If you wear facial hair, or you’re deciding whether to shave before your session, this one’s for you. It’s a short follow-up to my what to wear guide - I split it into its own page so it didn’t get lost in there.
Pick one look and stick with it: a full beard, a mustache, or clean-shaven. Skip the in-between, stubbly stage. It just doesn’t photograph well.
Getting Ready: Pick Your Look
If you wear a beard
Trim it a few days before your session, not the morning of. Give the lines a day or two to settle so they don’t look freshly cut. Wash and condition it the night before, and brush it once before you leave the house. Dark beards can look thicker on camera, so trim it a little more than you normally would.
If you wear stubble
This one’s trickier. Two-day stubble reads as put-together. Five-day stubble reads as “I forgot.” Under studio light, that in-between stage is the problem: the hair’s too short and scattered to sit flat, so each strand throws its own tiny shadow and the camera picks it up as patchy, uneven skin rather than a deliberate look. If stubble is your normal look, shave clean two days before your session, so you land on two-day growth on the day. If you can’t plan your shave that closely, go with a clean shave or a full beard instead.
If you go clean-shaven
Shave the morning of your session. Get it close, but don’t push so hard you nick yourself or leave red marks. Use a fresh blade. If your skin gets red easily, shave a little earlier so it has time to calm down.
A Few Small Things That Matter More Than You’d Think
The camera sits closer than most people ever get to your face, so small details show up more than you’d expect.
- Trim stray eyebrow hairs, just the ones that stick out. Don’t overdo it.
- Trim nose and ear hair. It shows up more on camera than it does in the mirror.
- Keep sideburns even with your hair length and your face shape.
- If you trim your neckline yourself, keep the lowest point a couple finger-widths above your Adam’s apple, not right up against your jaw. Trimmed too high, it flattens your jawline and can read as a double chin the second you tilt your head down.
- Going gray or salt-and-pepper? Leave the lighter patches a touch longer than the dark ones. Studio light passes right through pale hair, so it can look thinner and patchier than a dark beard trimmed to the same length.
- Thinking about a big change, like shaving off a beard or growing one? Do it well before your session, or wait until after.
That’s It
Whatever look you land on, the goal is the same: show up looking like the version of you that’s rested and put-together, not a different person. If you’re still deciding what to wear along with it, here’s the full guide.
See you soon. I’ll take it from there.
— Eric
Keep this on hand
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