Keeping a Beard
 

Hey, for those guys (special ladies) who keep facial hair, how do you go about managing it. I figure there are 2 parts to it, which part of your face you want to cover and how long you want to keep the hairy parts.

Personally, I triim my moustache and I shave in a straight line from where my beard branches from my sideburns to where it flattens out around the soul patch area.

My question is how do you get the lengths of the hairs to be the same size. Trimmers work for small lengths, but my beard is about 1 inch and it doesn't work. I've been tryign to get it to look really 'sharp' and figure i'll need to cut it myself, but don't know hwo to go about it. any tfp'ers have their own secrets or methods that work?

you can get hair clippers that have attachments up to about a inch and a half. that should do it if not lots of practice with scizzors or go to a barber and have them do it.

I use hair clippers, with the 1/4" attachment. I like the hair clipper over a beard trimmer because the blade is wider. Both work fine, but the hair clippers do the same job in less time... :) It can be a little tricky under the nose, so rather than being poked in the nose with the attachment, I usually use the clippers with no attachment. (that did take some practice though...)

For the non-hair area I used the old fashion double sided razor (the one that holds real razor blades.) Since I don't shave everyday, I find that type works best. (any long hairs tend to clog the disposable multi-blade type razors)

Shape is up to you. I shave the area that just has random hairs, leaving the a groomed edge. And make a loop from jaw bone to jaw bone under my chin.

Here's my secret: don't do anything. Yup, I'm one of those hairy bastards that shoves my beard in everyone's face, and after attending a meeting or some such thing where I'm stroking my beard all the time I have to sweep my beard droppings up after myself.

When I do need to trim up, I go to the barber for special occasions (job interviews, weddings, etc) and tell them to make me look 'professional' and they seem to know what to do. Hair maintenance is too much trouble for me to be bothered with.

I maintain my van dyke with a pair of scissors and a good quality beard trimmer.

The person who cuts my hair always cuts it too short so I do it myself.

Van Dyke... That's an above the equator hair style, right... :)

I mostly keep it how it is, i trim the moustache pretty short cuz i hate how it tickles my lip/nose. Right now I use a beard-trimmer but the hair lengths are a little uneven, i think this may be an insolvable problem and i'll just have to deal with it being slightly less than perfect, thanks for the input.

If you use a beard trimmer, I am curious and to why / where the lengths would be uneven. Does the trimmer have a plastic "foot" attachment to keep the hair the same length? Some have a perm / or adjustable height.

If it does have a height limiting attachment, have you tried going over you beard a couple of times taking different paths?

I tend to go at least thee times over the beard... up one pass, then across the next, then take a diagonal pass. All three passes takes in total about a minute if that...

My beard trimmer has an attachment that sets the height of the blade. I use #6 for my chin and #3 on my moustache. I use the bare blade to trim the bits just below my nose (needs a steady hand).

I pass over my beard a few times.

That's basically how I manage my beard.