How To Groom It

With great beard comes great responsibility, so we’ve collected grooming tips from one of Edmonton’s steadiest hands with a straight razor — Linda Ha, owner of Barber Ha. Don’t let her gender fool you — she’s a beard lover. Just follow her advice and never make a small child cry again.

Barber Ha team shows how it should be done

1. Warm up your skin by massaging your face and neck with a pre-shave oil. “We always use pre-shave lotion to get in between hairs and get those dead skin cells.” says Ha.
2. Apply a hot cloth to your face to bring the follicles to the surface and open your pores. To be safe, pre-wet a towel and use warm water from the tap.
3. Apply warm, lathered cream with a quality badger brush to the areas of shaving. “The reason we use the brush is to get the cream in between the hairs, making the hair rise up, and also exfoliating the dead skin underneath.”
4. Use a single-blade safety razor. “If you take the time to prep your face you’re going to get more hair on the first pass.”

Full Treatment

Most people shave along the jawline for a masculine look, but Ha shaves under it for a more natural appearance. “It elongates the face a little more, too.”

Use quality clippers, such as Wahl, to blend your beard into your head. Start with a long guard, then a shorter one as you climb up your sideburns.

Apply a cold towel to close the pores. Proper shaves should take 30 minutes. “If you take the time to do these steps you won’t have to shave as often.”

Nobody likes a knotty beard, so “brush your beard out every morning.” Don’t forget to wash every couple of days with extra conditioning beard shampoo, such as Bluebeards Revenge, so you don’t take your breakfast with you everywhere you go.