*** The official beard thread ***

opethdisciple said:
Here are some pics if anyone wants to see. I started with 3mm and have left it to grow now for 3 weeks.

The pics actually make it look much better than I feel about it. I have an annoying cowlick in pic 3 which has hairs growing back and round my face. I'm hoping with a bit more length I will be able to straighten them out.

Also you can see my cheeks are quite thin. I'm hoping they will fill in with time.

Any one if any one wants here you go:

IMG-20200717-172610.jpg



IMG-20200717-172702.jpg


IMG-20200717-172812.jpg
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That's pretty even! Remember you see it a lot more close up than most.
 
LuckyBenski said:
That's pretty even! Remember you see it a lot more close up than most.
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Those pictures are actually very flattering if you ask me. I obviously want to grow it a bit longer. Do you reckon it will fill in nicely?

And the knot I have in the third pic that doesn't grow down will that sort it's self out eventually? If the hair is longer I should be able to style it to go straight down right?
 
opethdisciple said:
Those pictures are actually very flattering if you ask me. I obviously want to grow it a bit longer. Do you reckon it will fill in nicely?

And the knot I have in the third pic that doesn't grow down will that sort it's self out eventually? If the hair is longer I should be able to style it to go straight down right?
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I think there's definitely a point where more mass builds up and you don't notice the thinner patches, or the direction. The spot on the front of my chin was always transparent. I had to wait for the bit above it to grow more, and it all blends together now.

Same for the sides - I was trimming them to stop the wild but thin bits looking messy, but now it's all just one bulk of beard. No more trimming anywhere except to thin the moustache.
 
Any one rock a goatee beard?

I am thinking as I don't think a full beard will work for me to keep it shorter and do a 3mm stubble on the cheeks and neck and just rock an 8mm goatee. (moustache and chin)

I am planning to go to a barbers to get this done. But am a bit wary of cost as these things are not one off's and would need maintenance at least every 2 weeks and costs would start mounting up.

I could attempt to do this from home.... but I'm not a master beards barber...
 
Bit of a bump. Lockdown has helped me avoid my wife's calls to tidy my beard. She likes me to go to the barber to get a better shape or some such nonsense, all I see is good growth being cut off, to try and make it look the same as hundreds of others, despite the fact that every beard is different.

My tends to go towards a fork into 2 strands. though at the moment I've taken to banding it up into a sort of beard pony tail with multiple hair bands, helps keep it together, and not hurt if wrestling with my boy, or getting a few stray hairs caught underneath my shoulder whilst trying to sleep.

Don't think I've yet reached equiblibrium between growth and loss, since it still seems to be getting longer overall, though obviously thinning out the longer it gets.

Recently started to use baby oil with a few drops of teatree oil in as a beard oil. Apply it once every few days (after washing) I guess. Much much much cheaper to use baby oil rather than buy branded beard oils, especially since it takes quite a lot each time to get good coverage.
 
Unseul said:
Bit of a bump. Lockdown has helped me avoid my wife's calls to tidy my beard. She likes me to go to the barber to get a better shape or some such nonsense, all I see is good growth being cut off, to try and make it look the same as hundreds of others, despite the fact that every beard is different.
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I think this is quite common, unfortunately. I have quite a long beard and my wife, for a long time, insisted I go to the barbers to get it cut in the way she thought was best. I find this quite strange that women can be so insistent on deciding the shape and style of a man's beard when the same cannot be done about their hair. I think this is because the beard as seen as 'optional' and a woman without hair has very different connotations to a man without a beard.

This was largely solved by buying a decent pair of scissors and learning to trim it myself. However, I still need to go every few months to get it tidied properly. If your wife is still insisting that you need to get a "better shape" then the only way is persistence on your part. The main thing is to keep it tidy. She will, eventually, give up. One of the saddest things I saw in this area was a woman who did a Facebook 'poll' with her friends about whether her husband should cut his beard off - they mostly voted yes, so he did.

Also it must be said that, in the same way that women can have a bad hair day, a man can have a bad beard day. This is not necessarily a call to get it cut.


Unseul said:
My tends to go towards a fork into 2 strands. though at the moment I've taken to banding it up into a sort of beard pony tail with multiple hair bands, helps keep it together, and not hurt if wrestling with my boy, or getting a few stray hairs caught underneath my shoulder whilst trying to sleep.
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I used to do this but gave up on it. It was too much effort to get it looking good every morning, and it also made my beard hair scraggly.

Unseul said:
Recently started to use baby oil with a few drops of teatree oil in as a beard oil. Apply it once every few days (after washing) I guess. Much much much cheaper to use baby oil rather than buy branded beard oils, especially since it takes quite a lot each time to get good coverage.
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Didn't know you could use baby oil. I currently use Murdock's Beard Oil, which costs £18 but it's by far the best oil I've ever used, and I've used a lot. The price is steep, but then it's the only hair product I use.
 
ok I went from stubble to crazy beard during lockdown as my trimmer broke. It's quite wirey and dry, like some hairs break if you stroke it. Is it time to use this beard oil lark or is that just a gimmick and is ordinary shampoo and conditioner good enough? How do people deal with that curling over the lip moustache hair without shortening it (I'm worried doing so makes it look disproportionate to the thicker beard elsewhere)?
 
ik9000 said:
It's quite wirey and dry, like some hairs break if you stroke it. Is it time to use this beard oil lark or is that just a gimmick and is ordinary shampoo and conditioner good enough?
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If your beard is feeling dry than I would invest in a beard oil, and also, it depends on what works for you. Shampoo and conditioner are not enough for me - even after shampooing and conditioning my beard still feels a bit dry, so I tend to give it a few drops of beard oil. As for the "gimmick" argument, I think largely it's not a gimmick, just a huge market, and there are some very nicely-scented oils out there which soften the beard quite nicely.

ik9000 said:
How do people deal with that curling over the lip moustache hair without shortening it (I'm worried doing so makes it look disproportionate to the thicker beard elsewhere)?
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I personally shorten it since it drives me mad. Cutting it clean along the lip line also looks a lot better.
 
Definitely do a proper shampoo and conditioner first (I don't have beard special stuff, love the superdrug own brand conditioner).

My wife doesn't expect me to cut it off, no problems with that, and generally I can get by calls for the barber. I don't bother with getting it to look good, the bands are just to stop it getting individual hairs getting pulled.

Some hairs are wirey, some are dry and split, some seem to be two hairs stuck together that later split. So seem to be completely monstrous, growing only a short length, but feel more like a cats whisker at the thickest point. Weird and wonderful word of beard hair. Recently I've been finding one or two that seem to have growth rings on. Small bumps, like extra thick, but very evenly spaced a few millimeters apart, I'm thinking it's something to do with daily growth?

As for the moustache, on the occassions I did shave it off, or the barber trimmed my moustache, I just power through the annoying phase of it irritating my lips, once they get a bit longer, it's not longer straight on the top lip, but rather going over, and I don't really notice it any more.
 
Can anyone recommend a decent beard trimmer? My current one just died.

I usually do a #6 all over and then my old trimmer had a little thing that flipped out so I could do the edges but I'm thinking of getting a separate device for the detail stuff.

Paging @Psycho Sonny :D
 
koolpc said:
Blimey, so many to choose from!

I would look at reviews on youtube my friend
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I know, but it's so confusing.

One review says model X feels like a premium product and is much better than model Y, then another review says that actually, X feels like a Fisher-Price toy and model Y is better… sigh.
 
Irish_Tom said:
Can anyone recommend a decent beard trimmer? My current one just died.

I usually do a #6 all over and then my old trimmer had a little thing that flipped out so I could do the edges but I'm thinking of getting a separate device for the detail stuff.

Paging @Psycho Sonny :D
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I'd get a magic clip if you want cordless for a 6 all over.

Corded then a Wahl senior or any other of their proper barber type products.

For detailing oh want an outliner. I personally use an andis outliner it's a lot smaller than a clipper but it cuts damn sharp and close. You don't want to shave with one of them as it's very harsh but that is what makes it a great detailer.

If you want to finish then andis microfoil to go to skin.

Wahl legend or Wahl super taper are other options for a 6 all over

A corded is always going to be better. I mean a lot better too.

However cordless is much lighter and convenient but needs more passes.

I take my cordless with me on holiday but at home I use a long extension lead and a cord.

YouTube videos from pro barbers are your best bet for research.

Email Carly from cool blades for advice she helped me choose.

Its really down to personal preference with a pair of clippers. The most popular ones we sell would be the Magic clip cordless clippers along with the Wahl finale for fading. Most people also buy a fade brush and we also do 1/2 ans 1 1/2 guide combs which could help in doing the popular fade cuts. The most popular trimmer are the Andis D8 which come in chrome and now black. These can be used for tidying up the edges of your cuts and also helps to style beards. I've attached links to these products so you can have a look at them.

https://www.coolblades.co.uk/hair-c...s/andis-slimline-pro-lithium-ion-trimmer.html
https://www.coolblades.co.uk/hair-clippers-trimmers/wahl-hair-clippers/wahl-cordless-magic-clip.html
https://www.coolblades.co.uk/andis-fade-brush.html
https://www.coolblades.co.uk/wahl-coloured-combs.html

That email from her is several years old now. Send them an email and they will set you right.
 
Irish_Tom said:
@Psycho Sonny, amazing, thank you. I will do some reading!
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Oster is another really good make alongside andis and Wahl. I'd shoot them an email and ask.

Also there is a shop called salons direct. I've bought from them too.

https://www.salonsdirect.com/

Maybe shoot them an email explaining exactly what you are trying to do.

Budget is another question.

You could easily spend £150+ on 3 different specialist tools or £300 on a single really good all rounder that is also cordless.

Corded is always much better it's the same for any tool really. However I do appreciate a lot of people these days want cordless and won't really realise how large the gap is between them. My new £150 cordless clipper is significantly worse than my £35 Wahl I bought 20 years ago that's still as good as the day I bought it.

Cool blades looking through their products everything they sell is legit stuff and not the crap you find in Argos masquerading as pro Wahl, etc.


That looks like a good video he actually recommends a Braun series 9 for shaving I know they are several hundred so no doubt better than the £50 andis microfoil I use to go to skin. But if it means saving £150+ and I need to do a few more passes I can live with the compromise as the microfoil does a really good job so long as all your hairs are in a similar direction which is everywhere apart from my neck. It really struggles to get my neck done without several passes from every angle I can think of passing over with. Everywhere else one or two passes and it's job done.

Also you need to make sure you buy the andis cleaner and lubricant all in one solution. This will keep the blades debris free and lubricate so they cut smoother without overheating and burning you causing shaving rash. Video below you can skip to half way shows how to use it. One jar will last you a long time a little goes a long way and the jar is big. It's got barbercide in it too to kill anything which could possibly cause infection.

 
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