How to Trim Your Beard: A Step-by-Step Guide

What if your awesome beard wasn’t living up to its full potential?

It’s one thing to grow a beard out. It’s another thing to trim it to perfection every week.

Wondering how to trim your beard so it looks its best? Keep reading to discover our step-by-step guide.

Washing Up

When it’s time to trim their beard, most men reach right for the razor. However, those guys are skipping a necessary first step: washing the beard.

Washing your beard is important because if you don’t regularly do this, oils will gather in your beard. These oils keep you from getting a good trim–and, if we’re being honest, a greasy beard is pretty nasty!

While there are plenty of specialized beard cleaning products out there, all you really need is a shampoo that won’t dry out your skin. Don’t forget to dry the beard, though, before you start trimming.

Bust Out the Comb

The next step is optional, but we highly recommend it. Before you start trimming, you should comb out your beard.

One simple reason to do this is that it removes tangles from your beard. That makes trimming both easier and less painful for you.

Ideally, you’ll start combing out your beard even when you’re not trimming. Combing makes the beard look thicker and fuller. Plus, it’s practically mandatory if you start using products like beard oil.

The Man in the Mirror

Now, you’re ready to start trimming. You’ll need to choose between scissors/clippers or an electric trimmer (more on this very soon). First, though, you’ll need access to a mirror.

There are certain parts of your beauty routine that you can handle without looking. For example, you can probably brush your hair into a decent shape through sheer muscle memory.

But trimming your beard is on another level. Even a single mistake can ruin the entire look of your beard!

Before trimming, try to find a really large mirror. Alternately, a multi-angle mirror also works to ensure that you don’t miss any important areas.

Matching Face and Beard

This is something of an open secret, but we’ll spell it out anyway: not every beard looks good with every face.

For example, oval faces look better if you have more hair on the cheeks and less hair on the underside of your chin. Rounder faces look better with more hair on the chin and less hair on the cheeks.

All of this boils down to some simple advice: do your homework ahead of time. It’s impossible to sculpt the perfect beard if you don’t know what actually looks good on your face!

Electric or Old School?

Now, you face one of your biggest trimming decisions. Will you be using scissors or an electric trimmer?

Scissors arguably offer a greater degree of control as you trim. However, the process takes a bit longer because you will probably need a comb to help balance out the beard.

Electric trimmers are fast, making them a perfect choice when you’re in a hurry. But it’s easy to make mistakes with electric models, and you may have trouble finding an outlet close to a mirror.

Keep in mind that you may use different tools for different challenges. For example, this stubble trimmer is perfect when you just want a smoother neck and face in the morning.

Neckline Calculations

Speaking of the neck, this area presents one of your greatest shaving challenges. Here it is: you must be able to shave and trim around your neck without messing up your beard.

If you don’t shave enough (or skip it altogether), you get the dreaded “neckbeard” look. And there are few things that are a bigger turnoff than that. But if you shave too much, you can mess up the beard aesthetic you’ve worked so hard for.

Try to tilt your neck down until you can see the crease. Trim along this area until you need to curve around your ears.

It may take some time and experimentation, but you’ll eventually end up with a perfectly symmetrical cut.

Finishing Touches

Let’s say you’ve trimmed the bulk of your beard, including your neckline. However, there are still a few important steps that you should take.

First is your mustache. If you trim your beard but not your ‘stache, it can make the area above your lips look like an unkempt forest.

For this area, we recommend the electric trimmer. Close your mouth, smile, and use the trimmer to clean up the first millimeter above your upper lip.

Second, and finally, don’t forget to rinse your face. This removes any loose hairs while leaving you feeling clean and fancy-free!

Optional Oil

After rinsing your face and beard, there is an optional step you can take. Specifically, you can rub some oil into your beard.

This oil can help to condition your beard. That means it will both look and feel better, which helps you showcase your brand new look.

Some oils also provide an added scent. If you’d like to skip the cologne and rock a fresh scent directly on your face, this is your chance!

Police Your Area

Now, it’s all over but the cleaning. Unfortunately, cleaning the bathroom or other areas after you shave can be quite the annoyance.

The more you trim, the more little hairs will be scattered all around. It’s easy to overlook these hairs, so make sure you have enough light while you’re cleaning.

Some men try to make cleanup easier by trimming and shaving over a trash can. And some cheeky products such as beard bibs make it easier to collect the hair before it can ever gather around your sink.

Whatever your method, cleaning up the annoying hair is a key element of regular beard maintenance!

How to Trim Your Beard: The Final Word

Now you know how to trim your beard. But do you know where to find even more news you can use?

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