Get a handle on the edges around your beard
Most of our grooming tips should be considered guidelines and advice, but this one is more like a law: the beard on your neck must be removed!
Below we've created a guide to show you where and how to shave (and Trimmer) your beard to get the right shape.
We'll be talking about the cheek line, jaw line and jawline in the guide, so to avoid confusion, here you can see where the different lines are located on the face:
Point D is the overriding point of the article: All hair between the edge and collarbone should be shaved or at least trimmed.
But let's elaborate on that in the following...
Start the beard at the cheek line
Your beard should generally start at the cheek line, which is the line on the face that follows the cheekbone.
All beard growth above this line should be removed with your Razor.
This is where the edge line should go
Many men think they should shave right up to the jawline, but that's a mistake! The end of the beard needs to go a little further down than the jaw - down to the so-called edge line.
To find the edge line, imagine a curved line between your ears (point A and point B below). The line should be connected to a third point (point C). To find point C, place two fingers over your Adam's apple: where your top finger stops is where the edge line starts.
You should now have the location of the line under control. Start by shaving the area between point C and point D - the area between the edge line and the collarbone. As the skin is delicate in this area, it's a good idea to apply a Preshave and Shaving Foam before you start using your Razor. Make sure to stretch the skin by pushing the chin forward and up to avoid cuts and nicks.
How to fade and trim the edge line
To avoid too abrupt a transition between the shaved skin on the neck and the edge line, it can be a good idea to fade the line with a Trimmer. This means leaving the hairs closest to the beard slightly longer than the hairs closest to the Adam's apple.
Set the Trimmer two settings shorter than your beard length and trim the bottom half of the piece between the jawline and edge line. Leave the top half the same length as your beard.
This will create a perfect transition and finish, making the beard appear neat and tidy.
Next step: Learn how to Trimmer the beard itself
If you follow the tips above, you should now have an idea of where to Trimmer/shave your beard to get a nice shape and perfect edges.
The next step is then to trim the beard itself. But how should a beard be trimmed? What tools should I use? And how long should the beard be?
We've created a guide to answer these questions:
Author: Finn Brose
