Beards are just as much a fashion statement as your outfit. A healthy, well-trimmed beard essentially switches up a man’s entire look. Therefore, you need to focus on the beard style and overall styling process.
When you are bald and you are growing a beard, you may find yourself in a weird spot. The point (sideburns) your beard starts and your shaved area ends, has a distinct visual difference that seems unnatural.
It is exactly the same thing as going to the barber for a haircut, he is not good enough and when he finishes the haircut you still have visible lines from the different guards that he has not erased.
In short, here are the 8 steps to fade your beard into your bald head:
- Outline your beard
- Shape your Neckline
- Mark the fade points
- Trim your cheek line
- Grooming the top lip
- Trimming your Sideburns
- Smooth out rough edges
- Apply Aftershave Lotion
In this article, we will discuss everything you need to know about beard fading into a shaved head, give you some spicy tips, analyze the steps involved in the process and make sure we answer all your questions.
Let’s get started!
What is a Faded Beard?
Fading your beard is one of the many ways to style precious facial hair. It’s when you soften a hard line on your facial hair to create a natural look rather than a distinct line.
This technique involves creating a smooth transition between the hair of different lengths (long and short).
A beard fade is the most important detail in your beard regimen. If rightly done, a fade can instantly make your beard more flattering to the face, whether you are shaving the sides of your head or rocking a bald look.
Benefits of a Beard Fade
When you fade your beard into your bald hair, it upgrades your facial appearance. It’s like accessorizing with a statement wristwatch and necklace. Shaving your hair makes you look young but keeping a beard gives a mature and angular look.
- Keeps your face looking neat: Professionals know the hassle of maintaining a beard in official settings. A soft beard is the best solution to this age-old problem. Faded beards look neater than natural facial hair.
- Makes a Statement: The contrast between your head hair and facial one draws attention to your face. If you want to leave a long-lasting impression, the faded beard is the way to go.
Preparing your beards for that fade
Before fading your beard, here are a few important things you should do.
- Plan: With so many options, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Take your time to pick your preferred beard fade style. If you don’t choose ahead of your cut, you may end up wasting your time as you change your mind multiple times.
- Grow your hair: Let your beard and mustache grow into the desired length. The fuller your beard, the more attention your beard fade commands. For a more subtle look, you can keep it short. Either one you choose would be fine.
- Wash your hair: Get rid of grime, grease, and dirt by washing your beards. First, use a natural shampoo to kill germs, then finish with a conditioner. Conditioners soften your beard hair, making it easy to comb and style. Run a comb gently through your beard while you still have the conditioner on it to detangle the hair.
- Moisturize: Grooming your beards is skincare, so if you didn’t know, now you do. Spread a natural oil evenly through the beards to moisturize your underlying skin and keep your hair follicles healthy.
- Get a Trimmer: Be particular about your hair trimmer because bad ones cause problems. A good trimmer is gentle on your skin and delivers a precise cut. We advise that you buy one with adjustable blade lengths.
Where Should Beard Start With Shaved Head?
A beard should start from the middle of your ears.
As we will discuss below, if you have a bald head you will trim from the middle of your ears for about 2 fingers width with the number 1 guard.
At this point Be Careful!
Different beard trimmers have different guard sizes for the same numbers. For instance, Philips guard 1 corresponds to 1mm while Braun’s guard 1 corresponds to 1/8 inch which is 3,2 mm.
Read Also: Beard Trimmer Guard Sizes And How To Choose + [Chart]
If you have stubble, I would definitely recommend you start blending your beard with your head with the 1mm guard. Then move to the #2 guard for 2 fingers width and continue doing so until everything blends smoothly.
Normally we wanna keep our stubble at 5mm in length. That’s the most common stubble, the 10-day stubble. Close to that about 5-6mm long there is the longest stubble, the heavy stubble.
If you grow a full long beard, you can start fading with the number 1 guard for 1 finger width, then move quickly to the 2mm guard for 1 mm and so on.
What do we manage by doing so?
This allows us to have a long beard that also looks smooth and natural. You can even start fading with guard number 2 but don’t go higher than this guard. It will be too long to blend with a shaved head.
Step By Step Guide To Fade Your Beard Into Your Bald Head
Like two peas in a pod, a bald head and a neatly faded beard make the perfect team. It’s edgy, sexy, and very fashion-forward. Because it’s a delicate process, we’ve curated a detailed guide on how to blend your beards into your hair.
PS: Never do something you cannot fix! Always start high, then go low. Remember to be patient when fading your beard, so you don’t cut more hair than is intended or necessary.
Step 1: Outline your beard
Start by creating a line (straight/rounded) from the top of your side buns to your mustache. Trim the entire hair to whatever length you want. Repeat this process on both sides to create a uniform length with a clipper.
Step 2: Shape your Neckline
The next step is sharpening up your neckline by brushing the beards downwards. Place a finger horizontally above your Adam’s apple, then trim the hair vertically below your finger. Work your way outwards, under your jawline, then repeat on the other side.
Step 3: Mark the fade points
Map the fading point with a detail trimmer by joining the hair below the ears and the cheek line.
Step 4: Trim your cheek line
Trim and clean your cheek line for a natural look by cutting stray hairs on the upper cheeks. For an extra clean, faded beard style, go for a crisp cheek line.
Step 5: Grooming the top lip
Brush the mustache hair down and follow the top lip line with the blade’s edge. Trim any hair that has grown over the lip. For a cleaner look, trim the top line of your mustache into a tidy line.
Extra Tips
- As for your mustache, be careful not to go for an overly short length, as you will need something to work with later.
- Always cut up and outwards when using a trimmer or scissors on your cheeks. Be careful not to nudge into the new line you’ve just made.
Step 6: Trimming your Sideburns
Comb out your sideburns in the direction your hair grows till the hairs are standing neatly. After this, use your scissors or clipper to cut off the overgrowths. Since the goal is to trim rather than shave off, you need to attach the proper guard to your clipper.
The perfect guard depends on your hairstyle and the beard thickness you’re trying to achieve. Generally, guard 1-2 (1-2mm) is ideal for trimming sideburns.
Trim one inch above your jawline and another towards your sideburns. Ensure the length sets below the overall beard length. If you have a full beard, the hair below your sideburns should be trimmed towards the jawline in a parallel motion.
You can measure the evenness of your beard by running your index fingers along the area underneath your chin
Caution Please
I write it again. It is that important. Keep in mind I am writing in mm because mm is a smaller unit than inches.
Half beard trimmers have their guards numbered according to mm and the other half of them have guards that correspond to inches. Please read my other article for more details on specific brands and their guard sizes.
Therefore, the number I am giving if your trimmer corresponds to inches is different. Guard 1 if your trimmer corresponds to inches means 1/8 of an inch which is 3,2mm. So, you have to start shorter than that at the top of your sideburns and then proceed to guard 1 after 2 finger width.
Extra Tips
- Shorten the blades again before trimming another inch towards your sideburns
- Always move up at 1-2mm increments till you get to the top of your sideburns, and it blends smoothly with your hair.
- You can trim in reverse from the sideburns down to the beards.
Step 7: Smooth out rough edges
Clean the beards around the edges with a razor. You don’t want split hair messing up your effort.
Step 8: Aftershave
Finish off with a little amount of an aftershave lotion on the shaved areas for a smooth look.
Extra Tip
- Remember the end goal is for the fade to blend smoothly into the head without showing obvious lines when dealing with a bald head.
Maintaining a healthy beard and beard fade
There’s no shortcut to maintaining facial hair. It takes a lot of patience and consistency with many quality products.
- Wash your beards with a natural shampoo two to three times weekly. This prevents a build-up of excess oil, sweat, and dirt. It also gives it a great smell – you don’t want to chase ladies away with a smelly beard.
- Always moisturize and condition your beard with essential oils. It keeps it soft and aids growth.
- Keep your beards evenly trimmed when bushy. This keeps it in shape.
- Maintaining a healthy diet will help your beards grow faster and longer. You are what you eat, and your facial hairs aren’t any different.
- Always keep your sideburns in check by combing out and cutting stubborn hairs with a pair of scissors.
Pro-tip
- Work with structure: Use the corners of your mouth as guidelines and follow your natural cheek line upward.
- Seek professional help: You will need regular trips to the barber and your home tools to maintain your fade. There’s only so much you can do without professional help. For a more detailed cut, visit an expert. As a compromise, you can visit a barbershop for the first cut then maintain it yourself.
- Know your body: As much as you want this style, it may not work on your face if you have patchy facial hair. Be honest about your physical appearance and choose a style that suits you best.
Tools for Creating a Perfect Fade
What’s a worker without his tools? Here are the essential things you need to get that seamless fade;
- A well-oiled adjustable trimmer
- Beard oil, conditioner, and shampoo
- Beard combs in various sizes
- A pair of scissors
- A clipper
- A Electric Shaver
The last 2 are optional but you need them to shave your head and get this bald with faded beard style right.
Different Beard Fade Styles
There are many options for styling your beard fade, but here are two of our favorites to help you look your best.
- Long faded beard: This style is great for men who love long beards. To achieve the best result in shaping this, blend your beard fade with your bald head. The bald head/full long beard is a killer combination.
Shave the parts of the sideburn that connect with your head lower than the rest. The length of the beard itself is entirely up to you.
- Short faded beard: There’s only a slight difference between this style and the long-faded beard. There’s a minor difference in length between hairs on the cheeks and jawlines. It looks better blended and smoother than the rest of the facial tresses. The short-faded beard is a guaranteed lady magnet.
- Thick buzzed beard: If you have thick hair, we’ve got you covered. The thick buzzed beard style is the best way to groom your dense tresses. You’d get a defined look that’s easy to maintain. You can outline the beard and add any design for a more daring look.
How Do I Fade My Beard Into A Buzz Cut?
Fading your beard into a buzz cut should follow the same concept. However, keep in mind that when having a buzz cut you would want to blend your beard with short hair and not with a shaved head.
What does simply mean?
This simply means that instead of trying to connect smoothly a full beard, maybe a long one, with a shaved head now you have to smoothly blend a beard with a buzz cut which can be done with a variety of guards.
For instance, if you choose a buzz cut number 2, you should use the number 3 guard high on your sideburns to smoothly transition from 2 to 3 and further down to 4 and then to longer facial hair.
You know it is tough to explain without a video but I am trying my best.
As a general rule, whichever guard you use to do your buzzcut use one number higher to start the beard fade.
For example, if you use 1 for the head (we mainly care for the sides of your head if you also have a buzz cut with fade, the number you keep is the number with which you created the fade and not the top of your head)
Another tip. Hair clippers also have different guard sizes compared to beard trimmers. Please make sure that the numbers correspond to the same things. We don’t want to use let’s say Andis guard 1 and then fade the beard with a trimmer that its guard’s sizes do not correspond to Andis.
Remember you can use the hair clipper to get the fade done (If you are not a barber that has many tools)
Read Also: Buzz Cut Or Shaved Head?
Conclusion
This look is the ultimate aesthetic for the modern man. As difficult and tricky as it may appear, getting the right fade is not impossible, and it’s even better when you follow the steps. Following the guidelines would have you fading your beard like a pro.
Fading your beard into your bald head will undeniably elevate your game as a man. Remember you do not have hair. Your beard is your ultimate weapon.
Guys, I really hope you respect the information you are getting here. These things come from personal experience and numerous hours of studying and testing. You ain’t gonna find these things, in such detail, anywhere on the internet. I am writing from my heart. These things are not easy to write and definitely not easy to explain.
Read Also: Best Beard Styles For Bald Men
Combine your style with a strong physique and you will be surprised to see girls looking at you differently. It all comes down t confidence. But, you have to get some things right in order to boost your confidence.
Shaving your head, growing and fading your beard, exercising, being ambitious is the ultimate recipe for success. Trust me, gentlemen. You are awesome.
Believe in yourself and communicate this to others.
Anyway, that’s it for today! I really hope you liked our article and found it helpful.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to write them in the comment section below and we will be more than happy to help.
Until next time,
Stay safe,
Tasos
Tasos Moulios is the founder of Beardlong. He loves trying different beard and hair styles and blogs about them. The tips he shares come from his own experience and love for what he does.