Getting Beard Done by shaving once a week, with a system!

Last year when I celebrated my 40th birthday, I mentioned that the beard 🧔 that grew on me during the Camino de Santiago I did with my wife, is staying for good. And it has. And it’s been almost a year and I got used to my facial hair and my wife loves it (as do my three daughters) and thanks to it I only need to shave once a week. Here’s my system - how I shave once a week, how I look like before and after shaving… or rather, trimming:

Life before the facial hair…

Before I had any facial hair, I had none. I liked to be shaved but I was never a fan of the whole “act of shaving”. I tried different shavers but finally settled on a Braun shaver series 9 which was great for my needs. But still I hated the fact that I had to shave every day.

Then, when I went on a pilgrimage with my wife for two weeks, I asked her if I could just NOT shave and not carry a shaver with me… and she agreed and slowly but steadily my facial hair grew and I got myself a beard.

Life with a beard - something to get used to…

I didn’t like my own facial hair in the beginning. It was annoying, itchy and felt kinda strange. I decided to keep it for a month and see… I thought I’d get rid of it after the WWDC 2019 Conference but when I came back home, my wife insisted on me keeping it.. and my daughters (and I have three of them 10-7-3) also didn’t want me to shave. So the beard stayed.

Getting Beard Done - the shaving process

I got a great piece of advice from my barber about how to keep my beard under control and also make it fit my round face. I’m using one of Braun’s trimmers - the model BT3240 and it’s great for the job.

Here’s my process - I’m writing it for myself, but I hope it’s useful to any one of you, figuring out your way of dealing with facial hair during this COVID-19 pandemic.

I shave once a week, only using the above-mentioned trimmer. I don’t use the shaver anymore at all. I usually trim on a Sunday before the next week and it goes like this:

1. I trim the longest part of the beard - the front with 10mm
2. I proceed to trimming the sides and the neck with 6mm
3. I trim my almost-no-existent mustache and the hair under the mouth with 4mm
4. I take the trimmer down to zero and correct the sides, the mustache and the neck.
5. And that’s it. The shaving is done.

It’s a simple and easy and repeatable system. According to my wife I look great. Which is what ultimately counts. And I don’t need to shave every day anymore.

Now that my regular hair is growing too fast, I’m thinking of a system to also cut it myself… or should I just wait a little longer and visit my hairdresser 💇‍♂️?

P.S. Following my dad’s footsteps…

My dad has always had a beard. I’ve never seen him completely shaved.. turns out I’m now following his footsteps: