When does stubble become a beard?

Introduction

It’s a fact of life (for around half of us on the planet) that facial hair will make an appearance. Having recently grown out a full beard and been cross questioned by family on it – I am curious to see just what makes my ‘beard’ different to the ‘stubble’ I had before. Let’s take a look.

At a glance

Stubble becomes a beard as it gets to around 5mm in length
Facial hair density, consistency and growth rate will impact your styling choices
Keep your neck and cheek lines well maintained to avoid looking scruffy
Use a longer razor setting to give the appearance of a thicker beard naturally
Invest in a great trimmer to keep on top of your facial hair

Stubble vs Beard – Why does it matter?

Trying to differentiate between a beard and stubble is… Splitting hairs… (Sorry!) Ultimately whether someone thinks you have a beard or stubble doesn’t matter a jot – as long as you are happy with the aesthetics of your facial hair it is mission complete!

Some salient points to keep in mind when you are trying to decide what style of facial hair to go for:

Always remember rule number 1: Work with what you’ve got. How your facial hair grows should drive your decision making
Neither stubble or a beard is maintenance free
Both will require some equipment to keep it looking fresh – trimmers, scissors, oils

What makes stubble, stubble?

Stubble is generally thought of as the rough initial beard growth that is somewhere between being clean shaven and having a beard. Simple – if non specific. More formally:

“Short, stiff hairs growing on a part of the body that has not been shaved for a while, especially on a man’s face.”
Oxford dictionary definition

Again, simple but non-specific – we probably need a little more definition of “short”. Do you want my opinion?

I think stubble is best in the 3mm – 5mm length window – on me…

“On me” is pretty important in that definition – reflecting on rule number 1 (work with what you’ve got) each individual will have slightly different ranges, but in general that sub-5mm length will capture most of us.

So what impacts the optimum length for stubble?

Density – more hair follicles will allow you to cut the hair shorter
Consistency – longer hair can cover up inconsistent facial hair by smoothing over patches etc.
Growth rate – if it grows in quick you will likely want to crop it back more aggressively to give you a little longer between shaves; You may also then end up with longer stubble before your next trim.

How should I shave to maintain stubble?

Well executed stubble tows the line between smart and casual. The key really is making sure you stay on the right side of scruffy!

Exactly how and where you trim down your stubble will depend on how your hair grows in naturally – if you cover the following areas you should be off to a great start:

Neck line – keep your neck clean shaven for the smartest look. Where you draw ‘the line’ is a personal choice but my preference is to work from the jawline directly below the ear to around an inch above the Adam’s apple
Cheek line – my beard has a fairly natural line so I clean shave above this line. If you’re beard is less cooperative try a line from the bottom of your sideburn directly to around half an inch above the corner of your mouth
Even up length – no matter what you try, some hair will grow faster than others. Keep stubble length symmetrical – so it can be longer in some areas as needed, but it should be the same on both sides!

Here is a bonus tip: your stubble doesn’t have to be the same length all over – use additional length to cover patchy or less densely growing areas.

If you are unhappy with patchy or inconsistent stubble try shaving it shorter around your moustache and chin area (which are usually more densely stubbled) then working up to longer hairs across your cheek and sideburn areas. Moving up in increments of 2mm will be a sufficient to fade the beard length without it looking out of place.

The exact lengths you choose will depend, but you could try work from 4mm in the dense areas up to 8mm in the areas you are weakest. Stick to the longer lengths first and you can always trim down further if you don’t like it.

What makes a beard, a beard?

One question that comes up time and again is when does stubble become a beard?

My answer is that stubble becomes a beard when your facial shape definition is altered by the facial hair – stubble sits so close to the skin that your natural shape is prominent, a longer beard style alters this slightly (either making your features more or less prominent through styling and shaping.)

A short beard usually kicks in around the 7mm – 10mm range for most men with typical facial hair growth. In terms of time to grow your beard, you can likely get from stubble to a short beard in one to two weeks.

When it comes to long beards – the world is your oyster! You can go on for as long as you like (or, as is more likely, as long as your other half can tolerate!)

As ever I will refer you to rule 1: work with what you have got. It might take a bit longer for you to grow a beard, but there isn’t much you can do about that. Just enjoy the process and think of the positives – e.g. not having to shave and style it so frequently!

How should I shave to grow a great beard?

The reality is shaving for stubble and beard styling have broadly the same salient points to focus on so I will repeat a few of them here:

Neck line – keep your neck clean shaven for the smartest look. Where you draw ‘the line’ is a personal choice but my preference is to work from the jawline directly below the ear to around an inch above the Adam’s apple
Cheek line – my beard has a fairly natural line so I clean shave above this line. If you’re beard is less cooperative try a line from the bottom of your sideburn directly to around half an inch above the corner of your mouth
Even up length – no matter what you try, some hair will grow faster than others. Keep beard length symmetrical – so it can be longer in some areas as needed, but it should be the same on both sides!
Thicken your beard – for short to medium beard areas try running the razor with the grain of your hair. This will give a fuller look while tidying up rogue hairs that grow out of style – this is a game changer. When running with the grain brush it first and run over at your preferred setting (I like 4mm – 5mm).
Longer beard areas (>10mm) – these will need scissor cut. A small pair of beauty scissors is ideal. Once you’ve styled the beard use the scissors to cut away any rogue hairs and generally shape into your preferred look.

The bonus tip remains the same for beard styling as it was above – your beard does not need to be equal length over your whole face (although lengths should be symmetrical side to side.)

Use longer lengths to cover weaker areas where you have less facial hair follicles, slower growing areas or patches. This will generate the illusion of a fuller beard.

Preserve shorter styling for faster growing, denser areas such as moustache and chin if this is the style of beard you want.

A little styling tip for you – a beard requires a little more upkeep than stubble so invest in a boar hair brush, some oil and (whisper it) a hair dryer. Yep – for longer beard styles (think 20mm+) a bit of heat (applied from a distance) will do wonders for locking in your style in the morning.

How to pick the best beard trimmer for the ‘stubble’ look

I’ve had a lot of razors. I’m not sure why, but time and again I have made bad choices generally driven by lack of interest or knowledge in the features, or convenience (picking up a cheap razor from the supermarket for example.)

If you are trying to find the best razor for stubble then keep an eye out for the following features:

Rechargeable – ideally you want a mains rechargeable one which has a quick charge feature. My current trimmer is 1:1 charge time, so an hour yields an hour of use. I can also use it plugged in which is a good backup, but not hugely convenient given the locations of my power sockets.
Adjustability – if you are interested in the stubble look you want a nice wide range of short lengths. As a minimum I want 1mm increments from nil through to 10mm. My current one offers 0.5mm lengths below 5mm which is great.
Alternative heads – if you will use additional features they may be useful. I have historically found them to be indicative of a weaker product than a bespoke trimmer, but I do note there are some higher end options offering changeable heads now.

How about the best trimmer to maintain a beard?

Maintaining a beard has a lot of overlap with looking after stubble – so the only changes to the above I would suggest:

Adjustability beyond 10mm – it is rare to find good quality increments beyond 10mm. If you wish to go beyond this length you will need to sacrifice the number of adjustments further down the scale. I suggest two trimmers – one for shorter hair (<10mm; see the stubble guide above) and one for longer hair (>10mm). The longer hair trimmer is a cut down head hair trimmer and so they typically work in number e.g. number 1, number 2 etc. (FYI each number corresponds to 1/8th of an inch)
Accompaniments – as noted previously you will likely need scissors and beard oil to effectively style your facial hair.