Best way to sculpt your facial hair

[ZoneTripper]

hi to everyone, first post and good to find this forum.

I've been shaving my head for 10 years and playin around with different facial hair styles for just as long  Still not settled on one i like! always end up bk with just a bit of longer growth under my bottom lip and some stubble.

question is what the best thing to shave in some clean lines either side when growin a goatee and bit of a moustache combo?  u know the problem a Mach 3 is too wide for the job.  I could ask Gilette for a half size version but dont think much of my chances 

What do you guys use?

ZT in the UK

[dieseldan04]

I use regular hair clippers and turn them on edge for a good clean line and then shave sideways to the line to get it crisp.  Beauty supply stores sell the small finishing razors and they would be good for that if you can get them.

[ZoneTripper]

Hey thanks a lot dieseldan, the clippers method sounds good.  Smooth lines here i come!

[D.A.L.U.I.]

I haven't grown a beard for many a year until about 6 weeks ago.  My suggestion, based on what I was able to find was to let it grow a full month and to either let it "all hang out" or at least a lot more than you think you want for at least a month before beginning any shaping or major sculpting.  So far it's working, and I've gotten a start on a rather full goatee.   So, I recommend that you let it grow, unmolested for at least a month, and if trimmed at all trimmed very generously to allow for some work once it matures and you know how the hair grows and behaves with more length unless you're one of the guys with an extremely dense growth that defines it self within two weeks. 

As an aside I am getting some major compliments and that has moved me from a position that I'll probably get rid of it by Easter, to a 50% chance of keeping it--at least until today.  My boss was in town for a presentation and the first thing he said was that it looked really good, "especially with the shiny dome!"  My wife also likes it--can't figure her out, she hates the dome even though all I would have is a fringe and thin growth on top.  Oh, well, maybe after we're married another 34 years I'll have her figured out!
Again from my own experience with this chin mitten all I have done is run a clipper with a #2 comb over the growth under my chin--that's it, and it keeps it from looking too ragged. 

Good luck.

[Rob]

I can't give much advice, because my beard is just as it grows: the shape of it is dictated by the natural growth of my facial hair.  Saint is right in saying just grow it a while before trimming it though, and then clip it down or grow it longer depending on taste.  I havent actually clipped mine yet, as I'm happy with the length.  Wondering whether to grow a 'tash, but I quite like the 'true goat' without the 'tash at the moment.

[Alexander215]

I have a pretty thick "bushy" beard, so I use scissors and a comb. However I shave the tops of my cheeks so I don't look like a wolfman, because I easily could. It would grow right up to my eyes! Mustache gets the razor.

[Razor X]

As an aside I am getting some major compliments and that has moved me from a position that I'll probably get rid of it by Easter, to a 50% chance of keeping it--at least until today.  My boss was in town for a presentation and the first thing he said was that it looked really good, "especially with the shiny dome!" 

It is looking good, saintc.   It would be a shame to get rid of it now, having survived the scruffy stage.

[D.A.L.U.I.]

It is looking good, saintc.   It would be a shame to get rid of it now, having survived the scruffy stage.

Thanks.  I'm going through the "Who's that guy in the mirror?" stage right now, much like the first couple of months SLY.  I don't like edging it--I've even looked into that mouth device but for right now I'm not going to get it.  I'm also trying to figure out how "long" it should be and how to achieve it with the guards on the clippers--No. 4 is starting to cut now so it's going to be a few weeks of learning how to trim up stragglers. For right now, I think I'm moving my decision day out by a couple of months.  Next week I have to go to upstate NY to the home office for a week of meetings so it will be nice as a literal chin mitten since they still have what is for me very cold weather.  I'm getting my winter stuff ready .  I'll also get a better read on what senior management's idea of it is.  They're very sensitive to appearances.  I'm also wondering if I'll get any grief from TSA since my license has me, clean shaven w/ a dying mop.  They've never questioned the Sly look (probably because so many of the TSA guys are sly too !
In the final analysis, it's like getting used to anything new--and frankly in most cases I'm not particularly talented in that--"I've been to the past and it works!" kind of thing.  At least the chin mitten isn't one of the complaints of She Who Must Be Obeyed!

[Rob]

It really is lookin good, Saint.  You gotta keep it a while at least.   It looks very business-like to me, and a great combo with the SLY noggin, of course.

[Ftank]

I think everyone who has replied so far looks great with their facial hair.  I think with the sly dome on many people the right facial hair gives them that masculine edge to their look.  That is what I think it does for saint, razor, shdwwlk etc... 

I went sly about 2 and a half weeks ago and I have been growing my facial hair out for about 10 days or so.  I liked myself totatlly sly.  But now that the facial hair is starting come in nice, (as it grows less on my head it is growing faster and thicker on my face lol)  I feel it makes me look more masculine.  In about 5 days I am going to a professional barber who shapes beards to get  suggestion from him on how to shape my facial hair and see what he carves.  If I don't like it I can always go back to the drawing board.  I think it totally depends on the person.  Some people on here look great totatlly sly and others look great with the added facial hair.

Frank

[shaved]

I found a beard trimmer best,  you can get them with wide blades and some a very narrow blade, my one has thickness combs to attach and so is good to shape lines etc and then attach a comb and run over and beard is trimmed nicely.

My biggest problem is that i have an artifical right eye, so i can see one side of face great but not the other even with a mirror. So i use things like the corner of eyes or mouth as a line to follow down