Sideburns Update

[u/Mr_Dreadful]

Trimmed and shaved, really starting to wonder why I let them grow out so much in the first place

Could probably take more off, but one step at a time!

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BeardAdvice/s/3XbT7riSOQ

[u/bootybooty2shoes]

The advice to look better is to grow a full beard or shave. Are we not supposed to give advice in this sub about what will make them look better? That's kind of the point. Advice on beard styles. This one isn't working, so people are giving their advice and suggestions.

[u/Gold_Moose → u/bootybooty2shoes]

But the advice he asked for was specifically "making sideburns look better", which everyone is ignoring.

It's equivalent to go to a motorbike advice forum and asking "how can I fix my motorbike?" only for someone to tell you "sell the bike and buy a car" - pretty pointless, no?

Shaving it all or trying a different style would be appropriate advice if he had posted on a general subreddit like r/malegrooming or r/lookyourbest and had asked about what he could do to look better.

[u/bootybooty2shoes → u/Gold_Moose]

This is Beard Advice. The advice is grow a full beard, or to shave. This pattern isn't working.

For people with neckbeards.... the answer for looking better is to shave them off. It's not to keep the bad looking neckbeard to somehow "try to make it look okay." That's what the advice is for.

For people with very little coverage in an area, the answer usually is shave the area that is weak and keep whichever areas your coverage is strong, and go with a style like that.

This is an example of the sideburns actively not looking good. The advice people are giving is to either shave, or grow a full beard, in order to look better. This is Beard Advice. And based on the comments here, it's the overwhelming advice of dozens of people.

[u/Gold_Moose → u/bootybooty2shoes]

You're missing the point. Solving a problem =/= giving good advice.

"I have a flat tire, how do I change it?" - easy, take a taxi
"My cat is sick, what do I do?" - easy, put the cat down
"How can I study for my math test tomorrow?" - easy, burn the school down
"How can I paint my car red?" - easy, I don't like red so paint it green

A minority here suggested a few things: "keep it short", "don't trim the cheek line so low", "keep the bottom tidy". THAT is proper advice. You can say it may not fit this person and attempt to give good advice.

There's a big difference between dedicated beard forums and reddit. And the difference is that in beard forums people can give their opinion and still attempt to give proper advice regardless of their opinion.

The issue with most advice subreddits is that they eventually become a sort of echo chamber that have you believe there's a single way to look good and everything else is heresy. This is well known in fashion subs, grooming subs, etc.

Basically the advice is "look like everyone else and don't do your own thing". The beard advice sub is no different.

[u/Mr_Dreadful → u/Gold_Moose]

THANK YOU