Six areas, six sets of rules
Zones
A face is not one surface. It is a flat panel that can be pulled taut, a corner where the hair changes direction, a small area over a muscle that moves when you speak, two lines that have to match each other, an opening you should barely enter, and a curve you cannot see. Each of them wants something different, and each page here ends with things worth trying before any appliance is bought.
Everything in this section
The six areas
Cheeks and jawline
The largest area on a face and the one that changes shape halfway across it. Which systems handle the flat part, which handle the corner, and what to try first.
Cheeks and jaw
Cheeks and jawlineNeckline
The line that climbs. Where a neckline belongs, why hair under the jaw changes direction so often, and what to try before buying a second appliance.
Neck
NecklineMustache and lip
A small area with a moving surface underneath it. How the hair splits at the middle, why size beats power here, and what to sort out before buying.
Mustache
Mustache and lipSideburns and temples
Two lines that have to match each other on a head that is not symmetrical. How to judge them, which system cuts them, and why mirrors mislead here.
Sideburns
Sideburns and templesNose and ears
The one area where the guard matters more than the blade: how far a nose trimmer may reach, why the ear canal is out of bounds, and what to try first.
Nose and ears
Nose and earsScalp
Four times the area of a face, most of it worked without seeing it. Why runtime and grip matter here, which system covers it, and what to settle first.
Scalp
Scalp
True in every area
Gathered from the pages below by identity rather than by wording, and kept here only where at least half of them carry it. The rest stay on the pages they belong to.
- StopNothing here treats a skin condition. Ingrown hairs, raised bumps after shaving, flaking under a beard and inflamed follicles are medical matters, and pseudofolliculitis barbae in particular is a diagnosis rather than a shaving style. What to do about any of them is decided by a clinician.
- StopTwo things mean stopping rather than taking one more pass. Skin that is broken, raised, sore or already inflamed, which is a doctor’s call and not something to draw a blade across. And a line so far out of true that a shorter setting only chases it, which is a barber’s. Neither of them improves by carrying on.
- StopA shaver or a trimmer belongs to one person. Shaving injures skin at a scale too small to notice, and whatever sits on the blade goes into that injury.