How To Trim A Chin Curtain Beard Guide

How to Trim a Chin Curtain Beard

The chin curtain beard is a simple beard style. In essence, it’s a chin strap beard that comes up a little higher on your jaw. The tricky part is maintaining a clean, crisp line. This also means minimising a patchy beard. Follow these easy steps for a handsome chin curtain beard.

The chin curtain’s traditional name is the Shenandoah beard. It’s a full beard that meets the sideburns but has no moustache. Abraham Lincoln famously wore a Shenandoah or chin curtain beard style. You might also know this beard as an Amish beard.

There are several ways to wear a chin curtain, and not all of them include the full, long beard that’s grown as long as it can go. A more modern approach to this beard is to keep the facial hair neat and tidy. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the neater option. After all, you can always grow it out later if you want to.

Step 1: Evenly trim your facial hair

Using an electric beard trimmer, trim your beard to an even length. Roughly 3-5mm all over. This should give you a healthy, heavy stubble. If you can, create an even length on your sideburns as well. Remove the mutton chops for a clean look.

Step 2: Remove the moustache
The chin curtain style covers the chin but leaves the moustache bare. This means no Fu Manchu, no Van Dyke, no handlebar moustache. A clean upper lip is a must. Use a precise trimmer to tidy up your upper lip.

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Step 3: Make a clean line
Continue to your cheeks and remove your facial hair there as well. Create a smooth line along where you want the top of your beard to sit. Some people like thin chin curtain beards—the beard only sitting on the jaw line—while others like thicker beards. It’s up to you, but it’s always easier to go thick and thin it down when you need to.

Step 4: Remove any neck beard hair
With shorter facial hair, a clean line on the bottom is just as important as a clean line at the top of the beard. Shave your neck beard and remove your neck hair. Some let their chin curtain finish at the bottom of the jaw line, but furthest down it should ever go is to the Adam’s apple.

Shaving is a hot bathroom or during the heat of the day can make razor burn worse. Try shaving in the evening to give irritable skin a chance to recover overnight.

Step 5: Cleanly shave your face
With the bulk of the shaping of your beard done, now you just need a clean shave for the rest of your face. If you use a rotary shaver, move in gentle, circular motions and if you use a safety razor, use short, light strokes.

The chin curtain beard style is simple, so if your beard is feeling over-grown (or a little too much like an Amish beard) tone it down and go back to basics—3-5mm all over, just along the jawline, like a chin strap.

Like many facial hair styles, the chin curtain has been around for a long time. A style that utilises a close shave on the cheeks, neck, and upper lip clean with tidy hair under the lower lip is an easy way to make your face stand out.