Whether you've got the burly facial locks of a lumberjack or are dealing with the patchiness of puberty, these tips will help you on your way to becoming an expert in at-home beard maintenance.
First and Foremost, Don't Go It Alone!
Treat yourself to a professional beard trim! A stylist's perspective is so valuable when it comes to facial hair. The right barber will be able to guide you on your beard journey; educating you on your beard's various textures, growth patterns, and styles that will suit your individual face shape and needs. This initial beard trim will provide you with the template to follow moving forward. I highly suggest building a relationship with a barber and incorporating their expertise into your beard routine to keep you on track. Most of my clients get a "beard reset" every 2-3 weeks. The timeline is different for everyone, but I would recommend aiming to visit at least every 5-6 weeks to refresh your shape.
The Basics of Touching Up Your Beard At Home
Once you've established your beard goals and guidelines, maintenance is simple! Remember that less is typically more when it comes to trimming your beard at home. We've all seen and some have experienced the horrors of an at-home beard trim gone wrong. "Just a little bit more off from this side and it'll even out... oops ok just a little shorter on that other side now too..." WHOOPS bald spot... and suddenly you're babyfaced. Save yourself, don't be a victim to over-trimming!
Line Up & Edging
Tackle the easiest portion first. This includes getting rid of any hairs growing outside of your guidelines on your neck, cheeks, and lip. This step is pretty straightforward, but that doesn't mean it can't go wrong! It can be tough to see where your lines fall while you're trying to navigate using the mirror, and nobody wants to end up with a chin strap in 2023. Use these tips to make sure you get it right! Remember, this is just for general maintenance and the goal is tidying up, not creating a masterpiece of perfect angles.
Neckline
The neckline can be a particularly tough spot to see in the mirror. Some find it helpful to utilize the senses and find that happy medium between sight and touch to find the sweet spot. For those less coordinated, leave yourself some "bumpers." I tell my clients to aim for 1/4 to 1/2 inch below the jawline. Aiming for a specific distance as opposed to following a shape can relieve a lot of pressure, not to mention leave you some extra wiggle room to ensure you don't end up looking like the lead singer of a Nu Metal band. A lower neckline is much more forgiving than one that was taken up too high.
Cheek Lines
Depending on what you're working with, the cheek lines can be super simple or a road to disaster. Keep in mind that you do not have to aim for a perfectly sculpted straight line!! In fact, most people don't even have the beard density to allow it, and thats OK! It's very common for beard hair to be thinner and more sparse on the cheeks. Similar but opposite of the neckline tip, aim higher on this one! If you've any experience tweezing eyebrows, you know the difference that just one tiny hair can make. Although there's typically more real estate to work with here, you are still in danger of becoming a member of Limp Bizkit. Take your time cleaning up the runaway hairs higher up on the cheek and just do your best to leave the cheeks as full as you can. Don't shoot for perfection here, just a little dusting.
Side Burns
Ideally you leave them alone in between barber visits, but if you absolutely have to clean them up, use caution. These tiny demons are often made up of a messy blend of hair from both your head and your beard, which are completely different textures. My best advice to you is to keep it light and trim as little as possible. It's very easy to cut too much off and create a gap between your hair and beard. I often discourage use of clippers on the sideburn area unless you have a thick beard. Instead, I would pull out the scissors and lightly trim the wild hairs while combing them outwards. Leave this one to the professionals if you want them to be properly blended.
Moustache
The hair of the moustache is often finer than the rest of the beard. If you're looking to get rid of some bulk or shape things up, I again would suggest leaving it be for the most part, until a professional can get to it. If you're sick of having all of your meals with a side of lip hair, use your trimmers to line the bottom of the moustache up with your top lip. A good tip here is to aim for just below the lip line to avoid taking it too far up. Little room for error here.
Trimming the Bulk
Now that we've got our line work down, we can advance to shaping up and trimming the thicker portions. The most important advice I have for working on your beard is to frequently take a step back from the mirror and look at the BIG PICTURE. Most mistakes are a result of being too focused in on one area. That, and trying to use the same technique for every section of the beard. Beards are as unique as the hair on your head, complete with tiny sections of different colors, textures, densities, and growth patterns (many beards even have cowlicks). Attempting to "one size fits all" your beard could potentially lead to disaster. Think of your beard as a garden hedge, imagining the way that you would trim each individual branch to create the overall shape.
-Tips for Clipper Work-
Follow the Grain and Bevel Outward!
When working with clippers, always keep them positioned in the same direction that the hair grows. This ensures that only the excess hair is being trimmed and reduces the chances of creating patches over thinner areas. The exception to this rule is if you're going for a stubble look. In that case, by all means use your guards against the grain. Another common mistake I see in clients is being too heavy-handed with their clippers. Try to avoid making contact with your skin unless your beard is short enough to require it. Remember that you're trimming your beard, not your face. The proper technique for this is to keep a soft grip and position the guard just slightly beyond the cheek, as far as the edge of your beard goes. Slowly move the clippers in the direction the hair is growing, keeping in mind that the direction will change as you move downward towards the jaw, especially towards the chin area. To avoid taking the ends in too far, I suggest beveling the clippers just slightly outward at the end of each section. At the very end of the beard ends, you can bevel in the opposite direction towards the face to round out the edges.
Take It Slow, One Section At a Time
Starting just below the sideburns, utilize the above technique. Slowly work your way from the cheeks, forward to the curve of your jaw, and then finally downward to the chin area, following the hair pattern as you go. Your clippers should slowly and smoothly be changing direction throughout the trimming process. Remember to pay attention to the distance between your clipper guard and your skin, you should not feel the clippers heavily on your face, if at all.
Once you've gotten the movement down and feel more comfortable, you'll be able to bust this out in seconds, but as you're getting the feel of the clippers and different methods, take your time! Take frequent steps back from the mirror to check out the shape. Comb and fluff your beard throughout the process. Go at your own pace, Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.
Cleaning Up the Clean Up
After doing some of the heavy lifting with trimmers and clippers, comb through your beard and give a fluff, however you would normally wear it. Go back through with scissors and clean up any flyaways or smaller sections you may not have been confident enough to attempt with clippers. It's important to keep in mind that you will never get every flyaway. Beard hairs have a mind of their own, so don't obsess over the small stuff as long as you can tidy up the majority. If you have an issue with flyaways or a more dry texture, I highly suggest incorporating a beard balm into your daily beard routine. This will help lock in moisture and add a little weight to keep the flyaways and frizz at bay.
The Takeaway:
Start With a Professional Consultation- take the time to learn about your beard.
Learn the Proper Technique- stick with the grain and keep the movements light.
Less is More- The less you take off, the more you have left to work with.
Focus on the Big Picture- Take frequent steps back to check symmetry.
Invest in Your Beard- Time to get it right, and a little money to get some nice products/tools.
Trimming your beard can be a daunting task when you're new to the game, or even if you're seasoned and just never learned the proper way to do so. I hope that these basics will help some of you get started on your beard journeys so that you can learn how to keep yourself looking good in between trips to your stylist.
Stay bearded and good luck, my furry faced friends!
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