Our 3-step guide to giving yourself a last-minute ear lowering

STEP 1: Trim your fringe. “Shaggy hair shows in the sideburns,” says Vaughn Acord, a stylist at Bumble and Bumble in New York City. Dampen and comb your burns forward toward your face and, using a straight, upward cut with a pair of scissors, chop off the fur that sticks out. Comb toward your ears and snip again.

STEP 2: Dampen the hair above your ears. Then, with your ear pushed against your head, make a C-shaped pass to cut the strands that hang over your ear, stopping when you get to 3 o’clock (or 9 o’clock) behind it.

STEP 3: Shave the back of your neck. “The secret is to lift your hair up so you don’t cut into it,” says Paul Labrecque, owner of the Paul Labrecque Salon, in New York City. Cup your hair in one hand and, with a wet razor, shave from the base of your neck to your hairline using gentle strokes.

Upgrade Your Bathroom

137 WAYS YOUR HOME CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER MAN

From the editors of Men’s Health Living

Shave smarter
Instead of shaving first thing in the morning, have breakfast, shower, then shave. Your face won’t be as puffy, and the warm water will open pores and soften hairs, resulting in a closer shave and a delayed shadow.

Take years off your face
Better to wash your face in the shower than at the sink. The steam-rich environment opens your pores for deeper cleaning. For best results, start with an exfoliating face scrub and use soft, circular motions to spread the sandlike grains over your mug. (We like the Invigorating Face Scrub from Aramis Lab Series for Men ($17, labseriesformen.com. Exfoliation frees ingrown hairs and wipes away dead skin cells that would otherwise prevent soap from reaching the layers below, says Paul Frank, M.D., author of Turn Back the Clock without Losing Time.

Ditch the bar
When solid soap dries out, the cracks in it harbor bacteria. Lather up with a liquid body wash instead, like Every Man Jack. $5. target.com

Freshen up
There’s no cleaner feeling than supplementing TP with Cottonelle’s Moist Wipes. ’Nuff said. $5. drugstore.com

Keep your bristles clean
Toilet flushes send germs into orbit. The UV Sanitizer from Philips Sonicare uses UV light to kill up to 99.9 percent of bacteria that might happen to land on your toothbrush. Best of all, it works with most electric-toothbrush heads. $50. drugstore.com

Moisturize now, age later
Applying moisturizer to dry skin treats the symptom, not the disease. But moisturizing every day, beginning in your 20s, can delay wrinkles for years. “Apply it after you leave the shower in the morning, midway through your day, and after you hit the gym,” suggests Denise Vitiello, director of the fitness center and spa at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in New York City. We like Biotherm Homme’s Age Refirm lotion ($37, biotherm-usa.com).