While many men don’t consider trimming a necessary part of beard ownership, it’s vital in maintaining the health and prosperity of your beard. Not only does it keep your beard looking stylish, but it also helps keep your beard hairs healthier for longer.
So, how often should I trim your beard? It all depends on your beard goals. People wanting to grow their beard out should trim every 6-8 weeks, while others trimming more for maintenance would trim every 3-4 weeks.
Today, we will discuss this and look at how often you should trim your beard and why trimming is necessary to bearded man’s life.
So, How Often Should You Trim?
The answer to the trimming frequency question comes in two parts. First, you need to decide what your growth goals are.
- Are you planning to grow your beard longer than it is now?
- Or, do you just want to maintain it where it is?
So, how often should you trim grow when growing out your beard? If you want to grow it out, I’d recommend trimming every 6-8 weeks to keep the length. This is long enough to keep the hairs healthy and still let them grow longer with each trim. If your goal is beard shape maintenance, you’ll want to cut it every 3-4 weeks.
While many bearded men view the shears as enemies, they can genuinely be your beard’s best friend. Keep your beard health and growth goals in mind and find a trimming schedule that works for you.
There’s no such thing as too much trimming, and if you want to stretch it a bit longer than our recommended 6-8 week wait period, feel free to do that as well as long as your beard still looks and feels healthy.
Ultimate Optimal Beard Trimming Frequency Guide
|
Beard Type
|
Beard Length
|
Trimming Frequency
|
|---|---|---|
|
Short Stubble (whiskers)
|
0.5mm
|
Once per 2-3
|
|
Rough Stubble
|
1-3mm
|
Once every 3-5 Days
|
|
Heavy Stubble
|
4-5mm
|
Once every 6-8 Days
|
|
Stout Beard
|
1-2" (2.5-5cm)
|
Every 3-4 weeks
|
|
Long Beard
|
4"+ (10cm+)
|
Every 6-8 Weeks
|
|
Beard Growth
|
|
Every 3-4 weeks
|
|
Beard Maintenance
|
|
Every 6-8 Weeks
|
Trimming Makes Your Beard Look Cleaner
When you trim your beard up, you don’t necessarily have to take length off. Overall your beard can remain about the same length and still wholly transform its look with a shape up –whether your desire a short or long beard.
After a proper beard trim, you’ll have cleaned up your neckline and cheek line, cut away stragglers and hairs that don’t belong, and give your beard an overall more intentional and uniform look. A well-trimmed beard boosts your style and keeps you from adopting that bum-look that people tend to associate with beards.
Trimming Keeps Your Hair Healthier
As your hair starts to grow out, it can fall victim to dryness, lack of care, and damage. Damaged hairs can get split ends, which means hair splits in two. These splits make their way up the strand until splitting entirely in half. These hairs eventually just die and fall out.
So, wouldn’t it be nice if you could prevent split-end beard hairs from falling out in the first place? The good news is you can!
If you cut the split end off before it makes its way down the shaft of the hair, it will stop it dead in its tracks and prevent further damage to the hair. With regular trimming, these split ends become few and far between, and your hairs stay healthier, longer.
Accompany your trim with a beard brush and some beard grooming products to provide optimal health and fine-tune your beard style.
How to Trim Your Beard
There are two types of men in this world when it comes to trimming. Some men only trust their barber to touch their beards, even more than they trust themselves.
On the other hand, you have the DIY type who have perfected their trim and know precisely how to get it the way they like it themselves and don’t trust anyone else to be able to figure it out.
Whichever type you are, this quick guide will help you.
Trimming Beard Hairs at Home
Unless you’re experienced, I don’t recommend that you run out and do a major beard transformation at home. To me, an at-home beard trim is meant to maintain the health and appearance of your beard, and if you want to get a transformation trim, you should go to a professional.
Using a professional keeps things simple and saves you the heartache of a slip-up. However, if you want to trim your beard at home, here are the steps I recommend:
- Grab a pair of decent hair-cutting shears or electric hair clippers.
- Wash and dry your beard entirely and use a beard comb to shape it the way you usually style it. Don’t use a product to hold it in place, as this may affect the result of your trim.
- Simply turn your head to different angles in the mirror and trim away any hairs that stick out to an exact length. If you notice hairs that don’t seem to go with the look of your beard, trim them back.
- Follow up with a razor trim of the cheek lines and necklines, and you’ll be in good shape.
- Style with some beard hair product such as oil, balm, or for a natural look, use beard butter.
If you plan to take off the length, I recommend you follow the shape from your last professional trim and try to maintain that shape.
Getting a Professional Trim
A professional trim is nice because you don’t have to worry that you’ll be the demise of your hard-earned beard that day. We do have a few tips for getting the perfect trim at the barbershop, though. First, you’ll want to make sure your barber knows what they’re doing. They should respect the beard and understand how much time goes into growing one, and treat it as such.
Contrary to what many believe, don’t be afraid to have a female trim your beard. I can’t believe that I even have to say that, but I’ve heard many say they would only get a man to trim their beard. My barber and the best beard trimmer I’ve ever had is a woman.
Secondly, bring in a photo if you have an idea of how you want it trimmed, or if you’re growing it out still, how you want it to end up looking.
Make sure to tell your barber that you are growing it out if you don’t want them to take length off. Be very specific to get exactly what you want and need.
Beard Trimming 101: Use the Right Tools
- Using the correct beard trimming and beard style tools is vital for good beard maintenance.
- This should include beard products
- A beard brush (boar-bristle is an excellent choice)
- A beard comb
- Facial hair scissors
- Clippers
- Razor
- Styling agent (beard balm/beard oil/butter/conditioner.)
Now you’re all set up; it’s time to get trimming.
How to Trim Your Mustache
So there you have it.
Some parting wisdom – every beard grows at different speeds and shapes, and no one-cut-suits-all approach exists.
Ensure you are monitoring your beard and recognizing the length and frequencies you prefer.
Have any questions, comments, or concerns? Join the discussion below in the comments or reach out on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter! You can always reach out via email as well at hello@jcgrooming.com.
4 thoughts on “Guide to Trim a Beard – How Often Should You Trim Your Beard?”
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