Jump to:
One of the most significant aspects of beard grooming entails learning how to shape a beard. Cultivating a beard style that suits you and the shape of your face is integral to maintaining a clean and stylish-looking beard. Read on for a step-by-step guide to shaping your beard.
Shaping a Beard: A Summary
The following article will discuss beard shaping, a form of beard styling meant to ensure a beard doesn’t grow haphazardly, resulting in an untidy look.
These steps include:
- Determining your preferred beard shape
- Shaping the beard
- Shaping the neckline
- Trimming the mustache
- Grooming the beard
Maintaining an appropriately shaped beard is challenging for many men, regardless of whether they recently started growing the beard or have a full-grown beard. The reason is that shaping a beard requires skill, patience, and a willingness to experiment.
How to Shape a Beard in 5 Easy Steps
The first step of shaping your beard is identifying the shape of your face, which can be rounded or angular, to help you define the beard shape and length.
Next, trim your beard and mustache to remove stray facial hairs, then define the neckline. Finally, you need to maintain a regular beard grooming schedule. Read further for a detailed explanation of each step.
1. Determining Beard Shape
Determining the shape of your beard relies on understanding your face’s symmetry. The most common face shapes are rounded and angular though other subcategories fall under them. The following is a guide on beard shaping if you have a:
Rounder Face
Rounder faces consist of a rounded jawline or rounded cheekbones with the length and the width of the face being equal or the face being slightly longer than it is wide.
Other round faces include oval faces, which are long, narrow, with rounded, somewhat jawlines, and oblong faces, which resemble oval faces but have slightly sharper angles.
To avoid drawing attention to the cheekbones, cut the beard on the cheeks and sideburns closer to the skin. To draw attention to the chin and jawline and away from the cheekbones and forehead, allow the beard around the chin to grow long.
Angular Face
Angular faces consist of straighter jawlines and cheeks and pointed chins, with the length of the face being more defined than its width.
Other types of angular faces include triangle faces with wider foreheads and cheeks and small pointed chins and diamond faces with smaller foreheads and chins and wide cheekbones.
Suppose you have such a face; ensure the beard on your cheeks and sideburns are bushy, which will give your face volume and prevent people from focusing on your straight cheeks.
2. Trimming the Beard
You’ll need a fine-tooth beard comb and a trimmer. You can also use scissors with the comb for trimming. However, this technique requires skill to achieve a consistent beard length.
Use the comb to stroke your beard away from your face and ensure you comb your entire beard in one direction. After brushing, determine the beard size and how much you need to trim off.
Cut Using Beard Trimmer
If you have a voluminous beard and want to trim off a lot of hair, use the beard trimmer while stroking upwards against the flow of your beard to remove the desired amount of beard uniformly.
However, if you need to slightly reduce the length of the beard, use the trimmer while stroking downwards in adherence to the beard flow.
When trimming, begin with the cheeks to achieve better length uniformity and apply minimal pressure and slight hand motions to avoid cutting off more than expected and cutting yourself.
Trimming Sideburns
Sideburns link your hair and beard; thus, it is vital to achieving a seamless transition. Use a fading technique whereby depending on which has more length, your head hair or your beard, you can cut the hair slightly as it approaches the shorter end until it blends in.
Read Next: How to Trim a Beard: Step-by-Step Guide
3. Shaping the Neckline
Having a beard that covers the neck contributes to an untidy look. Trim your beard regularly to ensure it does not go below the neckline. The neckline for your beard is above your Adam’s apple.
If you are having difficulty defining the neckline, place the middle and index finger above your Adam’s apple, and the top of whichever finger is up is your natural neckline. After defining the neckline, please pick up your trimmer and place it at the edge of the neckline.
Then proceed to trim, moving downwards towards Adam’s apple to avoid cutting your beard at the bottom of your chin. Proceed to do that around the neck and neckline to achieve a consistent cut.
4. Trimming the Mustache
Your mustache shouldn’t have a dense overhang covering your mouth. You do not want it to look excessively bushy and become unhygienic since it can trap food particles and liquids.
Therefore, you should use a beard clipper to cut long mustache hairs covering the mouth. Then using the clippers or scissors, trim slightly above the upper lip such that there is some space between where the mustache ends, and the lip begins.
5. Grooming the Beard
The beard grooming process is the daily hygiene routine you should apply to ensure your beard remains healthy. You will need a beard shampoo, beard oil or balm, a beard comb, and a pair of clippers for effective grooming.
Proceed to do the following steps:
- Washing. Wet the beard with some water, apply some shampoo, and then thoroughly scrub the beard to ensure your reach deep into it. When done, rinse the beard and dry it using a towel.
- Comb. When dry, comb out the beard to remove loose hairs.
- Shape the outline. Using a pair of clippers, trim off any beard hairs outside the bounds of your preferred outline. The outline should not be above the cheeks to avoid having a furry-looking face.
- Apply beard oil. After achieving the desired shape and size, apply some beard oil or beard balm. The oil/balm helps moisturize your beard, contributing to a healthier, fuller beard with a rich color.
- Brush the beard. Finally, brush the beard to ensure it looks tidy and removes knots.
However, it is advisable to wash your beard using shampoo only once or twice a week because using shampoo daily contributes to dryness and itching, undermining beard growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sjale/Shutterstock
Some commonly asked questions relating to beard shaping include:
How far down the neck should a beard go?
Your beard should not go below your Adam’s apple. The point where your jaw and neck meet just above Adam’s apple is ideally the limit of your beard.
How long does it take to grow a full beard?
The growth rate of beards varies from one person to another depending on genes, testosterone levels, and grooming habits. However, the average time to grow a full beard is around two to five months.
How do I fill a patchy beard?
The best way to fill in a patchy beard is to allow it to grow. However, you can help fill in patchy beards with effective grooming methods like rubbing on beard oils.
When should you start shaping your beard?
On average, men require at least four to five weeks before they attain substantial beard growth, which they can use to evaluate growth patterns and determine appropriate care.
Should your mustache be thicker than your beard?
You should determine the thickness of your mustache based on the type of beard you are growing. If you have a beard covering your chin and your cheeks, they should have a similar thickness to the mustache. If you have a short goatee, the mustache should be thicker, while a long goatee requires a thinner mustache.
So, How Do You Shape a Beard?
The first task is knowing the shape of your face since it will help determine the length of your beard on your cheeks and chin. Then ensure you regularly trim and groom your beard and mustache and define the neckline. Happy shaping!