Beard Advice

[DamnthePants]

I have been letting my face grow out now for at least two maybe three months with out touching anything. I think its time I start to cut back the brush a little. The only problem is I dont know what to do with it. I want something original and creative--not just the same old look that the psudo-men of the highschool I live and work near wear...



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any advice?

[ohiopiper]

From one fellow beard to another!

Actually, I trimmed mine down to a goatee a few years ago because i kept getting oil and grease in it from work.

Here's what I'd do, if it were me:

Trim the top of the beard, on your cheeks, to make a nice even line. No straggler hairs on the cheeks. Then do the same under the jaw line, get rid of the straggler hairs on the neck. Don't shorten it, just trim the top and bottom edges to clearly define it.

Comb out the length of it. Not to style it, but to make it look neat. An unkempt beard puts people off, but even a belt-buckle length beard is all good if kept fairly neat.

Figure out what you want to do with the hair. Just keep it "regular", maybe put a tied string in it (don't laugh, I've seen it and it didn't look too bad), I've seen guys wax a moustache and then split the beard with the same wax. You could always dye it. My own Dad has a rather striking beard. His hair is black, but his beard is naturally red. When he was young and self concious about it, he used my mothers mascara to dye it black. Said he wuit doing that when he ruined most of his shirts with black mascara!

I admit to being a bit boring with my own beard. I grow it quite a bit longer than most guys do a goatee, but other than that it's pretty average.

[xman]

[Chas]

Hi DamnthePants,

What does your girlfriend think? Her opinion is the most important after all.

Regards

Chas

[Antonio]

I have to trim mine, I look like the Taliban... LOL

[Mike_Oettle]

Hi, Damnthepants – having been bearded since I was 21 I feel I have some useful advice.
Firstly, your beard needs to be washed daily (I do it when I shower).
Ohiopiper recommends combing it, but I have always found this problematic.
I use a good, firm hairbrush (the same one I use on the top of my head).
I brush it from the back (up the neck), to clear any tangles, and then down in front and at the sides.
When it was first growing I used to soften it with hot water, and then add a bit of hair cream. When the itching stopped, I found that the hair cream was still useful, as it felt very dry without that extra bit of moisture.
When I first grew my beard it was rather patchy: moustache, goatee and muttonchops. But in time the gaps disappeared.
Chas asked what your girlfriend thought of it. Well, I had no trouble finding girlfriends with mine. One of them began suggesting that I take it off, and I told her: It’s me with the beard, or not at all.
A bit harsh, perhaps. I also told her to quit smoking. She must have been pretty smitten, because she accepted both ultimatums. We were married the next year, and are still married, 34 years later.
She has asked down the years that I have the beard trimmed. My solution was to get her hairdresser (whose husband is bearded) to trim it when I had my hair cut.
The same woman still cuts my hair and beard, 31 years later, but I try to have it done only once a year.
For my son’s wedding in April I had to accept a fairly short trim, and will have to repeat the performance for my daughter in December.
But I have told her that I want it looking more like Dumbledore’s beard, or Gandalf’s, by Christmas 2011.
I have noticed that a lot of men shave around the edges of their beards.
One uncle of mine kept a moustache and goatee, and only shaved the rest of his face once a week.
But I find these adaptations fussy, as well as risky. If you trim only so much one week, you might find yourself trimming a bit more the next. Or worse, you might take off too much on the one side, and have to take the same off on the other, too.
Much more convenient not to use the razor at all.
Regards,
Mike

[Cygnus]

It's interesting that so many people talk about the women in their lives asking them to shave. I have shaved my beard once in the time I've been married and my wife refused to kiss me until it grew back (she said it felt too much like kissing another man).
Mike's recommendations are all excellent, but I'll add that moustache wax is a wonderful thing, both for style and for keeping longer hair out of your mouth!
As for ideas, here's a link to a blog about beard styles; there are quite a few options! If you're not sure you can trim it to shape yourself, do like Mike suggested and find a good barber to do it for you.

Best of luck to you AND your beard!

[Mike_Oettle]

Cygnus, my hat is off to your wife.
I wish my grandmother had been like that. When she married my grandfather, he had a moustache. But she never liked it (I suppose she tolerated it because her father had a moustache and goatee), and when my father was about six, he walked into the bathroom one morning and did a double-take.
There, standing in front of the mirror, was a man shaving. He looked familiar, but my dad couldn’t place him. He said out aloud: “I didn’t know Uncle George had come to visit” – then realised that it was his own father!
I have clear recollections of my grandmother cutting my grandfather’s hair short, and snipping the hairs growing out of his ears and nose, as well as his eyebrows!
She didn’t exactly approve when I grew my beard!
Regards,
Mike

[Chas]

It's interesting that so many people talk about the women in their lives asking them to shave. I have shaved my beard once in the time I've been married and my wife refused to kiss me until it grew back (she said it felt too much like kissing another man).

My point exactly - your wife had an opinion and she acted upon it. Although I have been a moustache wearer for 40 years now, I am never going to kiss DamnthePants, so my opinion really doesn't count.

Regards

Chas

[mull]

For inspiration, try looking at old photos from the 1860's or so. Especially soldiers then had some awsome and very unique looks. Much better than the bland gotees that are still too common today.