Like all of the descendants of One Direction, Zayn Malik has a legendary Internet following. His hair and beard, among other things, are a big part of his appeal. And admittedly, Malik, who is half Pakistani and half English, does have an excellent head of hair and a strong grasp of the power of a little bit of scruff. But recently he’s been messing around with his natural good looks with mixed results. First he dyed his hair gray, which was maybe more ‘grammable than it was actually cool, and now he’s sporting a new, equally Internet-inspired look: a platinum-topped step haircut and a grown-out beard. It's not bad, but there’s one nit-picky way it could be better—if the transition between the buzzed section of his haircut and his beard were a little more seamless. Because if you’re going to bring two grooming trends together on your head, they should look like friends, not enemies.

If you’re sporting a haircut that’s buzzed at the bottom like this, you want to make sure your beard doesn’t get too bushy where it meets your sideburns. A barber can fade this out for you so the transition isn’t too harsh. (Your sideburns should also be long enough to reach your beard in the first place.) The other thing your barber will do, which is why it’s worth visiting him regularly, is make sure your overall beard-to-hair ratio is in check and that the framing of your haircut and beard is nice and crisp. When everything gets fuzzy around the edges, it can make you look like you’ve just emerged from a month-long Netflix binge. Probably not what you’re going for.

As for Malik, we trust he’ll be visiting his hairstylist and colorist in a matter of days. He’s got to stoke the flames of his following by switching things up regularly and, let's not forget, the man is 22-years-old and doesn't work in an office. He has every right to look like a human Tumblr.

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