1 Week Beard: Growth And Progress To Expect (Pics)

Part of the frustration that comes with growing a beard is not knowing what length and progress to expect at specific points during the journey. You’re about to learn everything you need to know about the 1-week beard. 

Let’s get to it. 

What Does 1-Week Beard Growth Look Like?

This is what the average 1-week beard will look like: 

Notice how I said average. It’s important to understand that people vary widely in terms of their rate of facial hair growth. 

After 1 week, a certain proportion of people would have grown a slightly longer beard than this, while another proportion would have grown a slightly shorter one. 

But the picture above should give you a good indication of what the average person would expect. Don’t get discouraged if yours falls a little shorter than this, however. 

Just give it a bit more time. 

As you can see, the 1-week beard really does amount to medium stubble. Some may not even choose to call it a true “beard”, but many would disagree. 

What’s great about the 1-week beard is that it defines the contours of the face. That’s the beauty of a stubble-length beard. 

How Long Does A Beard Grow In 1 Week?

After 1 week you can expect a beard to have grown 3 to 4mm on average. 

It’s long enough to be noticeable, but not long enough for patchiness to really become obvious. 

It’s also short enough that you really don’t have to do anything to maintain it if you don’t want to. 

No trimming, brushing, combing, or oiling. Just let it be.

Assuming you’re looking to grow it out even longer, it’s at a stage where you really don’t have to do anything to it at all to maintain it. 

This is especially true if you’re following the “4-week rule”. This states that you shouldn’t be trimming your beard at all for 4 weeks. 

After 1 week, you really don’t have to do anything to it other than let it grow to your desired length. 

How To Grow, Trim, And Shave A 1 Week Beard (If You Want To)

This section is for those of you that want to maintain a 1-week beard instead of growing it out even longer. 

It’s for people that want to grow it out to a 1-week length and then keep it at that medium stubble length. 

If you’re looking to do this, you’ll want to make sure it’s well-trimmed and maintained. The 4-week rule of beardedness doesn’t apply. 

Here are some tips for growing, trimming, and shaving a 1-week beard. 

1. Trim Every 2 To 3 Days

While it may seem simple enough, maintaining a 1-week beard does take some work. The main risk is that you look like you’ve grown an accidental beard as opposed to an intentional one. 

The way to minimize this risk is by ensuring the beard appears well-maintained at all times. 

The best first step would be to allow the beard to grow for 9 or 10 days. That way most people would have passed the average 1-week beard length of 3-4mm. 

At this point, you can now trim down to 3 or 4 mm using a stubble trimmer. If you don’t have one, I like the Philips Norelco Oneblade (Amazon Link). 

Do this every 2 to 3 days if you want to maintain a permanent 1-week beard stubble. 

2. Define The Borders

The borders are your neckline and your cheekline. 

The neckline is the border where your neck hair transitions to your neck skin. The dreaded “neckbeard” occurs when there’s no distinct neckline and the neck stubble simply crawls toward your chest. 

Avoid this at all costs. Trim the outline of your neckline with the lone blade of your trimmer first (i.e with no length guard attached), as well as all of the hair beneath it. 

It should lie approximately two finger-widths above your Adam’s apple and roughly follow the angle of your jawline on either side. 

Here’s a tutorial on trimming a stubble neckline if you want more details on this. 

The cheeklines are the borders at the top of your 1-week beard. 

It’s where the cheek hair meets your cheek skin. Maintaining the cheek lines isn’t as important as maintaining the neckline, as it’s generally considered more acceptable to leave it au naturale. 

However, if you did want defined cheeklines, consider cleaning them up with your trimmer too. 

3. Consider Shaving Neck Stubble

Even after trimming beneath your neckline with the lone blade of your trimmer, you’re still likely to have very short stubble visible beneath it. 

While this isn’t as bad as having longer beard hairs on your neck, it’s still noticeable and isn’t usually the most desirable look. 

Consider using a manual razor (cartridge, safety, or straight) or an electric shaver to remove all neck stubble (beneath your neckline) to get the cleanest and sharpest appearance. 

Tips To Help A Patchy 1-Week Beard

To reduce the appearance of a patchy 1-week beard, consider the following tips: 

• Leave it alone for a full 4 weeks as a lot of patchiness does fill itself in during this period. 
• If you’re looking to maintain a 1-week beard without growing it, consider varying the length. Trim the thicker areas of your beard a millimeter or two shorter than the patchy areas. Overall, this often gives the illusion of a fuller beard. 
• Consider a different style. For example, if you’ve got patchy cheek hair, remove the need for cheek hair altogether by trimming a goatee. 

Conclusion 

There you have it. Hopefully, everything you need to know about the 1-week beard. What it looks like, how long you can expect it to have grown, and more. 

Enjoy.