At some time or another every man goes through the phase of deciding to grow a beard. The desire comes on each male to let that facial hair have freedom to grow and ultimately showcase how you look as a bearded soul. Are you in that phase right now? Great, welcome aboard! Certainly, your razor may have a holiday in store, but you still have work to do if you want to grow a beard. (In fact, that razor will still have a role to play in keeping a clean neckline). Here come a few tips to get you started in the right direction of being a bearded beauty.

Understand Your Personal Beard Potential

Up first in growing a beard is learning the art of acceptance: Is it actually possible for you to grow one? Will it be a full beard? If you're a young adult it may still have some way to go in terms of fullness. That being said, if your facial hair (granted you may have been shaving it all away), has been long established, you need to accept what you are working with. Get the idea out of your head that you are going to grow a full bodied mighty beard, unless of course you're blessed with such potential. The great thing about beards, is that pretty much any type of facial hair can grow into a nice looking beard, you just need to experiment and have fun.

Knowing your style and choosing a beard that matches it is vital. Take a look at your face in the mirror; what is your face shape? Beards should make the face look oval. So if your face is as wide as it is long (we call that a square or circular face by the way), you want a beard that gives a little length with trim sides. On the other hand, if your face looks longer than it is wide (we call it rectangular or oblong), then you should think about a beard that doesn't have much length. In general, you are aiming for perfect symmetry.

Neckbeards Aren't Good!

Simply growing a beard without caring for maintenance is a mistake many novices make. Granted, maintenance does take some time, even though it'll be less than shaving, however keeping things in shape will improve the appearance no end.

You should aim to keep the neckline defined, avoiding neckbeards altogether. Using your razor to get rid of those annoying neck hairs is a simple task. However, it's the actual neckline that a lot of guys just don't understand. Around the jaw and under the chin should boast a full beard. To know where to stop growth, take two fingers and put them around your Adam's apple. Now imagine you are drawing a 'U' that starts at the back of the ear and lands in this spot. All air below tha imaginary line has got to go. This will give you a defined stop line for your beard growth. (You'll be glad to know that the first time is the hardest, after that the beard will grow out and you will simply shave the stubble that's below the 'U'.)

A lot of men like to fade the neckline, meaning it gradually forms the beard. To do this, use beard clippers and set them at half of your usual beard-trimming setting. If you haven't decided on a setting yet, just use your common sense. For the first inch above the beard neckline use a slightly lower length, this will give a gradual appearance to the beard rather than having a skin to beard contrast. Of course, this is up to you, you can make it as gradual as you like, even reducing the guard length another time and edging halfway into the inch (now that's a bearded beauty!)

Grow, Maintain, Repeat

All of your beard requires regular trimming. Hair grows at different rates and you may want some parts of your beard (remember what we discussed about face shape) to grow more than other parts. Once your beard is good and full around your cheeks, but has started to look on the messy side, use a beard comb to bring the hairs away from the grain, this should make them stand out. Once you've done this you should be able to trim the hair evenly and the parts which are fast to grow should be clearly seen. Use the best beard trimmer and shaver you can afford for this.

As you trim, keep a good eye that you maintain the style and face shape you are aiming for. To keep the look consistent you should try to trim every two weeks. In fact, keeping the maintenance consistent as your beard grows will contribute to creating a great shape.

Moustaches need a precise maintenance routine: First, comb the hairs over your lip, then use moustache scissors (also useful for stray beard hairs by the way) to do the trimming. Depending on how you wear your moustache and how thick it is, you may need to trim it twice as often as your beard.

Clean And Soft Is Your Aim

If you've decided to be a guy with a beard, you want those whiskers of yours to be super soft (your partner will be grateful too!) Use a dedicated scrub to clean your beard every few days and use a beard oil every day for conditioning, a great way to lock in nutrients. A beard comb should then be used to make sure the entire beard enjoys a good helping of the oil.