Beard Lines: Why They Matter So Much
How a man wears his facial hair is a very personal business. One bloke wants his beard hair as long as it will go, another keeps it neat and cropped short. But both have one thing in common, and there is no way around it: the beard lines have to look sharp.
So which areas do we actually mean by beard lines, and how do you get them into the right shape?
More on that in part one, which we filmed at the barber shop "Kings Barber" in Aachen
Are there rules for styling your lines properly, or is it a case of every man for himself, as it so often is? We'll go through those questions and plenty more below, to show you how to take your wild beard lines to the state we'd call clean. Enjoy the research.
Why shaving your lines matters
Beard care, shaving your facial hair and of course the main event that comes with it, shaving your beard lines, are an essential part of the beard grooming routine. Sideburns and moustache in particular, and the lines around them, decide how the beard reads and whether it looks well kept. This is where the wheat gets separated from the chaff, to put it bluntly.
More on that too in part two at Kings Barber:
What do we actually mean by beard lines?
When you grow a beard out, your facial hair obviously has no idea where you want it to show. So the transitions, meaning the beard lines on your face, have to be brought into shape. You keep the hair you want according to your styling and shave off the hair you don't. But how do you go about it? One tool or another from the beard grooming kit will serve you very well here.
Which tools help you shape beard lines?
With an electric clipper for hair length, also known as a beard trimmer, you first take off the excess hair for the style you want and set out the basic look you're after. Run the machine over the areas where the lines will sit while the hair is dry, and it cuts off the unwanted hairs mechanically in those spots. The clean-up of the stubble that's left is the next point on the list, because:
Trimming your beard lines always leaves hair behind:
Once you've trimmed the excess hair around your beard lines, stubble is left, as we said. Time for the pre-shave. Start by wetting your face with warm or lukewarm water. That opens the pores of your skin and softens the beard hair, which is a basic requirement for trimming your beard hair at all.
For the rest of the pre-shave you use shaving foam or beard soap on the areas where the lines will be shaved, applying that very useful helper to those parts of your face. The stubble left over is the next step in the sequence.
It gets removed with a straight razor, fixed blade or replaceable blade, it doesn't matter which. A razor like that works with extreme precision, so it can cut your stubble off perfectly flush with the skin along your beard lines.
On the beard lines around the neck in particular, this approach carries a higher risk of injury. Straight razors are wickedly sharp and can cut straight through your carotid artery if you use them wrong. A few of you will remember the strangely still moment when a barber you trust laid the blade against your neck or your ears. The motto in our circle was always the same: don't move now. You'll know what we mean.
Otherwise, part three of our barbershop series at Kings Barber has more:
What do I do after cutting my beard lines?
After the pre-shave comes the aftershave. The market offers great products such as aftershave balm, which is particularly good at calming your facial skin and the reactions that come with shaving. Using them lets your skin settle down and carry on as before. You'll find those qualities in other products too, and all of them are waiting, as always, in the Charlemagne Premium shop, because:
„A healthy and well groomed beard is important for a real man, that's why we offer everything you need to keep yours doing so.“
As barbers with more than 20 years in the trade between us, we went looking for styling & care products that convinced us 100%. There were some good products on the market, but none that gave us everything we needed. After some thought we decided in 2014 to develop our own range. For two years we used every free minute after work at the barbershop to refine the formulations down in our cellar. When it came to ingredients, only the best was good enough. We bought the finest jojoba oils available in Morocco, and argan oil from Italy.
After two years and a good many attempts our first product line was ready, and it has been winning customers over ever since: we think 98% positive reviews speak for themselves. Since the official launch in 2016 it has of course been developed further, continuously. That is one of the reasons Charlemagne Premium products have won not one but several comparison tests in recent years.
You will find all our products, of course, right here in our online store. For any questions about them, you can reach us any time at info@charlemagne-premium.com.
