The Gentleman's Guide to Beard Care
A good beard is designed, not just grown. Our beard specialist on washing, oiling, trimming and the neckline almost everyone gets wrong.
Most beards that look untidy aren't too long. They're shapeless. A few minutes a day and a proper sculpt every four to six weeks is the difference between a beard you have and a beard you wear.
Wash it properly, but not too often
Face wash and regular shampoo strip the natural oils your beard needs, which is where the itch and the dandruff come from. Use a dedicated beard wash two or three times a week and rinse with water in between.
Oil daily, balm when it's long
Two or three drops of beard oil worked into the skin underneath, not just the hair, after a shower while it's still slightly damp. Once the beard passes about two centimetres, a balm adds hold and keeps stray hairs in line.
Find the neckline
Place two fingers above your Adam's apple. That's roughly where the neckline should sit, curving back towards the corners of the jaw below the ears. Shaving higher than this is the most common mistake we see. It makes the jaw look softer and the beard look like a chinstrap.
Shape the beard to the face underneath it, not to the one in the photo you saved.
Leave the cheek line natural
A razor-straight cheek line looks sharp for three days, then grows back as stubble above the line. Unless your growth is very patchy, we keep the cheek line close to where it naturally sits and just clean up strays.
The awkward stage
- Weeks two to six are the itchiest. Oil helps more than anything.
- Resist the urge to trim everything evenly. Let it grow, then shape it.
- Book a sculpt at around eight weeks so we can set the shape it grows into.
