What’s In a Neckline?
What’s in a neckline? What is a neckline? Probably best to start with the latter.
Neckline /ˈnekˌlīn/: in beardspeak; the natural line created by the stoppage of hair growth on a man’s neck; see also, the artificial line created when shaving the neck to a specific point.
It’s possible you’ve never thought of your neckline, maybe didn’t even know it was a thing. Well gents…it’s a thing, and it can make a huge impact on the appearance of your beard and your overall look. The degree and type of impact is going to be different for every guy because every beard is like a fingerprint – yours is unique to you and you alone.
That being said, there are three main approaches we can explore that any guy can run with to take the next step (or first step) in his beard journey. Let’s get to it.
The Natural. You guessed it, the no-shave neck. Most frequently seen in what I refer to as a “full-length” beard which is anything at chest length (that magical moment when you first feel those whiskers telling your chest hair there’s a new Sheriff in town!) or longer. Why? A couple reasons – 1. The more neck hair incorporated into your beard, the greater level of fullness you’ll achieve, 2. If you’re at the full-length stage it’s a safe bet that you’re going for it (is ZZ Top still a safe reference?), so the more hair the merrier!
Next, the Low Line. As you would expect, this line is attained by edging up your neck whiskers. As the name indicates, this line is going to be lower on the neck. Depending on the length of your neck the location can vary but it’s somewhere below your Adam’s apple. Like the Natural, the Low Line is recruiting more of the neck to support the overall beard. Why might you go this route? It can be especially helpful if you have fine/light or sparse facial hair, to help fill out the overall beard appearance. The same benefit is seen with a very long or slender neck, providing a fuller profile.
The last one we’ll cover is the High Line. No surprise name here, always following the K.I.S.S rule (if you’re not familiar with the K.I.S.S. rule, we’ll wait here while you Google it to catch up with the rest of us). As you might expect, the High Line is at or above the Adam’s apple but below the point that your neck meets your jawline - you know, that right angle where the neck stops its upward trajectory and runs into your jaw. For guys like me (thick, short neck) this area is measured in millimeters but that’s fine, makes it easy to find! Bringing your neckline up will reduce the amount of overall area contributing to your beard, which is useful if – 1. You have an extremely thick beard and want to minimize the fullness, 2. You are going for a short to mid-length beard (aka professional or business beard – NOT stubble), 3. You don’t have much neck to work with. This is by no means a negative, we don’t do that here (see blog – Overcoming Beard Shame). But if we’re going to beard to the best of our abilities, we need to own the facts – I’ll show you what it looks like when we don’t (read through to the end).
The great thing about playing with your neckline once your beard is well established is, it’s not super noticeable while you’re growing it out or cutting it back (just don’t over do it! – baby steps). I started at a High Line and after a while decided I wanted to see what it would look like to fill it out a bit. Super easy, I established a new line about half an inch lower and within 3-4 weeks I started to see the change begin. That is literally all it takes, half an inch up or down to make a significant difference.
As I said, this is super general! From here we need to factor in the direction of hair growth, density of growth, curly or straight…but that is a whole other enchilada. Come see us at the Tomball Farmers Market if you want a personalized approach to achieving the look you’re shooting for, or reach out to us on our contact page.
Ok, I promised to show you what it looks like when we’re not honest with ourselves and owning the facts. Case in point – me…December 2016. In terms of my neck thickness, I was close to my peak. I’d convinced myself the best way to work this situation was to shave along my jawline…SMH. I’m not saying this can never look good, but I’d say its about as likely as seeing a unicorn. I was fooling myself and clearly my wife loved me too much to hurt my feelings! LOL
While this is by far not the worst photo of my jawline shaving days, it shows how this approach actually enhances what I was trying to hide.
Anyway guys, I hope you found this interesting. Don’t be afraid to let those beards wander…a little. lol
Until next time, keep that beard tight.
