The beard neckline can be found right under your chin and above your Adam’s Apple. It’s the hard line that defines the bottom part of where the beard starts.
It’s a matter of preference whether you want your neckline to be sharp and defined, scruffy and natural, or faded.
Finding out exactly where your beards neckline is supposed to start from, and how to properly trim it, is what you will be learning in this post.
In other words, this is a complete illustrated guide on how to locate the optimal place for your beards neckline, how to trim it properly, and what are the best tools to help you maintain that perfect neckline effortlessly.
Let’s begin:
How to Find Your Beard Neckline Easily
Most beard grooming experts and barbers agree that the perfect location for where your beards neckline should be at, is at one to two finger widths above the top of your Adam’s apple.
Simply put, the easiest way to find your beards neckline, is to put your index finger on top of your Adam’s apples highest point and use that as the indicator where your beards neckline should be.
If it feels like the beard neckline is still too low after this procedure, you can optionally also place both your index and middle finger on top of the Adam’s apple and use that as your guide on where to trim your beard neckline from.
But that only covers the front part. How about the sides of the jawline, where should you trim your beards neckline at the sides? Easy, just keep the neckline one to two fingers below your actual jawline.
Here’s a picture that perfectly illustrates what I mean:
So to summarize finding your beards neckline:
Looking from the front, your beards neckline should start from one to two finger widths above the highest part of your Adam’s apple. Looking from the side, your beards neckline should be one to two finger widths below your actual jawline.
How to Shave and Shape a Perfect Beard Neckline
- Take your beard trimmer and remove the guard.
- Place your index finger at the top of your Adam’s apple.
- Start defining a line around your chin, making sure there is a gap of 1-2 finger widths between the edge of your neckline and the top part of your Adam’s apple.
- Continue trimming the neckline towards your ears around the jawline, again use your finger to guide you by placing it underneath your natural jawline.
- Once done, you can use beard scissors to snip away all the rogue hairs still remaining, and a razor to give your neck a clean-shave.
How to Fade Your Beard Neckline
Some guys don’t want a sharp and defined neckline that defines where their beards start from, instead they would like to opt for a more natural looking faded neckline.
Faded beard neckline is simply a neckline that doesn’t have a sharp defined edge, instead it gradually blends into your non-bearded skin at the neck.
Here’s how to fade your beards neckline:
- Take your beard trimmer and put a guard on it with the lowest possible setting.
- Start from the top part of your Adam’s apple, and trim down a very small 0.5″ section upwards.
- Now set your beard trimmers guard up a couple settings and continue trimming down another 0.5″ section upwards.
- Again set your beard trimmers guard couple settings higher and continue trimming down another 0.5″ section upwards.
- Keep doing this until your neckline blends perfectly with the rest of your beard. Depending on your beards length you may need to use some common sense and fiddle around with the above measurements.
Fading your beards neckline is much harder than defining a clear-cut line. It’s best to go to a professional barber for this if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Best Tools For Maintaining Beards Neckline
- Beard Trimmer – It goes without saying that when trimming your beards neckline, there’s no better tool than a good beard trimmer.
- Beard Scissors – Even after using the trimmer, you will sometimes find rogue hairs sticking out, it’s easy to snip these away with a set of beard scissors.
- Beard Razor – Some guys like a clean-shave on their necks, and you need a razor for this. I recommend using something simple and cheap like the Gilette FusionGlide. Also a word of warning, shaving your neck hairs super short exposes you to the risk of ingrown hairs. Personally I skip razor and just use the trimmer without any guard for a clean enough look.
- Beard Shaping Template – Arguably one of the most helpful but not that well known things that can help you define a beards neckline is a dedicated beard shaping tool.
What to Do if You Shave Beard Neckline Too High
The cardinal sin of trimming a beard is shaving the beards neckline too high.
Most men trimming their beard for the first time, make the mistake of thinking that they should follow the natural edges of their jawline and chin when trimming their beards neckline and jawline.
Wrong.
If you do that your beards neckline will go way too high and it will simply look unnatural, especially from the side profile.
On top of looking weird, a beards neckline that is too high will also creep up to halway of your cheek when you open your mouth to eat or laugh for example.
Stick to the golden rule of 1-2 finger widths up from the Adam’s apple and down from your natural jawline to avoid that.
But what if you already shaved your beard line too high, is there any way to recover?
Sadly there isn’t a silver bullet that could quickly fix the issue. Your only hope is to trim the rest of your beard down and wait some time to try again (yes, this can mean months of growing due to one simple mistake).
Should You Shave Beards Neckline When Growing a Beard?
So we know by now that sculpting a defined line to the bottom part of your beard can make it look defined and awesome.
But what if your goal is to grow a big long beard, one that goes way below your Adam’s apple for example, how should you go about shaving the neckline then, or should you even shave it?
The answer is no! When growing a big bushy beard, it’s best to let your neckline grow out naturally as well.
This is due to the fact that if you would constantly keep shaving down your neckline while the rest of your beard grows in length, it would eventually create an odd looking gap between your neck and the beard.
Remember, the neckline gives a lot of volume to a big full beard. If the goal is size, leave your beards neckline alone.
If that sounds confusing, here’s a picture that shows exactly what I mean:
Conclusion
Defining your beards neckline is simple, all you need to do is use one to two finger widths as a guide, place them on top of the highest point of your Adam’s apple, and trim a nice defined line right there.
Most professional barbers and beard groomers agree that a gap of 1-2″ below the top part of your Adam’s apple and the start of your beard is perfect for beards neckline.
Fading the beards bottom part is of course also an option, but it’s much harder and often times better to be done at a professional.