthy lifestyle. For more information about how mewing affects your face, check out this article.
Lipolysis
If you think your double chin will need more than the tips, we just gave you, considering a medical procedure might be your next step.
Lipolysis is the process that helps melt down fat by using heat from a laser or liposuction. The plastic surgeon will develop a plan that will work best for reducing fat on your chin; the treatments may last for 4-6 sessions. Most results are usually visible by 6-8 weeks after, and it’s generally long-lasting unless the patient gains weight.
Mesotherapy
Mesotherapy uses a series of injections to apply different substances on the chin. These substances may be a composition of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and collagen. All of these help in the metabolism of the cells under the chin. After the injection, the doctor might have you perform a series of facial exercises to ensure proper absorption to the skin. The fat eventually eliminates itself via urine.
You should know that one cycle of mesotherapy may involve 20 sessions; however, it might take a month before you have another session. One full cycle of mesotherapy treatment may take a total of six months and results in less fat in the chin and less sagging of the neck area.
If you have a double chin, especially at low levels of body fat, consider the effect of hyoid positioning. I’ve written a whole article about this topic here.
