Length of beard on cheeks/neck vs chin

[MrTiggywinkle]

Hi everyone,

I started growing my beard in 2017, but to date have really concentrated on my moustache, so on the whole I have had a short/medium beard (10mm to 15mm) with a much heavier moustache which varied between handlebar/imperial/English/Hungarian (depending on your definition and my mood).

I recently decided to allow my beard to grow and it is currently around 22mm. My intention is to aim for perhaps 35mm-40mm on the chin, unless I get bored before then. I've kept the moustache which is still noticeably longer than the beard and lightly curled. The look I am going for is sort of inspired by George V / Nicholas II. For this month anyway. I like to play and change up the look. I've uploaded a pic of the current state, which is a work in progress. You will see that I have just started allowing the hair higher on my cheeks to grow back to see if a higher cheekline would work, but that hair is still much shorter than the rest.

When the beard was shorter I just trimmed it to the same length all over with the exception of the left and hand right corners on my neck under my ears which I trimmed about 2mm shorter as it stuck out. I am currently trimming the beard once or twice a week to allow it to grow while keeping it neat, and I am liking the look, but to get the suitably regal presence I am going for I wondered if the hair under my chin and on my cheeks should be kept slightly shorter?

Does anybody have experience of keeping this kind of beard in order, and what difference in length should there be between the hair on the chin and that under the chin/on the cheeks? On the Remington website it has general advice that neck hair should be kept two "levels" shorted than chin hair, which I think equates to a few millimetres, but most internet searches I have tried come back with responses for where to trim the cheekline or neckline, not the relative length of different parts of a beard.

Any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received, on my specific question or on how to achieve the look I'm after (other than lose 10lbs which is also a work in progress!). I have never been to a proper barber so don't have anyone knowledgeable to ask. I know at the end of the day the answer is whatever I think looks best, but the thoughts of those with experience would be really useful.

Thank you!

 

[Dave himself]

Hi and welcome to B&B. That's a good look for you, I think you suit it. Not sure about the glasses though.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Does anybody have experience of keeping this kind of beard in order, and what difference in length should there be between the hair on the chin and that under the chin/on the cheeks? On the Remington website it has general advice that neck hair should be kept two "levels" shorted than chin hair, which I think equates to a few millimetres, but most internet searches I have tried come back with responses for where to trim the cheekline or neckline, not the relative length of different parts of a beard

I think when they're talking about levels they're referring to the clipper guards, which, looking at their site, don't seem to all go up by the same amount of length. But most of them seem to go up about 3mm from one guard to the next, so they're talking about a difference of around 6mm. For sure you can go comparatively short on the neck and fade it into the rest of the beard, and give it a nice shape that way.

Anyway, yes, I used to do something similar, quite similar, actually, with the same inspiration (the royal cousins). Though, my beard gets quite wiry and curly past a certain length so I kept it somewhat shorter overall while letting the mustache stay long. As I recall, I used a #2 guard on my cheeks and either a #3 or #4 on my chin depending on my mood. My advice would be to start by trimming the cheeks and under-chin with one level shorter guard than the main chin, at first, just to get a feel for how it looks and to get the hang of fading from one length to the other. Give it a few days to sink in, then if you like, you could try for a shorter trim on the cheeks. Worst case, if you don't like it or something goes wrong, you just trim everything back to the same length and let it grow again.

As I write this, it occurs to me that my current style is still about a 6mm difference, it's just that I shave my face and neck and keep the goatee trimmed with a #2 (6mm) guard. The mustache is still longer.

There was an outfit called "Beardbrand" that had a lot of decent youtube videos on maintaining various beard lengths, might be worth looking at for you.

 

[MrTiggywinkle]

I think when they're talking about levels they're referring to the clipper guards, which, looking at their site, don't seem to all go up by the same amount of length. But most of them seem to go up about 3mm from one guard to the next, so they're talking about a difference of around 6mm. For sure you can go comparatively short on the neck and fade it into the rest of the beard, and give it a nice shape that way.

Anyway, yes, I used to do something similar, quite similar, actually, with the same inspiration (the royal cousins). Though, my beard gets quite wiry and curly past a certain length so I kept it somewhat shorter overall while letting the mustache stay long. As I recall, I used a #2 guard on my cheeks and either a #3 or #4 on my chin depending on my mood. My advice would be to start by trimming the cheeks and under-chin with one level shorter guard than the main chin, at first, just to get a feel for how it looks and to get the hang of fading from one length to the other. Give it a few days to sink in, then if you like, you could try for a shorter trim on the cheeks. Worst case, if you don't like it or something goes wrong, you just trim everything back to the same length and let it grow again.

As I write this, it occurs to me that my current style is still about a 6mm difference, it's just that I shave my face and neck and keep the goatee trimmed with a #2 (6mm) guard. The mustache is still longer.

There was an outfit called "Beardbrand" that had a lot of decent youtube videos on maintaining various beard lengths, might be worth looking at for you.

Thanks for those comments Darth, that makes sense. I was a bit vague about Remington's use of the terms "levels" as I was assuming it referred to the difference in lengths between levels on their bespoke beard trimmers (with the wheel adjustments), where the differences vary between 1mm and 4mm, but you are right that separate comb guards have a more standard 3mm difference (occasionally 4mm). That said, 6mm sounds like a huge amount of difference if you want a beard to look solid - that is different to your case where you actually shave your face and so you want a clear distinction.

As you say, unless anybody comes back with different advice I will start with say a 2mm difference and see how it goes. You can always take more off but it's a bugger sticking the hair back on. That said, the great thing about hair, including facial hair, is it keeps growing (at least until the day it doesn't), so no permanent harm done. My dad used to say that the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircut was two weeks. I would say with a beard it might take a month!

I will check out Beardbrand online. Thank you.

And good luck in studying to be a Sith Lord. The final test looks a killer!

 

[Darth Scandalous]

That said, 6mm sounds like a huge amount of difference if you want a beard to look solid - that is different to your case where you actually shave your face and so you want a clear distinction.

Some of it depends on how you wear the mustache, I think, as it provides a natural dividing line if the ends are more relaxed (droopy). Looking back at photos, I think that when I was styling my stache more like yours, I was keeping the cheeks at a #2 and the chin at a #3. When masks became part of daily life, I went more natural with my mustache and I did let the chin go a bit longer for a while too and I think it worked though it was a bit more rustic.

Keep us updated. Many of the fellows on this site view facial hair as an affliction, but most of us who post in this section appreciate a well thought out and executed beard.

 

[VBH37118]

Hi everyone,

I started growing my beard in 2017, but to date have really concentrated on my moustache, so on the whole I have had a short/medium beard (10mm to 15mm) with a much heavier moustache which varied between handlebar/imperial/English/Hungarian (depending on your definition and my mood).

I recently decided to allow my beard to grow and it is currently around 22mm. My intention is to aim for perhaps 35mm-40mm on the chin, unless I get bored before then. I've kept the moustache which is still noticeably longer than the beard and lightly curled. The look I am going for is sort of inspired by George V / Nicholas II. For this month anyway. I like to play and change up the look. I've uploaded a pic of the current state, which is a work in progress. You will see that I have just started allowing the hair higher on my cheeks to grow back to see if a higher cheekline would work, but that hair is still much shorter than the rest.

When the beard was shorter I just trimmed it to the same length all over with the exception of the left and hand right corners on my neck under my ears which I trimmed about 2mm shorter as it stuck out. I am currently trimming the beard once or twice a week to allow it to grow while keeping it neat, and I am liking the look, but to get the suitably regal presence I am going for I wondered if the hair under my chin and on my cheeks should be kept slightly shorter?

Does anybody have experience of keeping this kind of beard in order, and what difference in length should there be between the hair on the chin and that under the chin/on the cheeks? On the Remington website it has general advice that neck hair should be kept two "levels" shorted than chin hair, which I think equates to a few millimetres, but most internet searches I have tried come back with responses for where to trim the cheekline or neckline, not the relative length of different parts of a beard.

Any advice or thoughts would be gratefully received, on my specific question or on how to achieve the look I'm after (other than lose 10lbs which is also a work in progress!). I have never been to a proper barber so don't have anyone knowledgeable to ask. I know at the end of the day the answer is whatever I think looks best, but the thoughts of those with experience would be really useful.

Thank you!

Welcome to the club