Beard Trim Cost and How Long It Should Take

A beard trim should take about fifteen minutes and cost roughly what fifteen minutes of a good barber's time is worth. Ours is £11 in a 15 minute slot, and £9 when you add it to any haircut, which makes the most common pairing, a Haircut and a beard trim, £24 in 45 minutes. If the beard trim cost you are quoted somewhere is a lot higher, ask what else is in it. If the time is a lot shorter, ask what got left out.

What fifteen minutes actually buys

Fifteen minutes sounds short until you watch where it goes. Roughly in order:

A minute or two of talk first. How long since the last trim, whether you want the same again or a change, whether it has been itching. That is not small talk, it decides the guard.

Then the bulk comes off with clippers, usually two numbers rather than one: shorter through the cheeks, a grade longer at the chin. That is what turns a length into a shape.

Then scissors over the moustache and anything the clipper guard skated across, mostly the jawline corners and the hairs that grow flat along the cheek.

Then the lines. Cheek line, neckline, and the edge under the lower lip, put back with the trimmer and finished with the razor. This is the part you cannot do well at home, because you are working in a mirror on a neck you cannot see from below.

Last, a brush-off and a look at both sides together, because a beard can be level from the front and still sit a few millimetres heavier on one side when you turn.

If a trim takes five minutes, one of those steps did not happen, and it is almost always the last two.

Beard trim cost: what you are paying for

Here is something you can check on our price list: per minute, a beard trim on its own costs more than a haircut. A Haircut is £15 and gets half an hour. A beard trim gets a quarter of an hour for £11.

That is not a mistake. A booking costs the shop the same at either end whatever is done in the middle. You come in, you get gowned, the chair gets cleaned and reset after you leave, the next man sits down. On a 30 minute cut that changeover is spread thin. On a 15 minute beard trim it is a big share of the appointment.

Which is also why the price drops when you book it with a cut. You are already gowned and in the chair, there is no second changeover, so the beard comes down by £2.

The full set of pairings, straight from the till:

• Crew Cut and beard trim: £19, 35 minutes
• Short Back & Sides and beard trim: £23, 35 minutes
• Haircut and beard trim: £24, 45 minutes
• Skin Fade or Taper Fade and beard trim: £26, 55 minutes

Every haircut on the list takes the £2 off, including the Over-60s Haircut and the Head Shave.

What we cannot tell you is what the shop down the road charges. We do not price-check other barbers, and guessing would be worse than useless. What we would say is that the number on its own tells you very little. A beard trim that costs double ours might come with a hot towel, a wash and twenty extra minutes, and that might be worth it to you. Ask what is included before you compare.

When it should take longer

Fifteen minutes is the slot for a beard that is being maintained: it was shaped last time and you are back to have the shape put right.

A few situations need more than that, and it is fair to expect it.

A beard you have never had shaped. Three months of growth with no lines set has no neckline to follow, and finding the right one on your jaw is slower than tidying an existing one. Tell us when you sit down. We would rather know than rush it.

A change of style. Going from a full beard to a short boxed one, or from stubble to something with a defined cheek line, is a new shape, not a trim. It is still one appointment, but expect it to run longer and expect a bit more talk first.

A long beard with scissor work. Once a beard is past the length any guard can manage, the clippers are mostly out and it is scissors and comb. That is slower work by nature.

You want it gone. That is not a trim at all. Taking a beard off completely with towels and a straight edge is the Clean Shave, £11 in a 20 minute slot, and our hot towel shave guide explains what happens in it.

When it should cost less

If what bothers you is only the moustache creeping over your lip, a Moustache Trim is £5 and takes 10 minutes. No point paying for the whole beard.

And if you keep the length down yourself at home between visits, you can stretch the gap between paid trims. Most of what a barber does in fifteen minutes that you cannot is the lines, and the lines hold for two to three weeks. The length is the bit a home trimmer handles fine, and our home beard trimming guide covers the order to do it in without taking it shorter than you meant.

Four checks while the gown is still on

Whatever you pay, these are the things that tell you the trim was done properly. Look for them while you still have the barber standing behind you, because each one takes a minute to put right now and a week of growing out to put right later.

1. Turn your head both ways in the mirror. Both sides should sit at the same length along the jaw. Uneven is the most common fault in a quick trim.
2. Tilt your chin up. The neckline should sit two fingers' width over the Adam's apple and rise towards the angle of the jaw on each side, not run straight along the jawbone.
3. Look at the cheek line from the side. It should follow where your beard naturally grows. If it has been dragged down to make a sharp line, it will look harsh for weeks.
4. Check the lip. No hairs over the top lip unless you asked to keep a longer moustache.

If any of those is off, say so. It is your £11. The rest of the detail on necklines and cheek lines is in our beard trim styles guide, and you can book a slot or walk in off Harrow Road. With six of us cutting, a fifteen minute job is usually easy to fit.