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How to Line Up a Beard Like a Pro: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Line Up a Beard Like a Pro: A Step-by-Step Guide

Style matters. Anyone – including someone potentially special – will always base their first impressions of you on how you look, dress, and present yourself.

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Well-maintained, lined-up facial hair is a great place to start.

When you look good, you feel good. You’re twice as likely to be the most confident version of yourself.

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clean well-lined beard

Here, we will discuss the step-by-step fundamentals of how to line up a beard or even stubble, outlining the tools and techniques you will need to transform neckbeard or lumberjack-style facial hair into a clean-cut, well-maintained beard that will draw the praise of everyone you want to notice.

If you need to know how to care for your facial hair or about beard line-up meaning, you are in the right place.

Let’s go.

Preparing Your Beard

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty of how to line up a beard through shaving, we'd be remiss to not cover the importance of proper beard care.

Often overlooked by bearded gentlemen, unexfoliated, unwashed, and untangled facial hair can lead to a variety of skin-related problems. These include ingrown hairs, acne issues, beard dandruff, and the infestation of grimy bacteria.

Hence, the following items are essentials to prepare your beard for a line up:

Basic Beard Cleansing Tips

Unsure of where to start when it comes to cleaning up your beard?

As a general rule of thumb, you should be washing at least two to three times a week with your beard shampoo and conditioner of choice (consider daily use if your daily activities involve sweating), and utilize a wide-toothed comb to carefully detangle any knotted up beard locks.

Viking Revolution Beard Wash & Beard Conditioner

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Dealing with rather coarse, untamed beard hair? Be sure to use a beard oil or balm to soften up those strands and leave your skin less prone to irritation and sores.

Achieving The Perfect Beard Line

Lined-up facial hair can provide an instant difference to your face and jawline shape, allowing you to exude everything from confidence and style to professionalism and maturity.

Setting beard line

To accentuate your best facial features, an important decision must be made before going ahead and trimming it to perfection.

Should a Beard Cheek Line Be Straight or Round?

The answer to this question really depends on your face shape.

For most gentlemen, a straight beard cheek line will make those with narrower face shapes look thinner and bonier, while those with round faces will undoubtedly look slimmer. 

On the other hand, a rounded line will provide the opposite effects for both face types, as slim faces will look fuller and rounded faces will appear to be even larger.

Hence, conventionally speaking, round-faced gentlemen should probably opt for a straight beard cheek line, while those on the slimmer side would do best with a round one.

Whatever your choice is, using a beard line up tool (such as a barber’s pencil) will do wonders for simplifying the process of hashing out a straight line instead of doing a guessing game of whether you have done a good enough job using only the naked eye.

The-BEARD-BLACK-Beard-Shaping-Styling-Tool

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Defining the Neckline

Picture this: you have finally achieved the perfect beard cheek line after hours of research, washing, and trimming, only to look at yourself in the mirror and realize that those patches of wild hair under your neck have got to go as well – in other words, your neckbeard.

man defining beard line

In broad terms, an ideal neckline is a seamless continuation of the contour from your ear. Ideally, the hair should be positioned approximately 1 to 1.5 inches above your Adam's apple – assuming you have one – within the region connecting your neck and head. 

How To Line Up a Beard Step by Step 

Step 1: Smoothen & Clean Your Facial Hair

The first step when it comes to how to line up a beard is to soften up your facial hair to get it prime for trimming.

Hop in the shower and deploy the powerful combination of beard shampoo and conditioner, rinse those locks as if your life depended on it, and pat it down with a clean towel.

Hold it right there.

A common mistake many gentlemen make when trimming their beards is not allowing them to completely dry. Why would you?

After all, wet hair will always appear longer than dry hair. Begin the next steps when it is still wet, and suffer the consequences of strange-looking locks.

If you are in a time crunch, you can use a blow dryer instead of letting it dry completely on its own. Just ensure that you use it on a low or cool setting to not aggravate the skin beneath it.

The last step of the preparation process is to simply comb through it, utilizing a wide-toothed comb to detangle those locks and get everything organized before you design your cheek lines.

Step 2: Design Your Desired Cheeklines

If you are going for a straight look, start by visualizing a straight line from the bottom of your sideburn to the edge of your mustache. For those who want a rounded look, it is the same exact process, with just the added step of dipping down into your facial hair to round things off.

Once you have designed your cheek lines, use a beard line up tool (i.e., a barber’s pencil) to ensure exact precision before trimming – a skin-safe pen or white pencil will also do just fine if you do not happen to have the former.

Step 3: Time to Trim

It is officially time for the fun part.

how to lineup beard

Using a beard trimmer, trim your beard above your cheek line (dump the guard for maximum precision). Going along the grain of your facial hair, start at the top and slowly work your way down until you have reached your mustache.

Philips Norelco Multigroomer All-in-One Trimmer Series 3000

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As another general rule of thumb, always make sure to do one cheek before you do the other.

Flip-flopping between cheeks can cause you to slice off too much, especially if you think that you’ve messed up on one side and need to compensate on the other.

Step 4: Perform Regular Maintenance

Not so fast.

Once you have finished trimming your beard cheek line, that does not mean you are good to go for the rest of the month or even the rest of the week – not even the next couple of days.

Maintaining a lined-up beard is not a craft for the faint of heart, as you will need to clean up those lines every two or three days for best results from here on out. If you are a fast grower, you might need to even do this every day. 

beard maintenance

Rest assured, though, that your hard work will be worth it, and your newly-groomed beard is bound to draw compliments on a daily basis.

Final Thoughts

From designing a straight or round beard cheek line to performing regular maintenance and washing, there is a lot that goes into lining up your facial hair aside from the trimming process.

We hope that this guide on how to line up a beard has been helpful for those looking to rein in their untamed locks. We commend you for the hard but worthwhile work up ahead.

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How to Line Up Your Beard Guide