Taking care of your beard properly today has never been easier.
There are so many products and accessories available to maintain a healthy looking beard, you just need to understand a few techniques to put it all together.
Regardless if you are just growing your first beard or trying to grab control of that wild mane that extends far below your chin, these beard shaping techniques and tools will allow you to grab control and make a lasting impression with your facial hair.
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The Key Here is Patience
If you want an epic beard, you have to understand that these things take time.
When the hair starts growing, you simply need to resist that urge to style and trim your facial hair.
It is important that you leave the hair alone for the first six weeks so that all the hair has grown in evenly.
This also allows you plenty of time to pick the style you want to live with.
The Right Beard for Your Face Shape
The beard needs to match the shape of your face to have the biggest impact.
During the first month of growth, you will be able to have plenty of time to choose a shape that complements the shape of your face.
Choosing the right shape will allow both you and the beard to look better.
The key thing you are trying to achieve when shaping a beard is the symmetry. How visually appealing your beard will be, depends on the symmetry.
Oval is the shape you are aiming for when sculpting your beard. This is why men with oval faces find it easier to experiment with different beard shapes and lengths on the sides and bottom.
Obviously, the first thing you need to do is to identify your face shape. If you don’t feel confident, ask a professional barber to help you with this.
On the other hand, if you prefer to do it yourself, find something that can help you take the measurements. You are going to measure your cheekbones, forehead, and jawline.
After that, determine the distance between your chin and crown. The longest measurement tells you how is your face shaped.
The next step is to look at your facial features in the mirror and see if there is anything you would like to highlight or maybe draw attention from.
The goal here is to notice everything that you can change when shaping your beard to make your face look more proportionate.
Here is how to shape your beard to compliment any face shape:
1. Round or square face shape
These two face shapes look wider than the others. That means you should shape your beard in a way that will make it look longer.
Balance can be achieved if you keep the sideburns and the cheeks shorter and let the hairs grow gradually longer on the bottom of your chin.
2. Oblong, rectangular and triangular face shape
Men with these three face shapes have a different problem. Their beard should be shaped to give some width to the head.
This can be achieved by leaving the sideburns and cheeks thicker and trimming the beard on the tip of the chin to make it shorter.
Thicker sideburns will make your face look a bit wider, but make sure not to let them grow out too much because you will get a distorted face shape.
Knowing When and How to Trim
When it comes to beard shaping, pruning your beard is essential to maintain that well-groomed look.
Even if you want the beard to grow longer, now is the time to invest in some high-quality stubble trimmers and start mastering the technique of shaping the beard.
Now that all the hairs have grown out, this is the perfect time to start shaping and sculpting your new look.
Before trimming your beard, it would be ideal to wash your facial hair with a specialized, beard soap. However, do not trim it while it’s still wet because you are risking to cut off too much.
After drying your beard, comb or brush it out from cheeks to chin to make it as straight as possible.
This will give you the idea of how long your beard really is, but it will also remove the remains of oil build-ups.
Combing and brushing your beard daily will help you identify the areas that need to be trimmed, but it will also prevent knots and create the appearance of added volume.
Now it’s the time for a beard trimmer. When starting, set the clippers to the highest level to prevent shaving off too much of your beard.
You can easily switch it to lower later if you decide to go shorter. The trimmer should be glided over your beard with light pressure.
For a thinner beard, move the trimmer upward to cut square across your facial hair.
For a thicker beard, the trimmer should go downward, in the natural hair growth direction.
No matter the shape you want to achieve, the most important parts of your beard that need to be trimmed are your cheek line, neckline, and mustache.
How to Shape Your Beard Cheek Lines?
Almost every man’s beard is thicker on the chin than on the cheeks. Shaping your beard by starting from the cheeks is logical at this point.
This will ensure that your facial hair comes out more even without going shorter than needed on the sides.
Once appropriately shaped, cheek lines don’t require much maintenance. The only thing you will later have to do is cut any strays that appear up and away from the natural cheek line.
The only rule that applies is that beard cheek lines should be shaped by preserving the balance between tidiness and volume.
How to Shape Sideburns?
Sideburns are often the area most men neglect when shaping the beard.
It can be challenging to shape and trim them because they can either be the extension of your hair or the beginning of your beard.
As always when you start trimming your beard, cut off just a little bit of facial hair and then cut more. When it comes to beard, it is usually better safe than sorry.
Your sideburns should be shaped to look like a transition from your hair to your beard. When shaping them, you should take into consideration your hairstyle.
Men with short hairstyles should blend the sideburns with the hair to look like they disappear at the top of the ears.
Those with longer hair should let the sideburns grow above and below the ears, but keep them clean and neat.
How to Shape Your Neckline?
Trimming the neckline is a very important part of beard shaping process.
The properly shaped neckline will make your beard look more natural. On the other hand, if you don’t pay enough attention to it, it may look unkempt and sloppy, and ruin your overall appearance.
Shaping the neckline begins when you get a clear idea of where you need to start cutting off. Experts suggest that the neckline should be at about 1 to 1.5 inches above the midpoint of the neck.
To determine where your neckline should be rest two fingers just above your Adam’s apple. Everything below your upper finger should be shaved.
After that imagine a line that forms the letter U shape when you look from one ear to another.
Shape your neckline to look like that but be careful not to start it too high up or your lower jaw will look like it lacks coverage.
To finish just cut the remaining coarse hairs down to the skin by going with the grain, not the opposite. This way, the unwanted growth will take more time to grow back in.
If you are among the men who prefer fading the neckline, you can do that instead.
Beard trimmer should be set two settings lower than the actual length of your beard. If you are not secure enough, you can go with longer settings first and cut more later.
After that, reduce the setting in half and trim halfway into the first pass to create graduation in length.
Neckline fading is not recommended for men with long beards because a proper neckline would work better for them. Also, men who are just starting the whole process of beard growing should let the facial hairs grow in for a month before fading the neckline.
If you fade it before that time, you may not achieve a perfect fade because there won’t be enough hairs to form a contrast.
Depending on your growth, you should trim your neckline every week or two.
How to Trim a Mustache?
A mustache is another part of the beard that needs maintenance, but it is often overlooked.
The usual misconception is that over time the mustache will simply blend in with the rest of the beard. However, if not trimmed properly, a mustache can ruin the perfect shape of your beard.
The length of the mustache can be determined in the same way as the length of your beard. After washing and drying the mustache, you should use the beard comb to identify the true length.
A properly shaped mustache shouldn’t cover your upper lip. The area around your lips is more curved than the rest of your face, which makes it harder to use clippers when trimming it.
Beard scissors are the best tool to use in this case. The line of your lips is the line you should follow when shaping your mustache.
This sounds easier in theory, but in reality, it can be a bit tricky. Cutting hair by hair is essential to avoid mistakes and a squared-off look of your mustache.
The area around your soul patch can be trimmed with clippers which have a high-level guard, once you cut off the longer hairs with beard scissors.
Cleaning the base where your mustache starts to grow is the final touch. It can be done with clippers, and if your cheek lines are shaped well, you will find it pretty easy to achieve.
Keep Your Beard Sharp All Day
Once you’ve shaped your beard the way you want it to look, you are going to want to keep it that way.
Good beard balm or wax will do the trick and hold your beard and mustache in place while making them soft and hydrated.
Make sure your beard is clean and dry before applying the balm. A dime-size of the balm, evenly distributed with a beard comb is enough to keep the shape of your beard all day long.
Washing the Beard Regularly
During the early stages of the beard growth, washing the hair is extremely important.
The skin cells are easily aggravated and will cause that incessant itching, so scrub the beard a few times each week to allow the hair to fill out and maintain the designed shape.
Utilize a beard wash to remove contaminants that could be causing the itching while keeping the hair clean. Pat dry with a towel to avoid frizz developing.
Always make sure to keep your freshly shaped beard moisturized and rinse all loose hairs or dead skin remains. Not only this way you will prevent beard itch, but you will also avoid the dryness, and help your beard stay in perfect shape.
Using the Beard Oil
Beard oil is definitely your friend regardless of which stage of development the hair may be.
When it comes to beard shaping, nothing to will help maintain the look better than the right beard oil.
They condition the hair and allow you to style it more easily once you have chosen the shape that matches your face.
Beardoholic Premium Beard Oil
Training Your Beard
Now that you have chosen the shape of the beard, to keep it looking that way each day you have to regularly trim certain areas each day to maintain the desired look.
Begin by running a beard comb or beard brush through all your facial hair to get it in line and train them to flow in a certain direction.
A soft hold styler will help hold the hair if you are going for a longer look, allowing you that extra sculpting power.
Feeding Your Beard
In order to maintain a healthy looking beard, you need to feed your beard.
The beard not only relies on fats and proteins, it thrives on vitamins too. Incorporate more milk, nuts, meats, and leafy greens into your diet.
Good To Know: 10 Must Know Foods That Promote Beard Growth
A beard supplement will provide the hair follicles everything they need to help the facial hair grow healthy and strong.
Take good care of your beard along this journey and it will help you to look your manliest.
A little extra care will go a long way when it comes to beard shaping.
Photos from: gstockstudio © 123RF.com and improvisor © 123RF.com.
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