The 5cm Beard: Everything You Need To Know

When your beard gets this long, maintenance requirements do go up. It won’t be enough to run a comb through it now and again – proper grooming is a little more intensive than that. Here’s everything you need to know about the 5cm beard. 

Masculinity doesn’t ever come into question. 

With this sort of growth, it’s hard not to look rugged. It just comes naturally. 

But a well-groomed 5cm beard looks a lot more impressive than a scruffy and untidy one. It can make the difference between an accidental beardsman and an intentional one. 

You’re about to learn what it looks like, how long it takes to grow, and more. 

Let’s get to it. 

What Does A 5cm Beard Look Like?

It’s a medium-long beard with a huge number of styling options. When you’ve got length, you’ve got options. 

It looks like this: 

But you don’t necessarily need to keep it classic. The full and natural look is impressive but you’ve got plenty of other choices. 

You could sculpt that 5 cm into a long goatee, or add a handlebar mustache to it and call it a Van Dyke. 

Let the distribution of your beard hair guide you. If you’ve got patchy cheek hair, trust me – you’re not alone. 

But style it out. Choose a style that completely removes the need for cheek hair altogether. Goatees characteristically have no hair on the cheeks – ideal for any man with patchy cheek hair. 

To sum that up – when you’ve got 5cm’s worth of facial hair, your list of style possibilities is long. 

How Long Does It Take To Grow A 5cm Beard? 

It takes around 4 months to grow a 5cm beard. 

Although men will vary in terms of growth rate, 4 months is a pretty safe bet. Some men will take longer, while others will push past this magical threshold a little sooner. 

Don’t worry too much about how long it takes. 

Just be sure to develop fantastic grooming habits as you grow. 

Don’t wait until you’ve got this much length before you start brushing, combing, and oiling. I’ll be talking more about these habits later on. 

But they should be well established by the time you get to the 5cm mark. 

Is There A 5cm Beard Trimmer?

You’ll most likely find it difficult to find a “beard trimmer” that will allow you to trim to 5cm. 

Most beard trimmers are designed for shorter beards, with their narrow blades and narrowly-spaced teeth. 

When you’re maintaining a beard this long, you’ll want a pair of hair clippers instead. 

Clippers were designed for longer and thicker hair, as the length guards are bulkier, the blade is wider, and the teeth of the comb are spaced wider apart. 

But most clippers won’t come with a guard capable of trimming as long as 5cm. Most of them come with guards ranging from #1 (3mm) to #8 (25mm). 

To trim down to 5cm, you’ll need a #16 guard which is definitely less common. Here’s one for Wahl clippers you can check out. 

But in general, you’ll want to get used to trimming with beard scissors when your hair gets this long. 

You’ll have much more control over your trimming, as you’ll be able to snip away at strays as you grow it. 

The danger with using a pair of clippers is accidentally trimming large chunks off your beard unintentionally. 

Scissor-trimming might be more time consuming but you can be so much more intricate with it. 

Maintenance Tips For The 5cm Beard

You’ve got the gist of what this length is all about by now. Here are some solid tips on grooming this medium-long beard in the most effective way possible. 

1. Brush Away The Weak Hair 

At any point in time, there are beard hairs at different stages of growth. As the beard grows longer, this will become more obvious. 

You’ll have thick and luscious strands of beard hair sitting right next to old, weak, and wispy strands. 

This is completely normal – those weak hairs will eventually fall out. 

But they can make a look thinner and stringier than it otherwise would. Getting rid of them prematurely is often a good idea. 

One way of doing this is to simply brush them out. Boar bristle beard brushes are great at training the beard to grow in your desired direction over time. 

Brushing daily will eventually lead to a neater, flatter, and straighter beard. 

Start brushing once you’ve got around 3-4 weeks of growth. Once you’re at the 5cm mark, it should have become a very established part of your routine. 

But those boar bristles are ideal for gently tugging away at those weak and wispy hairs, leaving behind the luscious and full ones. 

Overall, this makes your beard look thicker and fuller. 

2. Don’t Abuse Beard Shampoo

When you’ve got 4 months’ worth of growth, keeping it clean should become a priority. 

Washing it daily is essential, but what you wash it with does need to be considered. For the most part, washing it with water only on a daily basis will be enough. 

Once or twice a week, however, you should rinse it with a dab of beard shampoo. It’s gentler and kinder to beard hair and facial skin than regular hair shampoo would be. 

Unless you work around strong odors or just happen to be very oily, this will be more than enough to keep that beard clean and grease-free. 

Definitely avoid applying beard shampoo every day. It’ll dry the beard out and over time will do more harm than good. 

Dry beards look coarse and lifeless. It robs the beard of natural oils which (in moderation) are essential to keeping it looking nourished. 

Applying beard shampoo once a week, or twice a week at a maximum, should be enough for the vast majority of men. 

3. Beard Combs Act Differently To Brushes

A common mistake bearded men make is to think that beard brushes act in the same way as beard combs. 

Because of this, they choose to do one and not the other. 

This is definitely incorrect. 

Boar bristle beard brushes are great for guiding the direction of growth, as well as for the distribution of natural oils. 

Beard combs, on the other hand, are great for detangling the beard and for styling. 

For long beards (beyond two months’ growth), beard combs are in some ways even more important than beard brushes. 

Think about it – you’ve got 5cm of hair. There’s no way the short bristles of a beard brush can reach the depths of the beard. 

You’ll need something longer to really dig in and tame the hairs at the bottom. That’s where the long teeth of a beard comb come in so handy. 

Combs are also great for styling. They’re great little tools to take with you to work for on-the-go grooming. 

When your beard gets this long, it’s not uncommon for it to become scruffy and untidy as the day goes on. By the end of the day, it could look pretty different to what it looked like when you left the house. 

Running a comb through it now and again at different points of the day is usually wise. 

Conclusion

There you have it. 

Everything you need to know about this phenomenal beard length. 

It isn’t for everyone – many men would be better suited to the less intensive maintenance requirements of shorter beards. 

But for men who can tolerate the growth process and grooming of a 5cm beard, the rewards can definitely outweigh the sacrifices. 

Enjoy.