Buy him the nice razor. Ask him to shave and then leave him alone. He will shave when he wants to. It is his face. If he is not causing any harm to himself who cares. He is the one who has to like how it looks, not you.

My son went through the same. He is now 21 and has never shaved. His patchy beard has finally grown in enough that it doesn’t look ridiculous. While it was growing in the entire family told him to shave. He had his reasons for not shaving that he never shared and we would have probably not agreed with or understood. I now respect that. There were more important battles than facial hair. I am glad I backed off on the facial hair.

His brother is the complete opposite and stays clean shaven.

Anonymous wrote:DS has patches of hair, patches of fizz and patches of bare skin. It doesn’t look very good, and I wish he’d shave it but he wants to grow a beard (I don’t think he can grow a full beard just yet). I keep my mouth shut, but anyone else’s kid have patchy, unkempt looking facial hair?

My DS hasn't shaved since the beginning of the pandemic. It is absolutely the least of my worries.

So many tools ...

Anonymous wrote:Buy him a Braun electric and tell him the gentlemen in your home are clean shaven.

I say something similar to my DD. The ladies in our house wear bras.

Anonymous wrote:
Don't say a word until he gets ready to leave for college, and then explain that it looks much better to have a clean look - that is, if he can grow a bread or mustache, that's fine, but to shave off the fuzz so that the lines are nice and distinct.

But right now his hair is still extremely fine and you shouldn't push him to do things he doesn't want. There are no important social repercussions, and if the person he fancies shies away, he will have to decide himself what he wants to do.

My college age son and most of his guy friends have some amount of facial hair. I think it is kind of in now. I consider it the young adult's choice to make.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Shaving makes it grow back faster.

That’s just not true. Your hair can’t sense that it’s been cut and regrow itself. It grows at the rate it grows. Blunt, cut ends may look thicker than the more tapered ends of uncut hair, though.

It’s not that the kid doesn’t know he “needs to shave.” He likes having facial hair! It may look ridiculous to you, but to him it looks like manhood. Let him be. Looking ridiculous and scruffy for a year or so will hurt no one, and he gets to control something at a time when things feel out of a teen’s control.

Doesn't matter if its not true, and all Mom is doing by suggesting it is helping him grow the beard he says he wants. That isn't taking control away.

My 14 yo makes due with those tinkle blades for women's eyebrows. So much less intimidating to start with.

Anonymous wrote:Shaving makes it grow back faster.

That’s just not true. Your hair can’t sense that it’s been cut and regrow itself. It grows at the rate it grows. Blunt, cut ends may look thicker than the more tapered ends of uncut hair, though.

It’s not that the kid doesn’t know he “needs to shave.” He likes having facial hair! It may look ridiculous to you, but to him it looks like manhood. Let him be. Looking ridiculous and scruffy for a year or so will hurt no one, and he gets to control something at a time when things feel out of a teen’s control.

Anonymous wrote:Even if he wants a beard he needs to shave off this first growth in order to encourage one.

This. Tell him this.

Shaving makes it grow back faster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have no issues telling my kid he needs to shave.

Same. If I don’t tell him, who will?

His friends, his girlfriend, his grandparents, his employer, his barber...

Anonymous wrote:I have no issues telling my kid he needs to shave.

Same. If I don’t tell him, who will?

mine is 16 too and has some fuzz. i have not said anything yet but may have to soon. so it's a braun electric razor i should buy? (single mom!)

I have to tell mine to shave, too. don't think my teens know or care how bad it looks. I feel like part of my job as their mother is to tell them that they smell, or that their hair is greasy, or that they need to shave. My kids aren't even sensitive about it. They don't always do it either, but I feel like they still need help.