One of the simplest ways to get your beard looking amazing is to shape it properly. Unfortunately, that is a whole lot easier said than done. Grooming your beard shape is something you practice over time. To fully get the hang of it, you need to be patient with yourself and proceed with dedication and care.

Having a well-trimmed neckline is one of the key tricks that will bump your beard up to the next level. A neckbeard never really did anyone any favors. It’s uncomfortable, itchy, and looks incredibly unruly. Trimming that off immediately makes your beard look far more professional.

Trimming your neckline, however, is a bit of a challenge. After all, it takes months to grow your beard, but one slip of the hand when trimming can undo all of your efforts. However, even with a few simple errors, all is not lost.

Trimming your beard neckline too high is one of the most common mistakes. It is one of the most difficult parts of trimming and shaping a beard. Even the most experienced beards men and barbers make this mistake on occasion.

You’ll need some tools to trim your neckline most effectively.

First off, you should get some quality cutting materials. Get a pair of barber’s scissors. These will be sharp enough to snip your hair most effectively. However, you should also get a quality set of trimmers. These will help you trim your neckline to clean up later. The guards will also help you trim and maintain your beard more regularly.

A quality beard comb and brush are also essential. These will make sure that your hairs are uniformly directed. That way you’ll trim all of your hairs to keep the neckline crisp and prevent an unruly look. A beard brush will also keep your beard healthy by distributing natural oils from the base of your hair across your beard.

Trimming your neckline is best accomplished when working alongside a care and maintenance routine. So having beard oil and beard balm are also recommended.

Learning how to recognize where your beard’s neckline should fall is the first step to trimming it perfectly. Because of the awkward location, it’s hard to look in the mirror and tell where to trim simultaneously.

If the beard’s neckline that is closer to the jaw than the Adam’s apple is trimmed too high, it makes the beard look smaller than it is and accentuates the jawline differently.

However, this is one of the more easily recoverable of the beard mistakes. There’s no need to panic, just view this as a learning experience.

As always, before you start trimming your beard, make sure you wash and comb your hair so that it’s clean and uniform.

Before we get around to finding your neckline, let’s go over a few different repair methods.

Repairing as you go will have you adjusting your neckline every other day. It takes some patience before you start to notice any real results, but it’s perfect if you want your neck to stay cleanly shaved.

This process involves shaving a new neckline to eventually grow in to fill the area between the shorter necklines.

When you shave next, simply determine where your new neckline should go, and then only shave below it. You’re allowing for unimpeded growth for where your neckline should go. This allows you to evaluate and adjust as you go. Though be careful not to trim too short again, or you’ll just set yourself back. When in doubt, trim closer to the Adam’s apple than further.

As your beard grows into the new neckline, it will fill out and look full. Keep up with this process until your beard has grown-in to your satisfaction.

For this method, you’re going to adjust your neckline all at once.

What you’re going to do here is to not shave your neck for at least a week or however long until enough hair has grown in to reshape it. Then you’re simply going to trim out the new neckline and clean up the hair on your neck.

This method also lends itself to trimming or fading your existing beard to blend it in with the new neckline. This allows for a more uniform look and will save you the trouble of trimming it later to achieve the same uniformity.

If your beard is shorter, or already stylized, you may just want to keep your neckline faded. This is the simple process of trimming the hair at the neckline shorter than the hair at the chin.

You can achieve this either with scissors or trimmers.

If you’re using scissors, simply snip your neck hair shorter at the neck. Be careful to keep this uniform. Using a comb or your fingers to pull your hair out will make this go a lot smoother.

When using trimmers, you first want to select the guard or set it at the desired length. Tilt your head up, then starting from the neckline, trim your hair and pull away as you reach the chin.

It’s easiest to start at one ear and slowly work your way to the other. However, you can also alternate sides to create a uniform, symmetrical look.

There are a few different ways to find out where your neckline should go.

The simplest way is to base your neckline on where your Adam’s apple is. Simply place two fingers above your Adam’s apple, then trim where the top finger lands.

However, this may not work for all men. Not everyone has a clear boundary where their neckline should go. There’s a more complicated method for finding out how to style their neckline.

Start this process by tilting your head up. You want to imagine a line from ear to ear that passes just above your Adam’s apple. To imagine the line, run your finger across your throat like you’re threatening your mirror counterpart with death.

This is a much more precise way of defining your neckline, since you’re essentially defining your face along X- and Y-axes. (Remember that from math class way back when?) The X-axis is the line from ear to ear, while the Y-axis runs behind your sideburns on each side. The 2 lines will intersect at the corner of the jaw.

Use your trimmers to draw the line across your neck, and to trim the hair further back on your jaw. Then shave everything underneath that line.

Letting your beard grow out indefinitely is one way to fix your neckline, but that’s more recommended if you’re already committed to a hefty beard.

If you’re still pretty early in the process, you have more options that are more closely akin to starting over entirely.

This is best avoided if you have a big beard investment already. However, you can hide any issues with your neckline if you make your beard a lot smaller. After all, a large beard can go a long way towards hiding your issue, a shorter beard can’t

The way to go about this is to trim your beard down to the length of about a new beard. Essentially, you’re adopting a stubble beard to let it grow back in. A beard that short won’t look weird if the neckline is a bit off.

Then as the beard grows back in, adjust the neckline to its more fitting location.

Play Around With Different Styles

One of the best ways to roll with your mistake is to adopt a new style altogether. Many goatee styles, like the anchor beard or Van Dyke, decidedly avoid having such a deep neckline.

To accomplish this, simply trim your beard into the new style then let it grow back. As the beard grows back, adjust the neckline to the proper length.

This is a creative workaround to your simple mistake and a good way to have fun with it. After all, your beard will grow back.

This is a common enough issue that human ingenuity has stepped in to make your life a lot easier. You can also purchase a beard trimming toolset. These come in a few different varieties, but essentially they are plastic guards that create a line for you to shave alongside.

Some of them are on elastic straps that you fit onto your head. The plastic guard is shaped to cup your jaw. It covers the hair on your neck that you want to keep, then exposes the hair to shave.

Other varieties are freehand tools that you hold to your neck, and then use the trimmer in your other hand.

These are shortcuts that you can use to speed up this process.

Alternatively, you can go to a barber and have them shape your beard initially. Once your beard is shaped, it’s pretty easy to trim along the existing lines.

Getting your beard shaped initially is the difficult part. However, it’s important to know where your neckline lands in order to not mess it up in the future.

When applying shaving cream to the neckline, make sure you apply only a thin amount. Do not apply shaving cream onto your beard. That obstructs your view and will make it more easily messed up.

The most surefire way to maintain your neckline is to know where it falls and to keep trimming accordingly. But be sure to keep in mind that mistakes happen. A messed up neckline is something you’re more likely to pay attention to than anyone else. Keep learning from your mistakes and adjust as you go. Your beard will always grow back.

Also, make sure to shave along the grain on your neckline. Ingrown hairs are a common issue along this area, especially amongst those with sensitive skin or with black men, whose beard hair is curlier.

A well-trimmed neckline will elevate your beard style. A bad beard neckline can make any man look like he has a double chin, which nobody wants. Knowing how to trim a beard neckline is essential for keeping a cool, crisp, and clean look.

Necklines are easier to shape when your beard is shorter. If your beard is long, you’ll likely need to put in some effort to figure out where your neckline should go, or just go to a barber to have them shape your beard for you.

If you have a longer beard, a clean beard neckline will make your beard seem thicker and fuller. However, a stubble neckline will highlight key features of your face without looking messy.

No matter which way you decide, understanding how to trim your neckline is essential to maintaining your look.