Mullet Over: Growing a beard

Posted on 19 February, 2016

Hello again!

Tim from The Cock and Crown here with another article to help Canberra’s blokes. This one’s about growing beards. Once again if you have any questions that you’d like me to answer drop me a line.

So you want to grow a beard?

Good on you.

I’ve seen a few articles recently telling me that beards are on the way out. Maybe in the Hipster world but here’s why they still rock:

1. Shaving is expensive (even though there are some cheaper and better options which I’ll do a later article on)!
2. You look like a champ when you have a beard
3. No one suffers from “clean shaven face envy”

I could go on but I’d much rather just tell you how you can grow and maintain a sweet looking beard.

Stage 1: Start your beard today!

The starting bit is easy, just stop shaving. Put the razor down for at least two weeks. The only thing you really need is something to moisturise your face. You can go out and buy beard oil as some people like to use it later in the process when their beard is long.

So this means you only have to buy one moisturising product. You won’t have to use it every day. At the Cock and Crown we stock Anchor and Bliss Beard Oil (which is made here in Canberra) but there are so many out there! You need something like this as us blokes are pretty rubbish when it comes to moisturising our faces and when the hair starts to grow it draws the natural oils from your face and dries it out leaving behind ‘Beard Dandruff’.

It’s real and the reason why some beardy men don’t wear dark coloured shirts. It will also help with the itchiness often caused by the initial phase of growing a beard. Yes, this can be minimised if not completely prevented.

Stage 2: This didn’t just happen to my face

The next step is to make your beard look like you meant it. Now I’d probably suggest going to a Barber to clean up your newly acquired facial adornment, as they can (hopefully) do a better job than you. Initially it’s hard to get the line between your neck and chin right and there are a couple of options (see end of the paragraph for more details).

I usually cut the line in with clippers for most of my beard trims clients and then the client maintains it at home. The other crucial thing to do is the cheeks. By creating a straight line between the sideburn and moustache connection the beard gets a much neater overall look and you can clean up the hair above, which is often patchy.

Options for neckline: I usually do right on the corner of the angle of where your neck connects to your chin. However you can still get a great look for a shorter beard by a bit higher towards the chin. Just don’t go too far.

Stage 3: This is getting a bit long…

This is where the self doubt kicks and in you’ll go a week wondering if it was the right thing to do and then BAM! Someone will give you a compliment about how sweet your beard is looking and you’ll be back in the game. There are two pieces of advice I give my Beardy Guys at this point:

1. Get yourself some scissors. You can pick up a pair of “hairdressing scissors” (NB. not the thinning scissors with teeth on one side) from you local chemist in the nail clipper section, which should cost about $15. The reason I say scissors and not clippers is because it’s easy to take out a chunk with clippers (they are always cutting) so with scissors you can give the whole thing a good comb and trim the wild bits with the scissors.

2. There’s a product called “Mo Wax” by Uppercut. It’s a bit thicker than most beard products and is awesome for smoothing the whole thing down. It also stays in for most of the day so you can keep smoothing it down when you notice your face scarf looking a bit wild. The package is also pretty small so you can take it with you in your lumberjack bag anyway. If you bought beard oil in Stage 1 you can now be using it 1-2 times a week to maintain moisture in your face and the shine of your luscious beard.

So that’s it. Pretty easy huh? You’ll wonder why you didn’t do it earlier. The only thing to do from here on in is that when it needs a good tidy, go see your barber. I usually only need to tidy my client’s beards when they are due for their haircuts…especially if they have been maintaining it at home.

If you have any questions about men’s grooming or styling for Tim, drop him a line here and he might answer it in his next column!

You can find Tim and The Cock and Crown barbers at Level Two Woden Centre, Woden Town Square, 1/35 Bradley St, Woden and online. 

Image of ‘close up of long beard…‘ via Shutterstock