Beard Line Up: How to Line Up Your Beard at Home

Page 41 of my sketchbook is a face. Just a plain oval, a nose, two ears and a jaw, drawn in pencil while my tea went cold. Then I inked four short lines: across the cheek, under the jaw, along the top lip, at the bottom of each sideburn. That's the whole lesson. A beard is mostly a shape, and the shape is decided by where you stop it.

Here's the short answer. A beard line up is cleaning up the four edges of your beard so the shape reads crisp: the cheek line, the neckline, the mustache line over your lip, and the bottom edge of your sideburns. To line up your beard at home, comb everything into place, decide where each line goes before you cut, then use a trimmer with no guard to set the edge and a razor or edger to clean below it. Work in small passes on both sides and keep every line lower and softer than you think. You can always take more next week.

The four lines of a beard line up

When I draw a bearded face, I start with the outline, because that's what people see from across a room. The hair inside is texture. The edge is the drawing. A beard line up works on four edges.

• The cheek line. The upper border of the beard on each cheek, running from the bottom of the sideburn down toward the corner of the mustache.
• The neckline. The lower border under your jaw. Get it wrong and the beard looks shrunken or sloppy.
• The mustache line. The bottom edge of the mustache where it meets your top lip. Clean it and you can eat a sandwich without combing it afterward.
• The sideburn edge. Where your beard meets your haircut. It should blend into the hair or stop in a clean horizontal line, not a fuzzy smudge.

The neckline gets its own full walkthrough in our guide on how to trim your beard neckline, so I'll keep it brief here.

Tools: trimmer, edger or razor?

You need the right tip for the right line, the same way I'd never ink a hairline with a fat marker.

My setup is a trimmer with the guard off, plus a razor on the neck only if I'm going somewhere. A trimmer edge looks clean from an arm's length away, and that's where most people stand. If bumps are a regular fight, read up on ingrown beard hairs before you razor the neck every day.

Natural line or sharp line?

Decide this first. Think of it as pencil versus ink.

A natural line follows the edge your beard already grows. You only remove the strays outside it. It suits fuller beards, grows out without looking messy, and needs a touch-up about once a week.

A sharp line is a deliberate edge you draw yourself, usually straight on the cheek with a crisp corner at the sideburn. It reads very groomed and suits shorter beards and fades. The cost is upkeep: stubble shows on the bare skin fast, so plan on a touch-up every two to four days. If you're pairing a sharp line with a fade, our sibling guide to the beard fade shows how the two work together.

Not sure? Start natural. Sharpening a soft line later is easy. Going the other way means waiting for hair.

How to line up your beard, step by step

Do this on a dry, combed beard in good light. Wet hair lies flatter and looks longer, which is how people cut too much.

1. Comb it into its natural shape. Comb down and slightly out so every hair sits where it normally lives.
2. Look at the silhouette first. Step back and turn your head left and right. Notice where the beard thins on the cheeks and rolls under the jaw. That's your first sketch.
3. Set the neckline. Find the spot about one to two fingers above your Adam's apple, then picture a curved line from there back to the corner behind each ear. Trim below it, from the center out toward each ear.
4. Draw the cheek line. Picture a line from the bottom of your sideburn to the corner of your mustache. For a natural look, follow your beard's own edge and only clip what grows above it. For a sharp look, hold the trimmer flat against the skin and move it downward in short strokes, never across.
5. Match the sides. One small pass on the left, the same pass on the right, then check straight on. Alternating keeps you out of the chase where each side gets "fixed" until there's no cheek beard left.
6. Clean the mustache line. Comb the mustache straight down. Trim only the hairs that hang over the lip line, using the edger tip or small scissors. Smile while you check; that's when strays show.
7. Square off the sideburns. Decide whether the sideburn blends into your haircut or stops in a clean line. If it stops, keep the bottom edge level with the same spot on both ears.
8. Razor below the line, if you want it. Use shave cream and shave with the grain below the neckline and above a sharp cheek line. Skip it if your skin gets bumpy.
9. Finish the skin and the edge. Rinse, pat dry, then oil on the skin and a little balm to lay the hairs along the new line.

Reshaping the bulk of the beard is a separate job. For that, start with how to shape a beard, then come back and line it up last.

Beard line up mistakes I see most

Going too high on the cheek

The big one. A cheek line pushed toward the cheekbone makes the beard look painted on. Too low thins it into a chinstrap. If unsure, leave the line where your hair naturally stops.

Going too high on the neck

A neckline cut along the jawbone shrinks the beard and looks odd from the side. It belongs under the jaw, one to two fingers above the Adam's apple. Much lower and it turns into neck hair.

Chasing symmetry

Faces aren't symmetrical, and beards grow differently on each side. Aim for "matches from the front," not "matches under a ruler."

Cutting too much at once

A line up removes a few millimeters of edge, not a whole region. Took too much? Stop, don't cut the other side to match, and let it grow back for a week or two.

After the line up: keep the edge looking drawn

A clean line on flaky skin still looks rough. The skin you just trimmed needs attention, and the edge hairs need to lie flat.

• The Illustrator Beard Oil. 1 oz bottle, $18.99. Sunlit oak, honeyed resin and ambrosial nectar. My own blend, on castor, coconut, sweet almond, argan and jojoba oils. Three to five drops into the skin softens the hair and keeps fresh-trimmed skin from feeling tight. Sweet almond and argan come from tree nuts, so patch test first, and check with your doctor if you have a nut allergy.
• The Illustrator Beard Balm. 2 oz tin, $23.99. Same scent, thicker texture. A pea-sized amount pressed along the cheek line and neckline lays the edge hairs down so the outline reads clearly.

Prefer no scent on freshly shaved skin? The Barkeep Beard Oil is the same price with no added fragrance. You can compare the rest of the scents in the beard oil collection.

FAQ

One last thing

Page 41 is still in my sketchbook. The pencil has smudged, but the four ink lines are still clean. That's a good line up: not a new face, just the same face with its edges drawn in. Sketch it soft, ink it slowly.

Your beard, your story.

— The Illustrator

Keep reading in the Wizard's Library

• How to trim your beard neckline
• How to do a beard fade
• Beard styles for men