The Beard Black Shaping Tool Review – Solid Guide for Starting Out
The Beard Black Shaping Tool
The Beard Black brings us a plastic guide (The Beard Black Shaping & Styling Tool) that is great for shaping and maintaining beards. It is inexpensive and easy to store. Though it can be very awkward to use at first, it improves with practice.
Pros
Useful guide for starting out beard growth
Practical and useful beard combs
Easier to use on shorter beards or 5 o’clock shadows
Cons
Not glasses friendly
Not long hair-friendly
It has a bit of a Learning curve
Up next on the docket today, we have a Beard Shaping Tool for styling your beard a specific way and making sure you get a nice clean cut for your beard. It makes for clean lines and easy shaving with a template to keep things all nice and lined up.
It seems like a good accessory on the surface, but is it really a necessity or just a neat thing to have before moving on to just edging your beard yourself?
Let’s find out, shall we?
What is the Design Like?
Looking at The Beard Black Shaping Tool, it is made as a sort of “stencil” for your face. Literally, a guide to use while you are shaving to get a specific style of beard that happens to look both clean and (relatively) timeless.
It isn’t a complete stencil, but it can be flipped around and moved to get straight lines for certain angles, like your sideburns or jawline, and a gentle curve to get a nice curve on your neck.
One of the nicer aspects is a pair of built-in beard combs. Honestly, I can never keep a trace of mustache and beard combs. They are so small they frequently get lost in my drawer full of shaving supplies. #FirstWorldProblems, right?
Well, the built-in Combs are much easier to keep track of while you are taking the time to shave and trim your beard.
Though they will not replace a good boar hair brush, I will tell you that.
How Easy is it to Use?
If it is any indication, I am glad this guide came with an instruction manual.
Honestly, it is hard to see exactly how to utilize the Beard Black Tool best when just looking at it. You’d think it is just a matter of placing it against your face and just shaving any place that is exposed seems like the go-to plan. However, depending on the orientation of the guide you could get a curved line or a straight line.
Lining it up with specific “landmarks” on your face (eyes, ears, nose, etc) is important as well, and you would have a hard time figuring that out without some instructions. I’m not saying it is impossible, but it is certainly a great deal easier when someone points it out with written instructions and pictures first.
So overall, I would say it isn’t intuitive and requires some practice to get things looking just right.
Also, if you are wearing glasses, be aware that this guide will knock them around all over the place. It is not friendly to glasses wearers, especially just out of the box.
Additionally, it is not friendly to those who have long hair. You must tie up your hair and wear something to keep it out of your face or be prepared to brush it out of the way constantly.
How well does it Perform its Job?
Does it perform the job? Yeeeeaaaahhhh, pretty much.
Alright so, obviously it is an awkward way of shaving to start out with. Getting used to holding it on the face while carefully applying shaving cream and then shaving is something of a challenge. There were multiple times I felt like just putting it down and going with the pictures in the instruction book.
In the pictures and videos on their websites, you see almost everyone dry shaving, and while that would probably lead to an easier time and less mess, just thinking about it makes my skin scream. Especially because I’ve been doing these beard articles lately. (FYI, no one tells you this, but if you have been maintaining a beard rather than shaving every few days, your skin gets extra sensitive).
I suppose if you are really careful and perhaps use one of those cartridge razors with the lubrication strip, then you shouldn’t have any issues.
For my part, I used my regular pre-shave, shaving cream, and post-shave to ensure I didn’t get any razor burn while using a safety razor. It was messy, but it got the job done.
I also made a few attempts with my electric trimmer just to see if I could get a good idea of how it is both ways. It was less awkward with the trimmer, though I suppose my attempt to make sure I was getting good pictures did complicate matters.
I would definitely recommend using a trimmer or electric razor with this guide rather than using a safety razor. If you absolutely have to make a razor cut (and I don’t blame you because razor cuts are awesome), then I would definitely go with something like a cartridge razor.
I figure after about a week or two of using this beard shaping tool, you won’t actually need it anymore and can just do the shaping without it. I suppose you could say that it is more of a beard-shaping trainer.
Value For Money
So how much would you want to pay for a piece of shaped plastic with built-in beard combs?
As of the time of writing, you can get this nice piece of shaving gear for a cool $10 USD on Amazon. That is pretty inexpensive for some other beard guides I have found. Typically, they can range from $2 dollars at the lowest all the way to $20 or $30 USD. So the Beard Black isn’t going to break your bank if you want to give it a try.
Money is an omnipresent worry in this day and age, and making sure you get the bang for your buck is extremely important. Though, I cannot help but feel as you actually use this guide more and more, you are actually going to need it less and less.
Eventually, you are going to get so used to cutting your beard a specific way, that it will pretty much go into the corner to start gathering dust.
A low price point is pretty good then, because you will probably outgrow this item and eventually toss it when you get to a point where you know exactly how you want your beard.
Common Consumer Complaints, Issues, and Positive Reviews
Reviews for the Beard Black Shave Guide are more mixed than the usual items I review. For the most part, they are somewhat lopsided toward the positive, but this one has some more negative as well. This means that we might actually get a better look at what people are really thinking, rather than just a one-sided account.
Positive Reviews
Consumers really rave about the several aspects of this product.
The price is one of the big things, and I will definitely agree with them on this point. For what you are getting, $10 USD is absolutely worth the cost. However, you can even shape your own if you have some extra plastic and a way of cutting plastic.
Other positive users enjoy the precision the guide can offer. The edges are well-defined and easy to follow. You can get straight lines or gentle curves on your face without too much trouble, though you need to practice with it a few times to make sure you are doing it right. It is definitely an awkward shave at first. However, if you get the hang of it, you can get a cut that is almost as good as something you would get from a professional barber.
Some mention that the plastic itself is pretty thick and sturdy. It doesn’t bed easy, and it is in no way brittle. It is not going to snap easily, and the edges are beveled, so it can get a closer shave without having to worry about it being too small and flimsy.
Consumer Complaints
There are a few major complaints that I haven’t hit on that others have.
One of the complaints that comes up a great deal, and I am even surprised I haven’t thought of, is the guide itself is actually opaque plastic. That means you won’t be able to see through it, so when you are shaving, especially with an electric razor or trimmer, it is easy to lose track or miss your line if you aren’t paying attention. This could be a major design improvement if Beard Black is listening to their customers.
Another thing brought up is the awkward method of handling this guide. Many consumers find it very awkward and hard to get used to. It would take several uses just to get used to switching it around and making sure you have the right angle and are using the right edge for the shaping of your beard.
Finally, there is a point that occurred to me and several others. This shaper really only gives you the ability to do a specific cut of beard. It’s pretty much a guide to really only one style, and there aren’t many options for variation in your beard. If you are like me and don’t really like the style for your face, then this product is basically 10 bucks you are never getting back.
Final Thoughts – Who is the Beard Black Shaping Tool For?
So, who is the Beard Black Beard Guide for? Well, that is a hard question to really answer.
Trite, I know, but honestly, who is going to benefit from this tool?
The best answer I can give is something like this guide would work really well for a person who is still working on attempting to define their beard. Basically, I would recommend this for beginners who want to get into growing and maintaining their beard.
If you don’t have a defined style yet and need time to learn how to shape your beard into a style, then I would recommend this guide. It is not expensive and can be easily used to learn how to maintain the shape of your beard.
On the other hand, if you already have a style and have a trained regimen for maintaining your beard, then this guide isn’t really going to help you at all. In fact, it may just complicate matters more.
Related Reviews
Aberlite Clear Shaper Review – A Major Step-Up
Aberlite FlexShaper 2.0 Review – The Cone of Shame
