TLDR – it’s critically important to find a skilled barber for your beard trim, and if you live in Oakville, make sure he’s in Oakville.
This post explains why.
I was manning the bar one day last summer. Remember, we’re in Bronte Harbour, Oakville, so there’s a ton of foot traffic of visitors going to and fro. A guy and his girl were walking by and something funny happened. I noticed that everyone stopped to look at the guy. Girls and guys included all stopped to catch a sideways glance at him.
That beard. That moustache.
He sported a white beard, perfectly trimmed and a envious twilled moustache. With a refined haircut, slim glasses and the right business casual clothes, he stopped everyone as he walked by.
Imagine that happened to you. You’re walking down a crowded sidewalk, and the ladies stop and smile at you bashfully, and men look at you with incredulous eyes. Even people put their faces against the car window just to stare at you.
The beard is such a rarity in today’s world, that when it appears in its perfect form, it is showstopping.
Now, you’ve decided to sport a beard – that manly mane, that lion’s signature of kingship, that natural accessory to your good looks.
Excellent.
Beards are important
Before we start, know that beards have been a defining trait of men since the dawn of mankind. Kings, pharoahs and emperors all maintained manicured beards as a sign of their dominance in their field.
(In the army, the beard is shaved because it shows discipline and uniformity and it makes it easy to put a gas mask on.)
I’m not sure why the kings of today and the titans of modern business have all decided to shave their beards…anyway.
But again, to this day, when someone walks by with a perfectly manicured beard and mustache, it is a sight to behold.
Beards pose problems
Here’s the issue though. Your beard doesn’t like you.
It doesn’t grow in a way that makes you look good, unlike your nose or eyes. Your beard grows out however it wants to, from whatever angle at whatever spot on your face. And your beard hair doesn’t even have the same characteristic as your scalp hair. It is wiry and curly. Grain direction is all over the place. One part of your face, the hair goes up. A cm over, it does sideways. Another part, it goes in a spiral. To top it off, it is downright a monster to deal with in the morning, especially the long beard.
Even with a short hair beard, you have to manually line it up in the morning. And if you mess up the cheek line, you’ll have to get rid of the whole thing.
After your eyes, the first thing people see is your beard. And if it’s uneven or messed up, your whole face is out the wash.
So, that’s a big issue.
Now, that we’ve delved into why I commend you for having a beard and why having a beard is so difficult, let us go into the solutions.
Beard trim solutions
All this is to say, you need to trim your beard right.
The DIY Beard Trim
The first thing you can do is trim your beard yourself. This is a natural solution. Department stores sell beard trimming and shaving kits by the millions. So, you take the razor home and you attempt to line up your beard.
Be careful!
The hair is so sparse that if you take off one folical too many, you’ll make the cheek line or your cheek hair look cratered. You know what I mean, you’ve probably done it a bunch of times too.
Well, time to shave it all off, grow it out again for 2 weeks to 6 months and explain to everyone including your parents…again…why you want to grow your beard.
The Hair Salon Beard Trim
Alright, the second thing you can do is visit a woman’s hair salon, because they advertise haircuts for $21 bucks and so beard trims must be even cheaper.
The problem is, women don’t grow beards nor work with men who grow them, nor service men who sport them.
So, you walk in, sit down, and make your request. Her eyes widen because she rarely does this kind of service. There goes your beard. Then, you walk out, are too embarrassed to see anyone, and go home.
Time to shave it all off, grow it out again for 2 weeks to 6 months and explain to everyone including your parents…again…why you want to grow your beard.
The “Highly Rated” Barber Shop Beard Trim
The third option is that you decide to visit a men’s barber shop. It’s got thousands of good ratings, so the place must be good.
But you didn’t check the experience of the barbers.
Do you know that 80% of the population is happy with an 80% haircut, so 80% of visitors will leave a 4+ star rating for the shop. Plus, they get $5 off their cut for leaving a rating.
But you’re the 1% of the population sporting a beard. You can’t risk it on someone who hasn’t done beards for a long time, nor on someone who does not sports a beard himself.
But, you didn’t know that, so you visit the barber shop, sit in the chair and realize the owner has given you the new kid to be your barber.
Once all is said and done, and the barber hasn’t heard or understand your request, you walk out too embarrassed to see anyone, and go home.
Time to shave it all off, grow it out again for 2 weeks to 6 months and explain to everyone including your parents…again…why you want to grow your beard.
The “Highly Reputed” Barber Shop Beard Trim
The fourth and final option is that you visit a barbershop where you KNOW the barbers have decades of experience in the field.
You can’t possibly screw up there.
The Goldwyn & Sons Bar and Barber Shop is one such barber shop, as our two barbers have over 50 years of experience between them (or something like 360,000 haircut and beard trims).
But, there are others. Just make sure they have a ton of experience.
Anyway, you walk in, you sit down and the barber actually spends time with you getting to understand your actual request and making recommendations based on your face shape, the type of beard hair you have, the growth directions and density of your beard, the time you want to spend maintaining your beard, and why you even want to have a beard in the first place.
Then, with the eyes of someone who has cut for over 10 years…
And with the desire to give you a result that’s better than you asked for…
He begins to work on your beard – the most important thing on your face.
The barber lays you back, warms your face with a hot towel and uses a razor and warm shaving cream to ensure the beard line is “crispy”.
He stands behind you and eye balls the symmetry of the beard line by placing his hands on your temples and tilting your face to the right and to the left. That’s for the short beard.
If your beard hair is growing out longer, he straightens the beard hair naturally, through a process you can repeat at home.
Then, again, maintaining symmetry, he snips and shapes the beard in accordance with what you and him have agreed on. Did you want a square bottom, V-bottom or U-bottom, don’t worry he’s got it.
Want to maintain your own beard? Check out our article on that topic here.
Onto the mustache.
The moustache is interesting because it grows at various lengths and can take on various shapes.
Had you done it yourself, visited the women’s hair salon, or visited the barber shop with the good ratings but the inexperienced barbers, your mustache might be a thin line above your lip if you’re lucky.
But, not here.
Here, the mustache is the capstone to your beard. It has to be perfect. So, he trims it near the lip, but sparingly cuts it at the tips, to ensure it can fan out.
Then, with beard and mustache products that are easily available for purchase, he works the product into your beard and brings it to shape and to life.
Finally, he sits you up, and shows you your face and you stare in awe. “I can look like that!?”
Yes, sir, you can look like that and you deserve too. That is why it is of critical importance to find skilled barbers for your beard trim in Oakville.
Reputation
I’d like to cap this post with the following universal point. There is a reason you need to look for a skilled barber in any city you are in (Oakville, if you live here). Reputation.
Hair salons don’t care to have a reputation of doing men’s beards right. It’s not their business.
“Highly rated” barber shops sometimes leverage volume for business and help clients that are happy with 80% haircuts.
“Highly reputed” barber shops are a different story. Here, the barber’s reputation in the broader barber community is at stake. They cannot sacrifice their reputation for a quick buck. It will kill their long term survival.
Reputation matters.
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