Men's grooming checklist before headshots.

The cut, on its own clock.

A haircut is the one item on this list that needs real lead time. Many stylists suggest about a week out, so it falls the way it normally does instead of looking freshly cut. The full reasoning, plus how color and greys fit in, is covered in haircut and color timing before headshots. This page picks up from there and stays on everything else.

The beard line, trimmed the day before.

A beard runs on a much shorter clock than hair. A trim and a clean line are usually best done the day before or the morning of, whichever matches how you normally maintain it. The goal is not a different beard than you wear day to day, just a version of your own beard with a crisp, deliberate edge rather than a few days of drift.

Symmetry matters more here than most people expect. Check both sides of the jawline in good light, not just the mirror in a dim bathroom, and pay particular attention to the neckline, since an uneven neckline is one of the more common things that reads oddly once a photo is enlarged. If you keep a mustache, the same rule applies: trim it a day ahead rather than in the final rush, so any small unevenness has time to be noticed and fixed before the session, not during it.

Shaving clean: morning of, with an hour to spare.

If you shave clean, do it the morning of the session rather than the night before, since skin often looks calmer a few hours after a fresh shave than immediately following one. Give yourself roughly an hour between shaving and leaving the house if your schedule allows it, so any redness or tightness has time to settle.

Razor burn is the main thing to watch for. A sharp blade, a light touch and a routine you already trust do more here than any new product would. This is not the week to switch razors, try a new blade brand, or experiment with a shaving method you have not used before. A familiar shave, done a little more carefully than usual, is the safest version.

A cool, damp cloth held against the skin for a minute afterward can take the edge off any redness. Skip a strongly scented aftershave if your skin runs sensitive, and if you tend to react to shaving in general, ask your dermatologist what they would recommend for a calmer result before an important day.

Nose and ear hair, the check nobody wants to make and everybody should.

This is a small thing that gets noticed far more than it gets mentioned. A tight portrait crop shows details that a passing glance in a mirror does not, so it is worth a genuine check under bright light, not a quick glance on the way out. Trim what needs trimming a day or two ahead rather than the morning of, since a nick or minor irritation there needs time to calm down like anywhere else on the face.

Brows sit on the same clock as the rest of this section, and for men the job is almost always stray hairs rather than a shape. Where the line falls between a cleanup and a mistake is worked out in eyebrow timing before a photoshoot.

Skin, the routine you already have.

The rule for skin does not change for men versus anyone else: this is not the week to introduce something new. No first-time exfoliant, no product a friend recommended, no treatment you have been meaning to try. Keep whatever you already do and be a little more consistent about it in the days before the session.

Moisturizer matters more than most men give it credit for, since dry or flaky skin catches studio light in a way that a well-moisturized face does not. A light, unscented moisturizer in the days before, and lip balm before bed the night before, cover most of what is needed. If you deal with a persistent skin concern, ask your dermatologist for guidance rather than trying something new on your own this close to a session.

What you're wearing, checked at the collar and the wrist.

Grooming and wardrobe meet at a few specific points, and they are worth a check before you leave the house rather than after you arrive.

• The collar: make sure it sits evenly on both sides and is not curling, especially if it is a shirt straight from the packaging.
• The tie or open collar: decide which you are wearing before the day, not while getting dressed that morning.
• The watch: fine to wear, and worth deciding in advance rather than swapping at the last minute.
• The jacket: try it on with everything underneath at least once before the day, sitting as well as standing.
• Pocket squares, pins and cufflinks: simple beats busy, and one detail piece reads better than three competing ones.

None of this is complicated. It is simply easier to notice a crooked collar or a loose button in your own mirror than it is to fix it standing in the studio.

The morning of, in order.

A short sequence, in the order it tends to work best: eat something real, since low energy shows in your face before you notice it yourself, and the specifics of that are its own guide in eating before a session. Shave or clean up the beard line if that is part of your morning. Moisturize lightly. Check the collar, the watch and the jacket together, not separately.

If the night before still has questions of its own, wardrobe hung, a bag packed, sleep and salt, that whole stretch is covered separately in the night-before-photoshoot checklist. This page is the morning-of and the days-before version. That one is the night before. Both sit inside the fuller countdown on how to prepare for a photoshoot.

A small kit costs nothing to bring and solves the small problems that otherwise get solved in the room:

• A comb or the product you use on your hair, for a quick fix between looks.
• A lint roller, since a dark jacket picks up everything on the way to the car.
• Blotting papers or a small amount of powder if you run shiny under bright light.
• A backup shirt if you have one, particularly if the plan involves a light color.

Posing is a separate subject.

This guide stops at grooming on purpose. What to do with your expression, your posture and where the camera wants your chin is guided in the room, in every session, and it has its own detailed guide as well: how to pose for men's headshots. Read it if you are curious, but there is nothing you need to rehearse. For the sessions themselves, headshots covers the range, and executive headshots speak to a slightly more formal register if that is the use you have in mind.