Masculinity is on the inside of you for the most part. Masculinity is a combination of mindset, character, behavior, etc. A part of masculinity is on the outside as well. Are you wondering how you can look more masculine? There are a few things you can do, to look more masculine. Some can be done very quickly, some take a little time and effort.
Here are 7 things you can change to look more masculine.
- Clothes
- Accessories
- Physique
- Voice
- Posture
- Body hair
- Facial hair
Table of Contents
1. Clothes
The first thing everyone thinks about is clothes. And you’d be right. How you dress has a massive impact on how you look and feel. Dressing well helps you feel more confident in social situations. It also makes people treat you differently. While you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, people do this unconsciously all the time so use it to your advantage.
Dress for the occasion. Don’t show up in gym wear to a fancy party. Dress at least one step above what is “acceptable” If the occasion calls for jeans and a t-shirt, upgrade to trousers and a button down shirt. Don’t overdo it however. That will just make you look like a try-hard. It’s a difficult balance to get right in the beginning.
The fit and look of the clothes you get is much more important than a brand name and price. Get what is right for you and your wallet. For some decent style tips, check out the AlphaM channel on Youtube.
2. Accessories
Once you’ve got the clothes part down, it’s time to focus on the accessories. While accessories are not as important as clothes in dressing well, they certainly help a lot. It’s important to know which clothes to wear first though.
If you’re dressing like crap, accessories are not going to save you. If you dress well, a few well-chosen accessories can lift you’re whole appearance to a new level.
What are some good accessories for men?
- Watch
- Sunglasses
- Belt
- Bracelet
- Ring
- Tie
- Wallet
- Bag
All these accessories should be used to complete an outfit not to draw attention to themselves. It’s better to go a little understated than screaming for attention. Also make sure they go together. A Velcro wallet combined with a suit and tie is a bad idea.
3. Physique
Take away clothes and accessories and what are you left with? A naked body. Sure, most of the time you won’t be naked but, your physique has a massive impact on how masculine you look. Your physique is still very visible if you’re wearing proper clothes and some parts stick out of your clothes for everyone to see.
Since we want to focus on looking more masculine, let’s see what the general differences between masculine and feminine physiques are and what we can do to look more masculine. Humans are sexually dimorphic. This means that men and women have different physical shapes.
It’s not necessary to get a gym membership. Check out this post on homegymresource.com about how to build your own home weightlifting gym.
Feminine vs. masculine physique
When we look at what the average “ideal” body of men and women look like, we can see that:
- Women have an hourglass figure. (Wide shoulders, narrow waist, wide hips)
- Men have an upside down triangle (Wide shoulders, narrow waist, narrow hips)
For women, the shoulders are roughly the same width as the hips. For men the shoulders are wider than the hips. The waist is narrow for both sexes.
Essential
So what can we do to make our physiques more masculine? First we should focus on the three areas listed below. Those being the shoulders, waist and hips, since they’ll have the biggest impact on your overall look.
Shoulders
So the first thing you can do to look more masculine is to get wider shoulders. Out of the three areas (shoulders, waist, hip), this is the only one you can make significantly bigger by growing the muscle. That’s good news since this is the one area you WANT to make bigger as a man.
Check out this video for a great shoulder workout.
Waist
The second thing you can do is reduce your waist size. No matter if you’re a man or woman, you’ll look better with a smaller waist. Of course there are limits to how small you should go but either way, your waist should be narrower than your hips. Waist size is mainly dependent on body fat levels. Losing fat will reduce your waist size.
Hips
Your hip size is something you can’t do much about. The width of your hips is dependent on your bone structure. There isn’t a whole lot of muscle mass on the sides of your hips that you can influence. If you’ve got a high body fat percentage, you might store some fat on your hips although most men will store fat in the belly and love handle area instead of on the hips.
Want to get that inverted triangle shape? It will require a combination of losing belly fat and building muscle in the shoulders and back. Vince Gironda knew how he could get people to look like that. If you don’t know who he is, check out this page.
Next steps
Besides the three areas listed above, here are three things you can change to make a big visual difference. You want to build some muscle in the three areas you see below. These things won’t make you look like a body builder but, these are the things people can see when you’re wearing a shirt. That means they’re pretty much always visible and you’re getting a lot of bang for your buck when you train these body parts.
Neck
The first one is the neck. Many people, even bodybuilders, forget to train the neck. But what can people see when you’re wearing a shirt and tie? Your neck! A skinny pencil neck makes you look weak. It’s pretty easy to grow a bigger neck and it makes a huge visual difference.
To make neck training a lot easier, you can get a neck harness. It’s cheap and effective. Check the current price now on Amazon.
Traps
The traps are a big muscle group on your back. The part that’s important for your looks in a shirt are the upper traps. This is the triangle that goes from your shoulder to your neck. Growing this muscle gives you a “thicker” appearance up top. This helps with creating the upside down triangle we’re looking for. It’s also a part that your shirt hangs off of, which helps show it off easier than other back muscles.
Lower arms
Almost everyone wants bigger upper arms. But the part that pops out when you roll up your sleeve is your lower arm. Giving them some attention is going to give a nice visual boost to your physique as well.
Other
I personally think almost every man should lift weights in some shape or form. Having a strong body is healthy and good for your confidence. The body parts listed above, are meant to make you look strong and masculine IN CLOTHES. If you want to look good naked, you’ll have to train everything. In the long run that’ll be a better approach anyways.
4. Voice
While your voice is not a part of how you look, it is a part of the first impression you give off. Your voice is a big part of your appearance. Humans are very good at distinguishing tiny variations in voices. The way a voice sounds and is being used is part of non-verbal communication even though a person has to be speaking for a voice to be heard. And we all know that non-verbal communication is very important.
If you want more information about getting a more masculine voice, read this post.
There are a few things that make a voice masculine.
Depth
The bad news: There isn’t too much you can do to change the depth your voice dramatically. Not everyone can have a voice like Barry White or Morgan Freeman. The changes you can make will be relative to what you were born with.
Your voice comes from your vocal cords. You can imagine these as strings on a guitar. The tighter they are, the higher the pitch. Unlike a guitar, you can’t just change how tight your vocal chords are with a single twist.
What can you do?
I’ll go over this in more depth in a future post. For now some quick pointers;
- Keep the muscles around the vocal chords relaxed.
- Breathe from your belly
- Stay hydrated especially when speaking a lot
- Have good posture. Especially head position is important.
- Training your neck muscles potentially helps
- Do voice exercises.
Speed
This is the easiest part of your voice to change. Slow. Down. Your. Speaking. Take your time when you say something. This will make you seem more confident and important. The aforementioned Barry White and Morgan Freeman don’t speak quickly and that only improves the voice they already have.
Many men speak too fast (including me, I’m working on it). This gives the impression to other people that you don’t want to take up too much of their time. Meaning you’re less important than they are.
Or, you feel stressed and “hunted”. Masculine men are the hunters and if they’re hunted, they’re calm and in control of the situation. Talking overly fast gives the impression you’re not in control.
Pitch variation
Pitch variation or cadence is the third part of the puzzle. It’s also something where you really have to be in tune with the situation. With cadence you can underline the intention of what you’re saying.
In many serious situations, reducing the variation will make you seem more serious. Think Clint Eastwood for inspiration.
5. Posture
A masculine man is a confident man. One of the best ways to project your confidence and as a result your masculinity is by having proper posture. Having good posture makes you look and feel more confident. It makes people perceive you as comfortable in your own skin and (unconsciously) higher status.
How you carry yourself has an impact on how you feel and vice versa.
Want to improve your posture? It isn’t easy or a quick fix but this ebook has helped me stand straighter and also have less back and neck pain. Pain can ruin your life and make you look 20 years older than you actually are. Check out the book “forward head posture fix”
What is good posture?
Good posture is when you stand up and you can draw a straight line that crosses your; ears, shoulders, hips, middle of your feet. That line should have a 90 degree angle to the floor.
This is the healthiest position to be in, it will make you look better and will make you slightly taller as an added bonus.
6. Body hair
One of the other things you can play around with is body hair. While this isn’t something that will be commonly visible, it will have a big impact on how you look when you take your clothes off. If you’re shaving every piece of body hair at the moment, think about changing that.
It depends what kind of look you are going for and what kind of body you have.
If you’re ripped and have below +-10% body fat, you probably look better without any hair. Hair will just soften the sharp muscular cuts in that case.
Most people are not below +-10% body fat however. In that case, having some body hair can make you look more “rough”.
The one exception is back hair. Back hair is almost never a good look unless you’re trying to look like a gorilla.
7. Facial hair
One of the quickest things you can do to look more masculine is to let your facial hair grow out. Growing a beard and/or moustache is a surefire way to look more masculine. Women don’t grow beards period.
A few pointers for good facial hair;
- If your beard is patchy, you’re better off without it.
- Not everyone needs a full Viking beard. A stubble or other style might work better for you. A lot depends on your facial structure. Go to a good barber and ask for advice what would look good on you.
- A moustache without a beard is risky. It could make you look very masculine or it could make you look like a creep or even a horrible dictator. Tread carefully.
- Keep it clean. A dirty beard is just nasty.
- Keep it tidy. If unkempt, a beard can get messy quickly. Invest in a good trimmer and/or visit a barber.
- Shave your neck. Going full neckbeard is not a good look.
- Keep your facial hair soft. Many women like the look of the beard but, they’re not a fan of how it feels. A simple beard oil will help.
For more information about outward masculinity, check out these posts:
- 9 Confident masculine mannerisms and body language
- What makes a man masculine?
- How to get a more masculine voice
- 8 things confident men never do.
Interested in becoming more masculine on the inside as well? Check out the masculine mindset.
If you need more help to get the masculine man out of you, Check out the program “Masculine Core”. It’ll help you awaken the masculine that’s waiting inside of you.
Hi there. I’m BetterDaily. I’m a man in his early thirties that likes to travel, ride motorcycles, work out and write. Usually I write about men, things related to masculinity and things men like. Teacher by day, blogger by night.
