I've always hated shaving. Unfortunately, the jobs I wanted required being clean-shaven... until about 2014. Since then I've only shaved a small handful of times, for work. I even got married in my beard, as the tan lines would have made the wedding pictures look off...
It takes about a week for the itching to stop. It helps to use beard oil. Doesn't have to be some overpriced product, a few drops of argan or jojoba oil from the hippie food store works just fine. I get beardruff really bad, and sometimes ingrown hairs, but aggressively combing it out every few days prevents that. When I get a haircut I have the cutter trim up the edges, I can maintain that line with an electric shaver.