Trimming the beard

MagicPrime

Does anyone have any tips on keeping the trim lines on facial hair straight and even? I keep my neck shaved up to my jawline (to avoid a neckbeard) with my beard, and dispite being careful I always have to have my barber straighten it up every few weeks because I manage to either miss a big patch or take a chunk out.

bowen

Do you trim in the morning? Move it to the night time, stubble is less noticeable/cared about with a beard so going to the night times isn't a big deal.

I have a hard time shaving/trimming straight in the morning because I'm still half asleep.

Pulvaan

Do you own a beard trimmer? If not, its a good investment.

All I do with mine is trim below the jawline. after a little practice it always comes straight.

Sarcastro

Trimmmmer. Do it. Dooo it.

You can't get good lines with some six bladed razorfield monstrosity. A simple single blade safety razor works semi-okay, but a trimmer and a sure hand will not only tighten up the lines, but allow you to sort of graze the outside thickeness of the beard, cutting off strays and providing a more uniform look.

wasted pixels

The trick I was taught is to press your finger up flush along your jaw, then use that as a guide. But yeah, I also pretty much just wing it, it's easy to eyeball if you do the corners first and work your way in instead of doing the left side and then the right side.

RUNN1NGMAN

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

wasted pixels

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

Honestly, the beard they depict as "all wrong" looks very well groomed and professional. That's just me, though.

Sir Carcass

Yeah, just use some sort of trimmer. If you can't get a straight line with that, you may just have to rely on your barber. I just wing it and it always looks fine. As long as it's roughly even on both sides and tends to taper up with the jawline, it shouldn't look bad.

bowen

wasted pixels wrote: »

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

Honestly, the beard they depict as "all wrong" looks very well groomed and professional. That's just me, though.

I would think that going that far down the neck looks ugly as all hell, slightly under the neck/chin line of your jaw is what I aim for, anything else looks very unkempt or that you're a sasquatch.

RUNN1NGMAN

bowen wrote: »

wasted pixels wrote: »

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

Honestly, the beard they depict as "all wrong" looks very well groomed and professional. That's just me, though.

I would think that going that far down the neck looks ugly as all hell, slightly under the neck/chin line of your jaw is what I aim for, anything else looks very unkempt or that you're a sasquatch.

It's more a problem of using a two-dimensional illustration to represent a three-dimensional object. If you follow the written suggestion (one inch band slightly above your adam's apple) you're good to go. Especially if you have a very defined jawline (little to no jowl between your chin and neck) having your beard stop before that chin/neck border looks kind of weird. If you've got a fat neck that basically starts right underneath your jaw, obviously you have to improvise.

I agree with you that slightly below the chin/neck border is the way to go.

PeregrineFalcon

wasted pixels wrote: »

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

Honestly, the beard they depict as "all wrong" looks very well groomed and professional. That's just me, though.

Agreed, and since I'm an asshole and never agree with anyone (olol) this should count for more.

And consider also the presence of this finely groomed gentleman in their sidebar ad (spoilered for being an ad):

whose facial hair is obviously a style we should all follow.

Gabriel_Pitt

wasted pixels wrote: »

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

I'll also recommend a beard trimmer with an adjustable guard so that the length is uniform.

Also, feel free to let that beard grow a few inches down your neck...most people shave their beard way too high. If you don't believe me, Esquire says so, and they won't do you wrong.

Honestly, the beard they depict as "all wrong" looks very well groomed and professional. That's just me, though.

I'm going to blame the 2d picture, because a beard that does stop at the A line on a real face has never looked good. Pretending that a face looks like an L, you need to grow out your beard partway along the horizontal leg. When I think of all the worst facial hair of the last ten years, there's a good selection of guys who cut it off right at the corner, or even above it.

Smurph

Question:

I have no trouble trimming the beard but I always find myself dreading the endeavor because of the small lake of face-pubes I create in the process. I usually try to throw a paper towel or 2 over the sink to try and catch most of them, but I still always wind up having to wipe down the counter to get them all. How do you guys avoid tedious cleanup- or do you?

RUNN1NGMAN

Smurph wrote: »

Question:

I have no trouble trimming the beard but I always find myself dreading the endeavor because of the small lake of face-pubes I create in the process. I usually try to throw a paper towel or 2 over the sink to try and catch most of them, but I still always wind up having to wipe down the counter to get them all. How do you guys avoid tedious cleanup- or do you?

I have a trimmer from Norelco that actually has a little vacuum that sucks the hairs in. It works, sort of. Easiest option is to unfold a newspaper on the counter over the sink.

Preacher

Smurph wrote: »

Question:

I have no trouble trimming the beard but I always find myself dreading the endeavor because of the small lake of face-pubes I create in the process. I usually try to throw a paper towel or 2 over the sink to try and catch most of them, but I still always wind up having to wipe down the counter to get them all. How do you guys avoid tedious cleanup- or do you?

I trim my beard with a trimmer over the toilet. All you have to do is wipe the rim after you are finished.

Sir Carcass

I just go nuts over the sink, use some toilet paper to wipe everything down into the sink, pick up the majority of it with the toilet paper and flush it (or throw it away), then rinse the small bits down the sink. Takes less than a minute.

Doc

Also don't shave right on your jawline, it makes you look weird.

If you have a full beard, it should extend to roughly an inch above the adam's apple.

Preacher

I think my beard does that Doc, now you have me all paranoid.