The question of how to start growing a beard is fairly easy to answer.

Stop shaving.

It's the issue of beard shaping, beard trimming and beard maintenance that is generally of concern moving forward.

Once you stop shaving for a few days, the first thing you'll find out is whether or not you can actually grow a beard. What I mean is do you actually have the ability to cover your face with uniformly-grown hair or do you simply grow hair in tufts which ends up making you look like someone who just hasn't shaved in a few days?

The second question is whether or not growing a beard actually suits you or not.

Some guys can pull it off, some can't.

Once you've stopped shaving, I've found that it's best to let it grow out for several weeks before you start trying to shape it. Once you've figured out how much facial hair you're actually going to have, then you can start shaping, etc and can figure out what beard style suits you.

If you start shaving it too soon, you might end up taking too much off and end up shaving it all off once you realize you shaved didnt get it right.

When it comes to growing a beard, perhaps the best way to maintain it is to get a beard trimmer. I use a beard trimmer for my goatee and its was a great purchase. A beard trimmer can make beard shaping, beard trimming and beard maintenance pretty simple.

A good beard trimmer costs perhaps $20 and will have several length settings which enable you to grow it as long or as short as you like and still keep it symmetrical and neat.

When growing a beard, you can decide how long you want to grow it and a beard trimmer will help you. With a decent trimmer with several length settings, you could grow it longer or you might select the shortest setting and go for the stubble look which suits some guys well.

One of the things you'll have to get used to is the feeling of having a beard. You might experience a scratchy, itchy feeling once the hair gets longer or you might notice that your face feels warmer during hot weather given the insulating feeling hair can give you.

Or you may not notice any difference at all.

If you find that your beard is getting itchy, use the shampoo you wash your hair with to wash it to ensure it's being kept clean. You might also look at using a conditioner, too. You might also find that the shorter you keep your beard, the less irritating it is.

The best part of course is that if after a few days/weeks/months of growing a beard you realize that it isn't something you want to continue with, you can simply shave it off with no harm done.

If you get to this point, before you shave it off you might try to shave all the hair off except the hair around your lip and mouth, leaving a goatee, to see if this suits you instead of a full beard.