Trimming a Beard Neckline

A lot of men go wrong when it comes to designing and trimming the outline of their beard. When it comes to outlining a beard, the key is to avoid the mistake of trimming the neckline too high up on the neck and entering the jawline and face region. This is a classic beard gaff that ends up making it look like your beard shrunk in the dryer and is now entirely too small for your face. It’s like wearing a tiny hat or squeezing into skinny jeans.

Why a Neckline

You don’t need a neckline. You may want to grow your beard naturally because in some cases this looks better and it’s a lot easier to maintain. For most of us however, neck hair can be uncomfortable and look untamed. Also, no one wants their facial hair to connect to their chest hair unless you’re transforming into a werewolf. But even werewolves have some standards.

A neckline simply outlines the bottom portion of the beard, which varies from man to man. Of course, this is only if your aim to to grow the classic full beard or short box beard, otherwise other facial hair styles play by different rules.

How to Design the Beard Neckline

This is actually more simple than it seems, so I’ll try to not over complicate things. It’s best to stand in front of a three-way mirror if you have it, or use a secondary handheld mirror to view all angles of your face. Remember to stand up straight and keep your chin up when finding the line and then shaving.

Step One

First, imagine a slightly curved line that goes from right behind your ear lobes and travels under the jaw line. It should stop at the angle where your neck meets the underside of your jaw below your chin. The line will be very close to the top of your Adam’s apple (yellow line in the picture). That’s your neckline. Another way to visualize it is to tilt your chin down and a natural crease will reveal itself where the underside of your chin meets the top of your neck.

Step Two

Next, imagine two vertical lines on either side of your face that run perpendicular to the first one and follows the outer edge of your sideburns down toward the neckline (red line in the picture). This creates the corners of your neckline right under the ends of your jawline under your ears. Round these corners off to create a more natural look rather than a perfect box.

Step Three

Shave off everything under the neckline and you’re done. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a dignified and manly beard.

Alternative Beard Trimming Methods

Since I last wrote this article, men from all over have either thanked me for the guide to trimming their beards or have informed me of their own methods, some of which I like so much I’ve tried, tested, and liked myself.

Double Chin Method

Really simple. Tilt your chin down toward your neck. Embrace the double chin. The double chin line has actually created a natural fold where it meets the neck that pretty much runs the entire length of your jaw. It’s going to be like the yellow line in the original picture above. Shave off all the hair below that neckline. This is really the method I use to check at the end if I shaved my neckline well. I highly recommend it.

Two Fingers Method

This is more manly than the double chin method because it’s also the way you should order your whiskey. Albeit more inaccurate than the other methods because everyone’s fingers vary in width as do their necks. Stack your middle and index fingers right above your Adam’s apple. Right above that should be your neckline. Not my favorite measuring method because for me it’s one finger, for others it could be three fingers. It’s all about the width of each person’s fingers and where their Adam’s apple rests.