Beard Grooming Explained By Kevin Nicholls

Grooming your beard

Comb your hair in the direction that it grows so that the hairs are at their maximum height and facing in the same direction. Then decide how you want your beard to look when you're finished trimming.

Shave as you regularly do, including the exposed parts of cheeks and neck. Wash off the shaving cream and wet your beard slightly. Then determine how much hair you want to cut and position the hair length selector accordingly. Remember, until you are familiar with using the trimmer, it's always better to select a longer hair setting initially in order not to trim too much hair.

Trim Beard Length

Put trimmer guard attachment on and turn the trimmer so the front of the cutting unit is facing away from you. Start trimming under your chin and, following your jawbone line, work toward your ear and upper beard line using an upward motion. Allow the trimmer guard attachment to follow the contours of your face. You may trim either against or with the direction of beard growth, whichever you prefer.

Defining Your Beard Line

Remove trimmer guard attachment and hold the trimmer vertically with trimmer cutting blades facing you. Start with the edge of your beard line, and with the cutting blades resting lightly against your skin, use motions toward the edge of beard line to trim the beard line to desired location.

Thin And Taper The Beard

Remove trimmer guard attachment and use the unit's styling comb or another small comb and hold the beard hairs in place while trimming. Holding the trimmer horizontally with the cutting unit facing away from you, move the trimmer along the length of the comb.

Creating The 'Stubble Look'

Make sure that the trimmer guard attachment is on and set to position 1(1.5 mm) or 2 (2.5 mm). Hold the trimmer horizontally with the cutting unit facing either up down. Trim hairs using an upward or downward motion, against or with the direction of hair growth, whichever you prefer. For an even closer "stubble look," remove the trimmer guard attachment and repeat the previous two steps. Be careful not to remove too much hair, creating a "blotchy" look.

Beard Trimming Tips

Beard trimmers are easier to use than scissors, as you can adjust trimmer settings to cut hair at various lengths. Set your beard trimmer to a longer hair length if you're new to using one - you don't want to cut too much at first. Wet hair is longer than dry hair, so trim a little at a time.