Grooming Mistakes You Don’t Know You’re Making or A Guy’s Guide To Grooming
Ok, So your stache is waxed and looking ace, or your beard is a perfect point. You’re looking sharp, but how to maintain such panache day after day? Trimming is how.
Yes, this is an article about the art of facial fur trimming. A topic often overlooked by the amateur and not spoken of by the master for fear of sounding…well, uh…amateur. I have recently noticed a lot of great beards and moustaches cropping up on the scene that start off looking fierce, then for some reason or another lose their luster, and quite frankly give facial fur aficionados like myself a bad name. Quitters, all of you shabby wanna be dandy’s who lack a little discipline when it comes to the daily upkeep of that fuzzy first impression you wear on that grubby mug of yours…I needed to call you out, if only to help you out. I will break it down for you here and show you how easy it is, and possibly fun, to keep those windy up your nose, in your mouth and out of control whiskers in check. Please humor me and read on.
Periodic trimming is a necessary daily or weekly practice you will need to embrace. Depending on the length and style of your beard or moustache this might prove to be an act you need to preform every day, for very short sculptured beards and staches, or every few weeks for long and woodsman style beards. But most of us need to trim every couple of days to stay on the up and up in the dapper department. In order to do this one needs the proper tools…you knew that was coming. In my kit I keep two electric trimmers; one small cordless portable that travels with me, and one of those electric clippers the barber uses on your head to buzz you, which I will refer to as the buzzer in the rest of this article. You also need to have a sharp pair of trimming scissors to fine tune with, a good mirror (preferably extendable), proper lighting, a comb, and a real razor…not one of those plastic fisher price-esque my first disposable razor toys,dispose of that now in fact. We are taking no prisoners today. (When you think of a Bic, think of the pen) First, I prepare the trimming area: I remove the soap dish, toothbrush cup, floss, and anything else lining my sink, and place to the side. Then I take an old newspaper from under the sink where all old newspapers live and open it up on the sink like a drop cloth. This makes clean up a breeze and prevents me from causing clogging or sprinkling snip’t bristles of man fur all over the place, if you live with a woman this is as much a courtesy as putting the seat down. Now I plug in the electric clippers and turn them on sliding the side length adjuster back and forth to shake out any hair that has built up and collected in there. A lot of these “buzzers” come with a tube of oil which I distrust immediately, I have found it to cause more harm than good. Tiny hairs tend to stick to the oil and build up causing resistance and friction, in turn creating heat which warps and dulls the blades even faster. So toss the stuff into your tool box and use graphite or another dry lubricant instead to extend the life of your shears. That being said it is time to begin.
The buzzer is great for one who sports a beard, I use the smallest plastic clip-on guard and mow up from my neck in a scooping manner shaking off hair in between passes. The clippers are wider than the portable clippers and cover more surface area cutting my trimming time in half. When the mowing is done and you are at a hair length you like, remove the plastic guard and adjust the side lever to the shortest clipper setting and shape the beard along the jawline (for neck beards are despicable and men who sport them are not to be trusted). After shaping and outlining you can now pick up the smaller travel clippers to get around the nose area. Just make sure the plastic guard is set to the same length as the buzzer. The outlining doesn’t need to be perfect for this is just the preliminary shaping which will be used as a guide when wet shaving. Remember all snipping and trimming should be done when hair is dry for when the hair is wet it appears longer and one risks trimming too much in this state. For this reason we trim first and wet shave later. When done it is time to pick up the scissors. I trim from every angle, this requires a little yoga skill, proper lighting and possibly multiple mirrors. To maintain my Van Dyke I am constantly peering out of the corner of my eyes making sure the point is consistent and uniform from all angles, I even adjust the glasses on my face to make sure I’m seeing my snips are in focus and on point. [yes that was a pun but also the sad truth]
If you are feeling sophisticated and want to practice your barbering skills you may try the scissor and comb method of yesteryear instead of first hitting your face with electric clippers. You will need a pair of sharper barber grade snips. I personally use TweezerMan brand trimming scissors, but brand is not what’s important, their design to cut hair and sharpness is. You will also need a fine-toothed mustache comb and a wider-toothed comb for your beard. Seek out combs that are especially designed for the task of facial hair trimming for they are built narrower than head hair combs and are more maneuverable around parts of the face. Now you are ready. Comb through your facial hair and cut on the outside of the comb to the length you desire. Begin slowly and practice carefully until you grasp the method. It is better to take off less at first; you can always take off a little more with a second pass rather than add it back once it’s been snipped. Focus to keep a good balance between both sides of your face, and maintain a systematic approach. Start from the chin and work your way towards the ear on one side, then from the other ear back to the chin. Resist the urge to jump around. The same thought applies to the moustache: First using your Moustache comb, comb down the stache and then trim from the middle toward one side and then from the other side back to the middle. Keep your head straight and glance into the mirror whenever possible to keep balance between both sides of your face. Now exhale. Kudos, you are a better man than me. I am an electric clipper bloke all the way! But, if this method suits your fancy I encourage you to Google the hell out of this and master it, for it truly is a dying art.
[vsw id=”ZOqZxTo69Vs” source=”youtube” width=”525″ height=”444″ autoplay=”no”]
Now you are done with your weekly snip and ready to finish the deed with a meditative wet shave!
Roger Waltham
Don’t forget to enter our Monthly Giveaway for a chance to win a Vintage Gillette,Moustache Wax and More! For more info visit Monthly Giveaway
[sign up in Right Sidebar]
About Douglas Smythe
I can relate to this. I normally only keep a goatee, and never try to grow a beard. Well, I finally grew one where it was looking nice.
The other day, I decided to trim it with an electric trimmer. That was a big mistake. Now it will at least a week or two for it to look decent again.
Thanks for the tips.
Great article here. I can’t believe how hard it is sometimes to get everything looking just right. Some guys walk around with the facial hair that looks like it needs a lawnmower.
If properly taken care of, the facial hair is a nice compliment. Take care of it, and it will take care of you!
This was one of the most frustrating things to master when I first started to grow my mustache. I never thought about a simple trim with scissors until I had messed it up a few times. It takes a lot of work to get it where you think it’s perfect, and then it’s messed up by trimming to low. We learn from our mistakes.
Very nice article. I think we can all relate to this. As with most things, it takes plenty of practice to get it right. I have also trimmed my beard too much and really messed things up. Fortunately, I learned from the mistake and haven’t done it again.
These are some great tips. I try to stay on top of things when it comes to keeping my beard looking good. It takes a little bit of time but it’s worth it to keep it trimmed up nice. Also, if you have a job where you need to look clean and professional then you will definitely want to keep your facial hair looking nice.
I’m a complete noob when it comes to grooming my facial hair. I’ve always been clean-shaven but recently decided to grow a moustache. I thought it would be a lot simpler to have facial hair but it definitely takes some maintenance to keep it looking good. This article has been a huge help. Thanks.
No problem, that’s why we do it! keep at it and eventually sit back and bask in facial fur greatness!
Thanks for the awesome grooming guide. I’m also new to the whole moustache thing and was searching around for some tips. Luckily I stumbled across this site because it’s been a huge help. This article in particular has really helped me learn some new tricks.
I am forwarding this to my husband. It seems like I am always having to go back over his facial hair because he lacks the finesse that it takes to get it perfect. I guess it would be hard to look into a mirror and trim facial hair though. This is why it sometimes cracks me up when men complain about women and their hour long getting ready session when, if a man has facial hair, we sometimes have to take time away from us getting ready to perform that dreadful task of grooming our men.
I am saving all of your tips on this website and will be putting them to great use if I can ever get my darn facial hair to grow.
I must say that a well groomed face is always attractive in my book. I hate when I see those straggly guys that look like they could care less as to what they look like. I wish everyone took as much pride in their facial grooming as the author of this post seems to.
Thanks for these tips. I am going to be adding them to my daily wake-up schedule. Maybe by doing this I can save some time and pain in the shaving and trimming department.
excellent how-to Roger! Good too see you still doing what you do best! I really look forward to the articles on this site, thanks for making this happen!
Good stuff! I really could have used this article last week before my trimming fiasco! I now have your ebook too and will be mastering all the trimming technique with-in it!
Thanks HTGAM!
Real men shave with an axe, False real men don't shave.
well that was clever. Be sure to tell your moustachioed brethren…I mean sisters, I says hello.