Celebrate beard week with top grooming advice
Published
25th Jun 2012
by rachael
This week marks Beard Week 2012 and with top male stars like David Beckham and Tom Hardy making facial hair a firm favourite amongst stylish gents, there's never been a better time to début a beard.Here, Ken Picton's senior stylist and Prynhawn Da presenter, Daffyd Rhys, gives his top tips for the perfect beard.
Growing Your Beard
If you've made a decision to grow a beard, the most important thing is to be confident in your decision. Don't let other people's personal opinions change your decision.
The best time to start
growing a beard is on holiday or the week before. This will give your beard the chance to develop enough growth so that when you return to work it will look substantial.
It will take approximately four weeks for your beard to start to take shape. Try and refrain from attempting to shape your beard before four weeks, even if you are only going for a goatee or handlebars as this may result in you shaving off a little too much.
Shaping Your Beard
Once you have grown your beard to a reasonable thickness and length, it's time to start the exciting part of finally shaping your beard. The best place to start is the neckline; using any good neck trimmer, start shaping the neckline at your desired perimeter.
Do not shape the beard at the cheekbones as this will create an unwanted, almost cartoon-like effect. Most good beard trimmers will have a grade setting and this will be your best friend when trimming your beard. Start short at the beard line and work your way up to thicker/longer areas.
Care
Although the skin is covered with hair, you must take care and remember to look after this area with your chosen cleansing and moisturizing products.
Remember to shampoo your beard. Some shampoos will include exfoliating beads (such as Aveda Men Exfoliating Shampoo) which will aid in getting rid of dead skin cells that are stuck around the root of your hair and that may cause irritation.
You could also try something like the Redken Men Mint Shampoo which will invigorate your skin and give a great tingling sensation in the morning. If you do not normally use a conditioner on your hair, it may be worth applying a small amount on a twice-weekly basis as the texture of your beard may be coarser than that of your hair.
Last but not least, try to set yourself a 6-8 week target. This should stop you getting tempted to shave it off and will give your beard a chance to develop to its full potential.
