Facial manscaping - any tips
Discussion
After years of having a very rough caveman beard thing stuck to my face I have decided that its time to actually make more of an effort with my appearance. I am more used to hanging off the side of mountains where appearance means very little.
I haven't been clean shaven since the hair started growing vigorously as a teenager.
I now have a great adjustable beard trimmer that goes down to 0.5mm. Trimming the beard bit that I want to keep down to a sensible length now is easy enough.
What I can't figure out is what you do with the rest of the hair that doesn't form part of the designer stubble you dream of, neckline and cheeks....Nice sharp edges.
I see various recommendations for safety razors, cut-throats, rotary electric and foil electric but having never used any of them I have no idea what actually works?!
I should state that I have pretty thick hair and I don't want to stand in front of a mirror for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
What do you all use? Any tips for a hillbilly coming in from the cold?
I haven't been clean shaven since the hair started growing vigorously as a teenager.
I now have a great adjustable beard trimmer that goes down to 0.5mm. Trimming the beard bit that I want to keep down to a sensible length now is easy enough.
What I can't figure out is what you do with the rest of the hair that doesn't form part of the designer stubble you dream of, neckline and cheeks....Nice sharp edges.
I see various recommendations for safety razors, cut-throats, rotary electric and foil electric but having never used any of them I have no idea what actually works?!
I should state that I have pretty thick hair and I don't want to stand in front of a mirror for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
What do you all use? Any tips for a hillbilly coming in from the cold?
I use a beard trimmer and safety razor. Use the trimmer to take it to about 15ish mm long and use the safety razor to keep the lines sharp on my cheek and etc. There are loads of videos out there explaining how to trim to emphasise jaw lines etc, just do what suits you. Mrs got me a bib that attaches to the bathroom mirror via suction cups so catches all the hair trimmings 
Safety razor is good as the blades are cheap to replace so you can constantly change to have a nice sharp edge. Do take a bit of getting used to but nowhere near as hard to use as a cut throat style razor.
Safety razor is good as the blades are cheap to replace so you can constantly change to have a nice sharp edge. Do take a bit of getting used to but nowhere near as hard to use as a cut throat style razor.
vroomtshh said:
Go to a decent Barber who does beards and get him to shape it once, then just follow the lines forever, periodically getting him to do it when you're in for haircuts and fix the wonky bits you make. It works well for me
This ^I use a normal set of clippers, guard off to follow the lines and clear the stuff down the neck etc. followed up with a wet shave with a normal gillette razor.
Then guard affixed to do the bulk of the beard down to its normal length.
Turkish/Kurdish barber place then sorts it out properly every 2/3weeks at haircut time
tegwin said:
After years of having a very rough caveman beard thing stuck to my face I have decided that its time to actually make more of an effort with my appearance. I am more used to hanging off the side of mountains where appearance means very little.
I haven't been clean shaven since the hair started growing vigorously as a teenager.
I now have a great adjustable beard trimmer that goes down to 0.5mm. Trimming the beard bit that I want to keep down to a sensible length now is easy enough.
What I can't figure out is what you do with the rest of the hair that doesn't form part of the designer stubble you dream of, neckline and cheeks....Nice sharp edges.
I see various recommendations for safety razors, cut-throats, rotary electric and foil electric but having never used any of them I have no idea what actually works?!
I should state that I have pretty thick hair and I don't want to stand in front of a mirror for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
What do you all use? Any tips for a hillbilly coming in from the cold?
I use a Philips beard trimmer 14-in-1 for 50 quid. One comb has a 4-7 setting on it. I use a 7 for the main part of the beard/stubble, then a 6 and 5 to taper/blend it in. Pop the comb off exposing the "blade" and do my neckline with that. It's not a clean shave but I always struggle with that, end up with razor burn but its close enough. Use the hair styling comb to trim eyebrows, put the nose trimmer in and do that, pop in the precision trimmer and tidy up the jaw line and ears and done. Takes maybe 10 minutes once you get the hang of it. Maybe use a barber and after a couple of visits copy them.I haven't been clean shaven since the hair started growing vigorously as a teenager.
I now have a great adjustable beard trimmer that goes down to 0.5mm. Trimming the beard bit that I want to keep down to a sensible length now is easy enough.
What I can't figure out is what you do with the rest of the hair that doesn't form part of the designer stubble you dream of, neckline and cheeks....Nice sharp edges.
I see various recommendations for safety razors, cut-throats, rotary electric and foil electric but having never used any of them I have no idea what actually works?!
I should state that I have pretty thick hair and I don't want to stand in front of a mirror for any longer than is absolutely necessary.
What do you all use? Any tips for a hillbilly coming in from the cold?
Finish off with a nice beard oil and moisturiser and don't forget a daily face wash for the shower.
Don't listen to GQ or the influencers. They'll have you spending hundreds on what are gimmicks if you ask me. When I started I had Tom Ford beard oil and Elemis mens moisturiser. Maybe I'm just lucky but there's pretty much no difference to the Tom Ford beard oil and Gillete beard oil except the price. One was £50 and the other £6.89 from Superdrug but it may be trial and error to see what works for you. Also struggling to see any difference between the "ELEMIS Men Pro-Collagen cream" that the missus got me and a tub of L'Oreal, again except the first one costs 10 times the latter, although happy to proven wrong.
Edited by NaePasaran on Thursday 11th January 13:10
I leave mine all to the barber - go every 4 weeks or so for a Grade 0 all over the head and a beard trim, then don't really touch it in between, other than washing, conditioning and applying oil.
On the oil front the beard oils I've tried have been ok, but by far an away the best for it is the Moroccan Oil I pinch off the wife. The beard oils are typically cheaper but the Moroccan stuff is far better imo - leaves it less straggly and keeps it in shape all the way until it's next trimmed.
On the oil front the beard oils I've tried have been ok, but by far an away the best for it is the Moroccan Oil I pinch off the wife. The beard oils are typically cheaper but the Moroccan stuff is far better imo - leaves it less straggly and keeps it in shape all the way until it's next trimmed.
bodhi said:
I leave mine all to the barber - go every 4 weeks or so for a Grade 0 all over the head and a beard trim, then don't really touch it in between, other than washing, conditioning and applying oil.
On the oil front the beard oils I've tried have been ok, but by far an away the best for it is the Moroccan Oil I pinch off the wife. The beard oils are typically cheaper but the Moroccan stuff is far better imo - leaves it less straggly and keeps it in shape all the way until it's next trimmed.
Pretty much what I do. Sometimes use a one blade to tidy it up for work. On the oil front the beard oils I've tried have been ok, but by far an away the best for it is the Moroccan Oil I pinch off the wife. The beard oils are typically cheaper but the Moroccan stuff is far better imo - leaves it less straggly and keeps it in shape all the way until it's next trimmed.
I've just started using the oil you've mentioned...its incredible! So much better than any beard oil I've ever used (and I've used loads!).
vroomtshh said:
Go to a decent Barber who does beards and get him to shape it once, then just follow the lines forever, periodically getting him to do it when you're in for haircuts and fix the wonky bits you make. It works well for me
This. Assume you are getting your hair cut fairly regularly, just ask him to show/explain what you need to do to maintain your beard between visits. Another vote for going clean shaven. Shaving with a safety razor (Gillette Mach III) reliably takes me 3 minutes per day. Do it as soon as you get out of the shower and use a tiny dab of Neutrogena fragrance-free moisturiser afterwards and you're good to go, looking as smart as paint all day long
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