Posted: 26/11/2014
More and more of our advertising clients are requesting that unshaved or stubble look, it was normal for the client to request all our male models clean shaven but not anymore as more and more now realise that stubble on men is both popular and attractive and another thing, according to a new study published in Evolution & Human Behavior, women favour one style in particular: heavy stubble, or about 10 days’ worth of growth.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia photographed 10 men, each at four different stages of facial hair growth, from clean-shaven to fully-bearded. Then, study participants—351 women and 177 heterosexual men—rated the photos based on attractiveness, healthiness, masculinity, and potential parenting abilities. The biggest take-away: Women rated men with heavy stubble as significantly more desirable than those with bare faces, light stubble or full beard.
So there you have it, if you are male model or want the girls to think you’re one then growing stubble definitely has its place. But hold on, what if you can’t grown stubble? Well sometimes you just have to admit that the stubble look is not for you, there is no point leaving your beard to grow for 10 days if it ends up all blotchy and wispy, some guys can get away with the blotchy look but lets face it, most can't.
So, you thought growing good stubble was all about letting nature takes it course right? Well yes and no , you could do that and hope for the best or you could give nature a helping hand and getting a good beard trimmer is a good place to start. Personally I use a Remmington, you can buy if from amazon at under £20 but any trimmer with grades 1-5 will work. The key, though, is trying to make it look as though you don’t use one. Making an effort to make it look effortless!
The whole point of the ’stubble’ look is to look a bit manly, a bit of rebel maybe. Think George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Hugh Jackman. All good stubble wearers over the last few years. Also check out our very own Tom Ward. There is no worse ’stubble crime’ in our opinion than seeing the dreaded ‘Chin Strap’. This is where you trim the stubble exactly to the line of the jaw from one side to the other, given its name as it resumes a helmet strap.
First things first we need to get rid of any stray hairs growing from the top of the cheekbone up to the eyes…more appear here as you get older but they need to be dealt with, easier to do these on the lowest setting. Try not to be to neat so it looks like natural growth.
Next job is to trim from the side burns to the moustache but again be careful of going too neat, I tend to tidy here with a grade .5, keeping it as natural as possible without stubble on upper cheeks. The next bit is getting the right length on the the main cheek and chin area itself, this is where we will use the longer setting on the trimmer and we trim from the cheek to the jaw line and around the mouth if you have a good thick growth then I expect a grade 3 is where you will want to be.
That done we now need to get that natural look for the neck, this is where I drop down to a grade 2, it high lights the stubble on the cheeks without it looking too messy or over groomed. Use this down to the adams apple then tidy everything up below that. failing that if you did want to go for a grade 3 on the cheeks then a 2 all over will also do the job then trim gradually below the adams apple and above the cheekbones.
It isn’t difficult but that the same time its easy to get wrong. Clients will quite often ask our models to attend the shoot with stubble and a razor to give them the options of different looks and quite a few of our male model keep stubble growth between jobs.
