How to Use a Beard Trimmer Effectively? How To Trim A Beard (5 Steps)

For any dude who’s attempted to grow a beard, chances are that he would at one point or the other; realize the fact that beard trimming is indeed a critical portion of the beard-keeping lifestyle. Taking good care of it would not only make you look nicer but also allow you to feel more comfortable, as well as healthier.

This is the most probable explanation you’ll give if asked why you always go for a haircut, so, what better way of taking good care of your beard could it be than maintaining its length to a certain standard at all times? Well, this is why irrespective of your beard size, knowing how to use a beard trimmer would be of great advantage to you.

For basic beard trimming, some of us rely on barbers to get it done, and since most of them do not offer that in particular, as a service, we have to demand a broader shave, even though the remaining hair is not in any way out of proportion. This is a bit inconvenient because naturally, facial hairs grow faster than the head, so the best way to save yourself from stress is to learn how to do it on your own.

To assist in rescuing you from a similar burden, we bring forward this article so you’ll be able to learn how to use a stubble beard trimmer with a trimming guard, and in regards to how creative and good you become as you kept on practicing, you’ll be able to switch between several beard styles, you can think of.

Things to Make Sure Before Trimming A Beard

Before you commence learning about how to properly trim the beard, there are a few steps you need to follow. These steps are essential in helping you achieve the perfect grooming touch and feel during and after trimming.

1. Right Beard Length For You

There’s no standard beard hair length because everyone has a different taste. A very smart way to discover a beard height that’ll fit or work for you is to start by erasing the entirety of your facial hair and allowing it to grow from scratch. The moment it reaches the height you consider appropriate enough for your liking, it’s time to begin maintaining it as your ideal beard hair length.

By now, you should also be thinking about the kind of trimmer you’ll require, so here are a few hints that’ll guide you through knowing the right trimmer for you.

• Figure out the ideal length for yourself.
• A fully grown hair that starts right from the neck to the upper face requires a bit of powerful trimmer that has up to 3 guard changes, especially if you aspire to give it that fading look.
• If you’re considering a chinstrap or goatee, you may require a trimmer, coupled with a head and trimming guard.
• While for a very low beard like the 5 o’clock shadow looks, shaving without guards is enough to get you on the go, even on lower power.

2. Buying a Good Beard Trimmer

As you become familiar with your preferred beard style and beard height, it’s essential at this point that you research the appropriate beard trimmers that can secure you the required precision.

Below are some qualities to look for in a good trimmer.

Accessories To Use

Depending on which items the manufacturer chooses to include in their beard trimmers, you may find some attachments, storage bags, and precision trimmer heads, in addition to styling combs that’ll surely assist in trimming your beard.

Here, you might want to go for a trimmer with more accessories to not only have easier trims but also cart away with additional items for your beard care

Trimmer Length

Similar to a hair clipper, a beard trimmer also cuts within your preset. Different kinds of beard trimmers vary according to their precision and go in terms of long-range. Some are more precise in terms of height and can go by the tune of 0.2mm (suitable for a 5 o’clock shadow), a step 2 trimming guard, up to 2.5cm in length, it all depends on what you want.

Technically, the more beards you want to keep, the longer you’ll need to set your presets

Battery and Charging Features

Battery recharge duration and lifetime greatly count toward the qualities you should seek in a trimmer and depending on its price and manufacturer; it might take an hour to five to achieve a full charge. Moreover, the battery might also last from about 40 minutes to several hours of trimming from a single full charge.

Some trimmers come with a quick charging capability and can charge within a short period. A 10-minute charge is enough to get some fast charging trimmer batteries full bars, at the same time enabling one to use them for quite several hours.

While some trimmers only show LED indicators for their battery levels, many others indicate theirs, via LCDs.

Additional Things to Consider

Besides the three, other functionalities you should consider include the mobility of the trimmer i.e. if it is corded or cordless.

Most of the trimmers are manufactured in such a way that they can tolerate a certain level of wetness, but it is important to find out if the trimmer you want to buy is waterproof or not, and if it can stand a shower as well. Philips Norelco trimmers and other premium brands are worth checking out for water-durable trimmers.

You can easily find information from the label, description, or review about a beard trimmer’s water durability potential.

3. Adjust Trimmer Settings

The importance of operating your trimmer at the possible maximum performance can never be overemphasized; therefore, carefully adjusting the blades with the correct zero gapping is one of the steps you need to take before you trim your mustache or beard. This would go a long way in preventing any inconsistency, as well as help to get rid of any possible skin lines in the case of using a close-cutting trimmer.

Although adjusting the guard settings to your expectations sounds good enough for a better beard style, you should first try out the default settings so you can find out if that would be enough for trimming your beard. If it is not, I recommend you seek assistance from a professional or someone whom you know is good at using your type of hair trimmer to get it set up for you.

Later on, you can learn how to use trim, in addition to its adjustment as time goes by. This is because a poorly adjusted beard trimmer might become flush & sharp, and can easily make you cut yourself or the person you’re trimming for, in the process.

Common issues for trimmers include misaligned blades; in addition to the need to zero-gap them to achieve smoothness and sharpness.

We might not be able to get details about how to adjust your trimmer settings here today, but in the meantime, you can start learning by watching a few YouTube videos on that. Learning the adjustments is so easy and all you’ll require from your end is a screwdriver.

Fortunately, the adjustment procedures for most of the brands and varying models are similar, so learning how to adjust a particular one will guarantee that you’ll also be able to do the same on a different brand or model. However, you might be unlucky to get a different trimmer model that has a different adjustment procedure, so you’ll need to learn how to set the particular model, separately.

4. Keep Accessories Organized

You’ve dedicated enough time, energy, and money to both the processes of learning, looking for, and buying the right trimming device for your beard, these are enough reasons for you to take pride in its ownership.

So, why not pack together with the entire trimmer set, including the combs, brush, screws, chargers, and oil, all in one place, for easier reach? This way, you’ll have no trouble finding each tool separately, and if there’s a need for a journey, you simply can reach the sets without any hassle, life made easier.

How to Use a Beard Trimmer? How To Trim Your Beard?

Now that we’ve garnered enough knowledge about the things we ought to make sure they are in place before using a beard trimmer. Let’s look into how to trim your beard as well as how to shape a beard, so you can buy yourself that perfected grooming touch you deserve.

Step 1: Wash and Dry Your Beard

This might look awkward to you; getting your hair wet before shaving it. When I first learned about this, it was very disagreeing with me as well, and most people prefer washing the face only after shaving too. That is cool, but you know what is cooler? Well, washing the face before and after shaving.

Using a good beard shampoo, make sure you wash your beard and rinse the face carefully, but thoroughly. The essence of doing this is to get rid of dirt, and trapped skin cells that could result in a knot, as well as provide comfort and ease, during shaving.

After a successful beard wash, make sure to get the hair dried using a clean material. It makes the trimming go easy and smooth when the hair is flattened this is especially the case for dudes with full beards.

Step 2: How To Trim Beard Neckline

The next thing to do shortly after washing your hair and leaving it to dry is to get the beard trimmer ready to perform a shave. This is just the point where you need to adjust the clipper settings to your liking.

To prevent trimming your beard to a length that’s below your expectations, it is good to start with a longer setting. This way, you can keep stepping down bit by bit, until your preferred hair length is attained. This would come in handy if you’re trimming a beard using a beard trimmer for the first time.

Now that your trimmer is set, you may start shaving, but wait! Start by clearing the hairs in the neck area from the Adam’s Apple up to the beard neckline.

While shaving Adam’s Apple region, you’ll require no length adjustment, so you can drop the trimming guard here to get a tidy shave therein until you reach the upper position from which you’d like your beard to start. The essence of doing this is that it’ll not only reward you with a tidy neckline but also help you to easily achieve great styling.

Remain in control and focus by taking your neck shave bit by bit, you may easily be carried away by the temptation to trim a beard more than you are supposed to, so you need to always remain focused at all times.

Step 3: How To Trim Beard Cheekline

When you’re done with shaving and styling the neck region, the second place you should target is the beard cheek line. Due to its delicate nature, handling this area should be done with caution because it determines the shape of your face in beards.

Whether you’re choosing to vibe with a full beard that goes up above the cheek line or somewhat below, this is the point where you choose from the beard styles.

So, your choice of styling here is a very vital one, maintain your head position up straight and try to focus on the mirror while you trim a beard. Once in a while, hold on to review what you’ve been doing, and ensure that both sides of your cheeks are no different from one another.

Even though growing a full beard looks amazing, most people tend to find it more pleasing, seeing you maintain the cheek line on a lower trim and then extend the length as you trim downward. Periodically, you’ll need to switch between the different steps of trimming guards, depending on the respective lengths of cheek hair. Remember that the cheekline is one of the most important factors to trim, so don’t skip it!

Step 4: How To Trim Chin Area

Trimming the chin is a lot easier than the other sides, one of the reasons is because it’s within the frontal part of the face. I love trimming my chin a little bit higher than my jaw’s and cheeks’ hair. However, you can go for a different style, choose from the wide array of chin trimming styles out there and choose the one that best suits and provides you comfort.

When you’re done, ensure to comb the beard with a good beard brush to drop off loosen hair and also to create tidiness.

Step 5: Trim Your Mustache

Although several men do not pay heed when it comes to trimming the mustache, they consider it a minor thing of the face. But, did you know that slight errors that occur with beard shaves could easily be ignored and without people ever noticing that, while a trim error on your mustache can affect the entirety of your look?

Just as you would on the other parts, start by combing your mustache, ensuring to comb downwards. Then, carefully trim to your preference, but a good suggestion is to consider trimming the tangle close to your upper lip. Your spouse or partner would be grateful for this.

Similarly, you might want to use a trimming guard so you can keep your mustache in proportion with your beard. In case you’re not using a trimming guard, be careful not to cut more hair than you are supposed to.

Here is a video explaining the same-

Cleaning and Maintaining Your Beard Trimmer

After a fulfilling beard shave with a beard trimmer, then what next? Well, just like any device, your beard trimmer after use needs regular cleaning, and maintenance, as well as good storage.

Failure to take proper care of your trimmer will not only make it wear, rust or age faster, but also at your detriment because bacteria and other microbial growths might find its pores as a haven for their dwelling, and the next time you want to shave beard, you might become prone to an infection of either the entire face or beard.

However, we’ve got some cleaning and maintenance tips for your beard trimmers, right below.

• Have a waste bin placed right below you, to help trap the beard or head hair falls without messing up the surroundings with hair debris. There may be extra clippings of hairs that fall beside the waste bin, use tissue paper or a damp towel to wipe those.
• Clean your guards after every beard shave. You’ll have no problem doing this provided your guards come with plastic.
• Beard trimmers usually come with a tiny brush in a pack, separate the trimmer head from the handle, and use the provided brush to scrape the sticking hair off the trimmer.
• Ensure that your trimmer is always kept lubricated. You can do that by applying a few drops of oil before and after shaving the beard. Where the oil is in excess, you can use a piece of clothing to clean it off. Remember this is a lubricant oil and not a beard oil!

Conclusion

We’ve covered a lot on how to trim a beard, and hopefully, we’ve also touched on the part that you mostly are interested in learning about, when it comes to grooming your beard.

If in any case there are other things you wish we as well cover in this guide, please let us know.