With salons like Great Clips being closed due to the stay-at-home orders, many men are just letting it all hang out. We’re not talking about beer bellies and dad bods but about facial hair! Now is the time to realize that we all miss those $6 bread trims from Great Clips.
We have seen several previously clean-shaven Hollywood celebrities who have grown beards because it’s more convenient than frequent shaving.
Are you also thinking of growing your beard? If you are, then welcome to a whole new world! A beard can change the shape of your face, hide your facial flaws and draw attention to your assets.
If you have thinning hair, for example, growing a beard will draw attention away from it. If you have a double chin, it can hide the layers. If you have a youngish face, you can seem more mature. In short, a beard may just be the perfect way to present yourself to family and friends you haven’t seen since the pandemic began.
This begs numerous questions: What style is best for you? How do you maintain it? Let’s take a look at the answers.
Start with the Stubble
Before World War II, the stubble was considered as a sign of laziness in men, even as s sign of being down on one’s luck. Men who didn’t shave their stubble immediately were also considered slovenly and, thus, undesirable or untrustworthy. In fact, a well-known razor company called it the five o’clock shadow as a way to encourage men to shave their beards twice a day.
Fortunately, times have changed for the better and the stubble is considered sexy as hell! We’ve seen and admired it in Hollywood celebrities from Sean Connery to Brad Pitt. We love it in others, too, because it’s the middle ground between being clean-shaven and having a full-on beard.
Yet another great thing about the stubble is that it’s give flexibility of options. You can either go back to a clean-shaven look or make it grow longer into a goatee. Either way, it’s a great look if you want to look more rugged and more mature, perhaps more macho.
Plus, a stubble hides facial flaws that other means cannot. These flaws include weak jaws since it adds more depth to their shape as well as uneven pigmentation and acne scars, which can be hidden underneath it.
A few tips when you’re growing a stubble:
- Keep it neat, trimmed and in the right length. Too long and you’ll look scruffy, too short and you’ll look sleep-deprived. We suggest a stubble worth about three to four days of growth, and then trim it to keep it at this length.
- Use a bear trimmer set to the 3-6 mm setting to remove errant hairs below your Adam’s apple and from your cheeks.
- Find a stubble style that suits your face and style. For example, if you have a round face, you can elongate it by making your beard line seem lower – shave your stubble around the lower cheek area.
- Exfoliate your skin with a facial scrub and apply a daily moisturizer to condition your skin and stubble.
These maintenance steps are also necessary to prevent so-called pash rash, which can cause discomfort to your partner during kissing.
Go for the Goatee
If you want a longer beard than a stubble, your next step is a goatee. You will possibly like it, too, because it’s not only low maintenance but it’s also big on style. The goatee, after all, is a popular choice for intellectuals and rock stars, even for artists who refuse to be boxed into a stereotype.
But what exactly is a goatee? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all description but a goatee has hair above the chin and lip areas only that, in some cases, frames the mouth. Think of it as more rebellious cousin of the stubble but less of a commitment than the full-on Santa Claus beard.
Goatees are a great choice for men with a slim, angular face as well as for men with round faces who want to look slimmer. Take a look at George Michael who has always favored goatees. Both men with short hair and with longish hair will look great in a goatee, too.
But a goatee demands precision maintenance, a steady hand and patience. You have to let your facial hair grow to a comfortable length and maintain it regularly. You should have a beard trimmer that can be used in trimming your whiskers, which should sit either on or just above your upper lip’s edge.
Keep the skin around your goatee as clean-shaven as possible. Apply either a skin oil or a shave gel on your skin to make the facial hair removal easier and the results better. You can experiment with your goatee style and it will be easier with well-moisturized skin and hair.
As soon as the nearest Great Clips salon opens, you should have your stubble or goatee trimmed by a professional. You may even ask for tips in maintaining it at home but there’s nothing like professional attention to keep it looking great!