Long Boxed Beard: How to Style & Trim
Our brother Brian stopped by the office for a beard trim, and I was super excited to be able to get my hands on this glorious thing! Brian has a whole lot of beard and he hadn't trimmed or touched it at all in about 6 months. With the additional growth it was getting a little unruly and thin at the bottom.
For the purpose of this beard trim, we were really just looking to clean it up a bit, and shape and define his beard into a boxed or square beard style.
Now there are a ton of different beard styles out there, from short to long, rounded or square and so on. So depending on what beard style you want, you may want to modify the trim to give you the look you're going for. However, the same principles can be applied to accomplish the beard style you want.
Style Your Beard First
Before you trim, make sure to use any products you use daily to style your beard. Brian uses Beard Butter every day so I had him throw some in before we got started. The Beard Butter has a light/medium hold so it actually tamed some of the flyaway hairs and helped shape his beard. Had we trimmed before the products, I would have ended up taking off more hairs than needed.
How Long Does It Take To Grow a Boxed Beard?
Before you grab those trimmers, make sure you have enough hair to work with! To pull off a true long boxed beard, you’ll need 3 to 6 months of pure uninterrupted growth and about 2 to 4 inches of facial hair. Having this to work with as a baseline allows you to cut a flat, sharp line across the bottom while keeping the beard looking full and thick.
Treat Your Beard Like a Hedge
For his beard trim, I started on the sides and worked my way around the outside to take some bulk out of the side of his beard. You do not need to take much off here to make a big difference. The idea is to just take enough off so that the beard isn't puffed out with unruly flyaway hairs. Trimming the sides back a bit, and using a little beard butter can really make a big difference in how your beard lays down.
Boxed or Square Beard Style
For Brians beard, we wanted to stick with the boxed beard style he had. We took the beard trimmers and essentially re defined his beard lines by running a line straight off the back of the sideburn, and squared the corner.
Don't Forget the Neckline Underneath
While the outside edges give you that boxy shape of your beard, what’s happening underneath matters just as much, too. To keep your long beard hanging straight down instead of getting pushed out by hidden neck hair, you’ll want to clean up the neck area underneath.
Set your neckline about 1 to 1.5 inches (about two finger-widths) above your Adam’s apple. Clearing out this extra bulk gives your beard a solid foundation to rest on, allowing the chin hair to fall naturally into that crisp, squared-off silhouette.
We also squared the bottom of his beard to trim away some of the thin hairs to shorten the beard to where the bulk of his growth is. As you can see, this made a huge difference in how thick and healthy his beard looks.
Yes we took a good 4 inches off his beard, however by cutting these hairs back not only does his beard look much better, but it'll actually allow these hairs to continue to grow evenly as it grows out again.
Defining Your Cheek Lines
When it comes to trimming or defining your cheek lines, most guys can keep this line pretty natural. For Brian, his beard grows so high he wanted to bring the line down a bit.
The idea here is to connect the sideburn to the mustache. You do NOT want to take this line too low! So really take your time and be careful to take small amounts off at a time. You can see how much of a difference this made for him!
Which Face Shapes Look Best With a Long Boxed Beard?
A long boxed beard is great for round, oval, or soft-jawed-shaped faces. The clean vertical sides slim down wider cheeks, while the sharper 90-degree corners and flat bottom add definition, structure, and length to your chin's shape.
Pro Tip: Boxed vs. Ducktail
Unlike a Ducktail beard, which tapers inward to form a sharp or rounded "V" shaped point, a long boxed beard keeps a bold, horizontal baseline. Trimming straight across the bottom gives the hair a broad, squared-off foundation that creates a much thicker and heavier look.
Final Thoughts
If you are in need of a beard trim, follow these guidelines and give it a shot. If you're a little hesitant, reach out to us with any specific questions you might have and we are happy to help! You can also check out some of our other content to see examples on how to shape a beard or to learn about beard fades.
I truly hope you found this article and video helpful. Here at Live Bearded our mission is to help you look, feel and be your best. Don't hesitant to let us know how we can help you!
Live Bearded!
