Gentlemen, tell me about beards.

[Boozahol_Squid_P.I]

1. A week should get you to the point where you’re obviously on the road to bearddom, and not ‘Guy Who Forgot to Shave’. It takes me about a month to go from clean shaven to reasonable looking beard.

2. An electric razor is really the only way to go here: using scissors to trim your beard takes forever.

3. I recommend finding the hollow right behind your chin, and drawing a line from there to the bottom corner of your jaw. The ‘get a barber to do it, and follow his lines’ works well, too.

[3acresandatruck]

@Tripler

1. I reckon most guys need a good couple of weeks to grow a decent beard, but how long is the average? And when you get to that point. . .
2. . . . how do you trim it? I’ve been using a razor just to clean up around the fledgling ‘William T. Riker’ thing, but how do you trim it when it gets a little longer?
3. At which point underneath your chin do you clean up–i.e. where on the neckline is considered ‘fashionable’ to clean shave underneath your beard.

1. It’s been there for seven years, and it’s still kind of scraggly. But it gets the way it is now in about 3 weeks.
2. From late fall till the beginning of spring, I just let it go. This time of year it’s trimmmed with electric clippers using the #3 attachment.
3. under the chin, I just keep it off my neck

[Tool_of_the_Conspiracy]

@beowulff

I had a beard for 18 years. I find that being clean-shaven is actually less work, since you still have to shave to keep your beard neat. I used an electric trimmer to keep my beard short, but it’s easy to let is creep longer and longer by accident. It’s also really easy to nick it, and make yourself look a little funny until it grows back…

You only need to shave if you care about your appearance. I don’t care, so I get mine trimmed when I get a haircut (using the same clipper guard for the beard as for the sides of my head), and let it grow the rest of the time (unless you count idly chewing on it).

[Cluricaun]

It’s a beard at the point that other people start referring to your look as “your beard” and not “you must be an alcoholic”. The longest I’ve ever let mine go in the last decade or so is about two weeks, which is enough time for me to be rocking a very full beard. I also do the neck where it feels right and the cheeks at my natural demarcation point of good facial hair vs. odd stragglers.

After two weeks though I usually shave the whole thing off because my girlfriend rates beards slightly below accidentally peeing a bit on the bathroom floor in terms of things she likes about me.

[GameHat]

This is the only reference you will ever need.

May I suggest the “Hulihee”?

[lobotomyboy63]

You can use the sideburn trimmer on an electric razor for touchups.

[Autolycus]

I think it goes without saying that neck hair is not in style.

[Tripler]

@GameHat

This is the only reference you will ever need.

May I suggest the “Hulihee”?

Oh man, that is awesome! I plan on taking a before/after picture or two tomorrow. I’m thinking more along the lines of a ‘chin curtain’ for tomorrow–we did pass a lot of Mennonites while driving to visit friends in Indiana.

Plus, I can put on a wool shirt and suspenders and wander the neighborhood like “Mose” from The Office.

Tripler
“We’re completely ‘wireless’ until I can find where Mose hid the wire.”

[Caractacus_Pott]

@GameHat

This is the only reference you will ever need.

May I suggest the “Hulihee”?

Oh my gawd! If I don’t comb it, I have a “French Fork.” With the white stripes running down it, I jokingly call it “the Bin Laden.” As for trimming, I just let the seat belt, jacket zippers, and pen clipped to chest pocket do the job. Edging the neck, what is that of which you speak? No one can see it so I don’t bother with it.

Oh, yeah, the itching does eventually go away. With me, it started after about 3 weeks and lasted only a couple weeks. It was well worth the scratching. If you let the chin spinach get long and it gets dry, try using hair conditioner on it, then move onto hair creme if it’s unruly. Scent can be problematic for these since you wear them right under your nose. Garnier Fructis Smoothing Milk* works well and doesn’t keep its scent after you leave the shower. I’m still looking for hair creme (like Brylcream); the one I like has an extremely strong fragrance.

• I do not work for nor receive any financial renumeration from Garnier or any other hair care product company.

[Triskadecamus]

I don’t trim.

Once every few months I whack the bottom few inches off straight across.

Shampoo, and condition, just like it was hair. The itching subsides when the ends quit touching your skin.

I have to clip off the parts of the mustache that get caught in my mouth.

Takes me a month or so from clean-shaven to the last of the “growing a beard” questions. It’s been fifteen years since the last time.

Tris

[Tripler]

Well, I did it. Here’s a link.

I could only go for a week, but I figured I’d go for a ‘Phineas J. Fogg’ for a little bit. Next time, I’m letting the muttonchops go longer.

Thanks for the help, fellas!

Tripler
I’ve subscribed to this thread for future reference.

[chaoticbear]

@Tripler

Well, I did it. Here’s a link.

I could only go for a week, but I figured I’d go for a ‘Phineas J. Fogg’ for a little bit. Next time, I’m letting the muttonchops go longer.

Thanks for the help, fellas!

Tripler
I’ve subscribed to this thread for future reference.

Weird! You look just like me except with dark hair (and a few pounds slenderer, I think).

I’ve found my Dopergängel.

[Nawth_Chucka]

@Tripler

Well, I did it. Here’s a link.

sigh Isn’t he just dreamy? Truth be told, he’s dreaming in the next room and I can’t sleep.
I have to admit **really ** liking the beard. It gave his face a look of softness and depth that he just can’t have working for Uncle Sam every day. It was fun to scritch it, too. I guess that’s one more thing to look forward to when he leaves the Air Force someday!

[Princhester]

I’m sure Tripler won’t mind if I slightly hijack here, while I’ve got the attention of bearded people. I’ve had a beard for about the last 8 years, and I trim it using a trimmer as many above do.

What do you do about the mess made when you trim? It’s not like shaving: little trimmings go everywhere, and no matter how well I try to clean up, Mrs P is always giving me a hard time about finding little hair bits in every nook and cranny in the bathroom. I trim over the bathroom sink. I lay newspaper down which catches most of it, but even still, cleaning up after is the worst part of the job. In fact, beard trimming itself is quick and easy and even slightly satisfying in some way. The mess and clean up business is what I dread.

Anyone got a better way?

[Kuboydal]

I throw my shower towel over the sink, faucets and everything. When I’m done I just fold it up and empty it outside. Then I’ll damp the towel under the faucet and wipe up the stray hairs. This system works and causes fewer plumbing issues. I like to think of all the wee birdies using my follicles as bedding.

[Chimera]

@Princhester

Anyone got a better way?

Obviously you and Mrs. Princhester do not have pets, or a little hair here and there wouldn’t bother you anymore. Is she bothered by random body hair in the bathroom and other places? Because it’s not like the stuff is permanent.

Kuboydal might have the best solution for your needs.

[Princhester]

@Chimera

Is she bothered by random body hair in the bathroom and other places?

'course not. That couldn’t be blamed solely on me.

[Santo_Rugger]

@Rocketeer

I trim just aft of the jawline, so the underside of my jaw and my neck are clean-shaven. Sort of like Abe Lincoln. You want it to look like you have a strong and manly chin, not like you’re standing chin-deep in a shrubbery.

I don’t like the way my chin looks, so I leave about an finger width under the chinbone. I just follow the contours of my face, though, while leaving a 2" hedge of the end of my chin. Seems to work for me.

@Kuboydal

I throw my shower towel over the sink, faucets and everything. When I’m done I just fold it up and empty it outside. Then I’ll damp the towel under the faucet and wipe up the stray hairs. This system works and causes fewer plumbing issues. I like to think of all the wee birdies using my follicles as bedding.

This.

[Max_Torque]

@Tripler

1. I reckon most guys need a good couple of weeks to grow a decent beard, but how long is the average? And when you get to that point. . .

2. . . . how do you trim it? I’ve been using a razor just to clean up around the fledgling ‘William T. Riker’ thing, but how do you trim it when it gets a little longer?

3. At which point underneath your chin do you clean up–i.e. where on the neckline is considered ‘fashionable’ to clean shave underneath your beard.

Well, most of these have already been answered quite fully, but I might as well add my voice to the throng:

1. It took me close to four weeks; apparently my facial hair takes its time. Basically, I let myself get scruffy at work for a week and a half, then neglected shaving for two weeks over Christmas vacation. Then…

2. I went out and bought a trimmer. My first was a Norelco, which worked fine until the battery started going flaky on me. I’ve been through several trimmers since then, and for the past couple of years (the longest I’ve had a single trimmer) I’ve used a Wahl, this model to be precise. Wahl makes awesome trimmers. Go to a barber shop and look at the trimmers they use; I bet 9 out of 10 times, they’ll be Wahl. Well-made and darn near bulletproof.

Anyway, I bought the trimmer, went home, and started sculpting my scruff, very slowly nibbling away at the edges, because you can’t put it back once it’s gone. The initial sculpting was a slow process, but you don’t want to rush it. What I ended up with, essentially, was a straight line around just under my jawline, with a little extra left under my chin, and I cleaned up my cheeks. Then, I trimmed the overall beard to an even length with the guard, and I shaved the bare areas on my cheeks and neck with a regular razor. Even when you don’t have much hair, it looks respectable when you’ve sculpted it into a good “beard” shape. I went with the full beard for around 4-5 years, then fully razored off the cheeks and sideburns, leaving me with the goatee I have today. My wife tells me the goatee looks “younger”.

3. I guess this one got answered above. For me, I thought it looked good with the hairline stopping just under my jawline; this left enough hair to cover some of a double chin, without looking like a big wad of hairy biscuit dough. Many folks leave more, stopping where the underside of the jaw meets the neck. You can give that a try at the initial sculpting, and see how it looks for you; you can always trim more if you don’t like it, but of course you can’t go the other way.

@Princhester

What do you do about the mess made when you trim? It’s not like shaving: little trimmings go everywhere, and no matter how well I try to clean up, Mrs P is always giving me a hard time about finding little hair bits in every nook and cranny in the bathroom. I trim over the bathroom sink. I lay newspaper down which catches most of it, but even still, cleaning up after is the worst part of the job. In fact, beard trimming itself is quick and easy and even slightly satisfying in some way. The mess and clean up business is what I dread.

Anyone got a better way?

What I used to do was this: before my morning shower, I’d take my shirt off, stand in the bathtub or shower, and do my trimming (that is, the trimming with the guard on) there. Being a hairy chested fellow, I’d give my chest a vigorous rub afterwards to knock loose all the tiny trimmings that had lodged thereupon. If you have a shower mirror, you can do “detail” trimming there, too. After that, take your shower, and all the trimmings go down the drain. I do my razor-shaving in the shower, so all those trimmings just sluice away as well. That’s my no-mess technique.

[Kuboydal]

I must admit I’m wary of electric trimmers. I once had a remarkable if not particularly handsome 6" goatee that went to stubble by not paying attention ti the trimmer angle. Sheesh, I onely wanted to knock off a few inches. The lovely MS. Kuboydal was shocked when she saw my chin. It seems she always figured there must be something wrong with it if I were to grow such a hide on it.