I have never grown one out. I usually chicken out after a few days.

I am over a week now for the first time. I haven't touched a razor.

The neck is thicker than the cheeks. The mustache is coarse and redder.

Will the cheeks fill in? How do I nuture it and grow it? Is there miracle grow beard food?

Do I need to remove light beer, mow shirtless, and shoot off all my .22 to avoid being a neck beard?

What are the proper steps to grow it out?

Keep shaving the neck along the line where your neck and jaw meet.  Give it time and just let it go.

Just leave it alone and let it grow. My cheeks didn't fill in quickly either. I just tried to even it out with trimming which didn't work well. Then I just left it all alone till it got all Georgia Mountain straggly and then trimmed it to 9mm.

There was some itchiness at certain lengths which was annoying and I dealt with that by spraying Bactine on my face which has some lidocaine in it to numb my face so I could just leave the beard alone. The softer my beard is the less I seem to feel like itching or stroking it which helps me to just leave it alone.


I pretty much just did what I needed to do to just leave it the f alone and let it grow.

As noted - you have to leave it alone for a few months and resist the urge to fix it with clippers....   If you are looking for something with more than a couple of inches in length - you may want to consider lowering your trim line down to your adam's apple to thicken it up.  I made that mistake and now have to wait for that part to grow/catch up with the rest of my beard.

My beard is very coarse and the wiry hairs won't stay in place so last week I started using Honest Amish beard oil and their heavy duty beard balm.   Control is better but not 100%.  Wife and kids already noticed the beard is much softer. I'm going to give the beard balm a full two weeks and if necessary switch to a beard wax to tame the wild hairs until it gets a little longer and I can get gravity working in my favor.

I couldn't help it. I cut the neck and jaw side a bit to try and form it. I did good looking forward but sides dove in a little. I was looking like a .22lr hustler.

3 weeks now and doing a little better.

No longer itches bad as I use moisturizer on it in the morning and scrub clean every couple of days.

You're on the right track OP.

I started growing mine at the end of March and this photo was taken almost exactly 4 months later.



There have been very few trimmings (other than the mustache) in almost 5 months and I jokingly told my wife to get me a flannel shirt so I could dress up as a lumberjack for Halloween this year.

The mustache does get a little bit of work about every 2 weeks just because it annoys me.

I have stuck with it. I had the barber shape it for me when I got a haircut.

I may be at max length as growth is slowing now.

Hopefully it fully evens out in another month.

Leave it until you think its where its going to be then shave it off and start over.  Keep shaving the neck area.  The patches you have not coming in will come back a little at a time after shaving.

Basically I just would trim along the neck line and lips as it grew out.
I'd take a barber trimmer and put the highest guide on it (#4?) and have at it to keep everything even as it grew out.

double tap

I grew one last year to see if I could and it was fine.  Didn't take but a few months to get something nice and manly.  Wife hated it so I shaved it off... might grow it again though.

I decided I want to stop shaving for a little while and grow a beard out to see what it looks like, I’ve never had one either. Just a moustache/goatee for a while and even that was 5+ years ago. I’ve shaved up to my jaw line down the sides but I’m not sure what to do with underneath my chin.

Any pointers?

I itch real bad on my neck and get infected/ingrown hairs real bad so I’m going to keep that shaved, so I can’t go full mountain man, I also wear a uniform for my job so I have to be somewhat trim.

Coconut oil.  Its cheap and is the base for most commercial beard products.  It is soothing to the skin and moisturizes the beard hair.

A couple thumb nails of coconut oil warmed up in your palm and worked into the beard/skin will do wonders for stopping dandruff and wild hairs.

You might be surprised if you keep letting it grow. You might not notice it but its probably still growing.
Take a pic of your face, wait a month or 3 and then take another.

Just shy of 1 year in this pic