Dear reader,
As you know, I have decided to keep my beard. It will be the Balbo beard. Read on about my beard adventures.
Growing your beard is like a journey of discovery.
If you have decided to keep your beard, you are heading into an uncertain future. You start from scratch but don’t know which path you will take or where it will end. Of course, you don’t know how the beard will develop. Will it be a thin, wispy beard or a full Viking beard? Will it be a neat, tight lawn or a poor patchy grass? Should there be a mustache too, and should I let the beard grow all the way to my ears? I absolutely don’t want a goatee. According to Youp van ’t Hek, that’s a so-called ‘talking pussy.’ And then the question arises: which type of beard will I choose or suits me? I was advised to just let it grow calmly and then see what suits me best. The beard you choose also depends on the shape of your head. What shape is my head? According to my wife, I have a square head. Yes, then you have to see which beard suits a square head. The choice is huge. If you have a square face, it’s best to choose a full, long, and rounded beard. The sides of the beard or sideburns should be kept neat and short. If you don’t, your head will look very wide. The so-called Balbo beard sounds good to me. That’s a beard with a floating mustache combined with a broad goatee that follows the jawline and shaved sideburns. Luckily, my wife agrees. Well, she has to look at it all day long.
Beards and razors
Anyone who thinks that if you have a beard you never have to shave again is very wrong. If I do nothing, the beard grows wildly. Before you know it, it’s going every which way. I don’t want to look like a homeless person. My barber advised me to keep about two fingers’ width of beard under the chin and jaw and shave the rest of the neck area. This keeps the beard looking neat and well-groomed. Some guys let the beard stubble grow in the neck area too. Everyone can decide for themselves, but I don’t like that. On the cheeks, you can choose to shave the beard contours super tight in a curved line from the corner of the mouth to the ear. I don’t find that very attractive myself. I prefer to keep the beard edges a bit rough. That suits me better. So regularly I tidy up the beard contours with my Gillette razor. It’s a bit tricky, though. Because the long beard hairs quickly get stuck between the blades of my Fusion. The Fusion has a wide rim around its 5 blades. This makes it hard to see how the blades are shaving. It has happened to me a few times that I accidentally shaved too much on one side, so the beard contours no longer match. Very awkward. In short, I’m not completely satisfied with the razor yet. I’m still looking for the ideal razor for perfectly shaving my beard.
Sharp beard contours
Normally, I shave my beard with a little shaving foam from the spray can. The downside is that you smear a big white cloud on your beard. You really can’t see well what’s underneath. You don’t have a good view of the beard edges. Regularly, it goes wrong and I don’t get the edges sharp enough. To my great annoyance. My neighbor a few houses down advised me to use a transparent shaving gel. This way, you have a protective layer and a clear view of the edges at the same time. Oh, why didn’t I think of that myself earlier? Good advice and very logical. I immediately bought a shaving gel. I put a little shaving gel on my beard and can now very precisely tidy up the beard contours. Perfect. Yes, I’m getting there. Step by step.
It’s clear that my beard adventure is not a neatly organized trip. But it is an exciting journey of discovery. To be continued.
Johan
