The Facial Hair Handbook

Competitions seem to be about extremes, so it’s unlikely. Maybe the Verdi category would be a good fit, but it’s more of a lookalike contest than a beard contest.

That being said, my tips for you are as follows:
-DO IT! The Facial Hair Handbook is all about growing the beard you just described!
-Get a bunch of condoms because you’re going to need them.

This is a great question! Thanks for asking! The only reason I suggest against it is because of some halth concerns with a few of the ingredients, but more importantly because your facial skin is very, very sensitive. The bar will keep your face and beard clean, without any risk of skin irritation. It’s a much simpler ingredients list and I, and many others, prefer that for a variety of reasons.

And yes, I do cover how to use the bar soap as a beard wash in the book.

Thank you! Please give all of Australia my love.

I have a Facebook page. It’s here: Jack Passion on Facebook

I wear my beard braided/platted quite often. It’s much easier.

Healthy man, healthy beard: it works and you have seen it!

Cheek line height:
Imagine a horizontal line going across your face at the bottom of your nose. That would be your maximum cheek height. Shape the line however you like below that point, depending on your face, desired look, where your mustache falls, etc.. This is another case when the electric shaver/trimmer is 10,000,000 times easier and more accurate than a razor.

Neck line height:
There are so many different opinions on this. Here’s what I’m feeling today: If you’re going with a shorter beard, keep it above your Adam’s apple. That’s usually where you have a face/neck breakpoint, and that’s where your beard should stop. Everyone’s got a different neck, though, so experiment. If you’re a heavier set hombre and the face/neck breakpoint is a little blurred (not necessarily a bad thing, and growing a beard is the best thing you can do to hide it), you’ll want to put that line lower on the neck to add length to your neck.

For longer beards, don’t worry about it.

I’d like to rock it more in 2013.

This. And this.

The short answer is prevention. There’s a lot in the book about this, but if you’re really hurting, try this combo:

1. Drink more water.
2. Wash your beard and your face under the beard with Grandpa’s Pine Tar soap. Pine tar is MAGIC for dry, flaky, irritated skin.
3. An omega 3 supplement can help with this a lot. I take the one that the VitaBeard folks make called AlphaOmega.
4. Cold showers only!

There are so many different mustache waxes on the market and even more different opinions on which mustache wax to use. You’ll need to try a few. Check out a few of my recommendations. Cowboy Comb makes a great mustache wax as well, and they sell a combo pack that includes a comb.

This is covered in the book, but in short: Water, protein, vitamins, and nutritionally dense (unprocessed) foods in general.

I’m not sure. I recommend Grandpa’s Pine Tar Soap, and maybe you can find it there. It’s the best beard wash there is. It’s especially great for the skin under your beard. I use it. Burke Kenny uses it. You can use it too.