joshcrank on How to Trim a Beard

trimming is deciding what you want your beard to look like. Once you have that picture in your head, it can actually be a very simple process to just carve away at your facial hair until it takes the form you desire.

 

Unless you want to grow a huge, bushy beard, I would consider heeding the advice in the intro to this article and buying an electric beard trimmer. Many of today’s electric trimmers are cheap, easy to use and capable of great precision. They also typically come with adjustable guides that can prevent you from cutting any hair too short, and that’s something that can’t be said for the scissor method.

 

Any beard trimming (or beard growing) effort should begin with some serious thought into the shape, length and style of beard you want to grow. Perhaps you know a famous bearded person or two whose beards you particularly admire; in that case, just search for pictures of that person online and study them to get a better idea of how your beard should look. If you’re low on ideas, just pick up a magazine and start browsing, or visit one of the many Web sites dedicated to the topic of beard styling and maintenance. Of course, it can be hard to tell what style will look good on you until you see it on your own face, so it helps to open yourself up to experimentation with different styles. If you trim something that looks silly, you can always shave yourself clean and start over from scratch.

 

As for how to actually go about trimming your beard, the secret is to use an electric trimmer that can do most of the work for you. The one feature that you may find most helpful is an adjustable blade guard; the blade guard on my trimmer can be adjusted to eight different lengths, so when I want to trim my beard in a new or different style, I can start with the longest setting and gradually adjust it down. I may trim my entire beard multiple times this way, but it beats cutting it too short and having to start over or change plans.

 

If you don’t have a good mental picture of the beard style you want, get an actual picture. Whether you find it in a magazine, print a picture you find online or get it any other way, it will help immensely if you have the photo in sight while you’re trimming. If you take your time and painstakingly trim your beard perfectly a couple of times, you’ll soon be able to pick up the pace and get an ideal trim in just two or three minutes.

 

Once you really get to know your electric trimmer and the beard style you want, I think you’ll find beard trimming to be a simple matter of carving away until it looks like your beard. There’s no real need to overcomplicate it with fancy techniques, and as long as you have $20 or $30 to sink into an electric trimmer with an adjustable blade guard, there’s no need to toil away with scissors, either.