A beard is a stylish choice for men who want to maintain a classically masculine look. If you want nice facial hair, beard maintenance can be an easy and fast way to achieve a well-groomed and ruggedly handsome style. When taking care of your beard, the right grooming products will become necessary tools to cleanse and moisturize your facial hair, hydrate the skin underneath and trim regularly for the perfect length.
Whether you have short or long facial hair, beard grooming is a must-do that requires time and effort to create a classy style. With proper care, you can keep your facial hair looking healthy, full and enviable.
For inspiration, here are the 10 best beard grooming tips that will elevate your look. From washing to styling, follow these practical ways to maintain your beard for a sexy and healthy finish.
Contents
How To Maintain Your Beard
Wash Your Beard
The first step to good grooming is to keep your beard clean and moisturized. Washing and conditioning your facial hair with a natural beard shampoo has many benefits. For one, washing your beard 2 to 3 times a week will prevent itchiness and dandruff while promoting growth.
Similarly, the best beard washes and conditioners hydrate your facial hair and get you that shiny, soft finish. This can be especially useful if you have coarse, dry or damaged beard hairs.
You’ll also want to regularly wash your beard if you are just starting to grow your facial hair. Beard itch is the result of irritated skin under your beard.
Gentle scrubbing with a cleanser designed for facial hair can get rid of flaky, dry skin. After showering, men will want to apply a beard oil to lock in moisture and minimize frizz.
Lastly, make sure to dry your beard using a clean towel and avoid blow drying it with heat. Use a comb or brush to straighten out the hairs and remove tangles.
A complete beard grooming kit can be helpful in getting all the necessary grooming tools.
Use Beard Oil
Beard oil is a valuable product that will offer extra softness and hydration for a healthy look. Using beard oil at least once a day can help keep your facial hair naturally moisturized and shiny. Like a leave-in conditioner, beard oil will balance and maintain your body’s natural oils while preventing that wiry feel.
To apply beard oil effectively, follow these steps:
- As a fundamental part of proper care, you’ll want to apply beard oil after a shower. Warm-water showers open up pores and maximize absorption of the essential oils.
- Gently towel-dry your beard to soak up excess water, but keep it slightly damp.
- Rub a few drops of the oil through your facial hair.
- The result is a soft, smooth, conditioned beard that will be protected all day.
Use Beard Balm
Beard balm is a moisturizing product that can protect and condition your facial hair for a well-groomed look. Balms are similar to oils in that they are both leave-in treatments that result in a supple and soft feel. Generally, a balm is a thicker product that will last longer. We recommend applying one or the other and rotating them in your grooming routine.
To apply beard balm, follow these steps:
- Apply beard balm daily after a shower to improve effectiveness.
- Take about a dime-size of the balm and warm it up in your hands first, before running your palms and fingers through your facial hair.
- Start with less and apply more as necessary.
Trimming Your Beard
Though it might seem counter-intuitive to trim your beard when you are trying to grow out your facial hair, there are many reasons why beard trimming is a wise idea. For starters, a well-groomed beard needs to be trimmed and shaped in order to be styled properly. Moreover, trimming helps stimulate healthy beard growth while maintaining a fuller look.
As your beard gets longer, it will get more unruly, plagued with split ends and uneven areas that becomes harder to care for.
How and when to trim your beard really depends on your desired length and style. No matter, you’ll need to invest in a good beard trimmer.
Get a trimmer with self-sharpening blades, a powerful motor, a long-lasting battery, a number of attachments for versatility and offers cordless use.
Beard trimmers are best-suited for stubble and short beards. Always start cutting with a longer guard than your desired beard length; a conservative approach will allow you to shape and trim shorter where necessary.
For a long beard, get barber shears and a comb. You’ll want to straighten out your hair and cut across the comb to maintain a uniform length all over.
Just avoid trimming when your beard is wet. Because hair relaxes when wet, cutting it at this time can result in a much shorter length when it is dry.
Nevertheless, basic beard trimming focuses on cutting away stray hairs to style a clean look.
If you notice split-ends or dead strands, remove to encourage new growth in these areas. Regularly grooming can ensure a thicker, fuller beard.
Brush Your Beard
Combing and brushing your beard daily is important to keeping long facial hair looking good and healthy. Men will want to buy a boar’s hair bristle brush and a wide-tooth comb. A beard comb can be used to untangle knots and straighten a curly beard. Wooden combs are also effective at spreading your body’s natural oils across all the hairs.
This can be particularly useful when applying beard oil and you want the product to penetrate deep into your beard to moisturize the skin under.
To brush your beard, you’ll want to employ short strokes at first and simply brush straight down. Once you’ve straightened the hairs out, the goal is to train your beard to grow in the direction you want.
Learning how to brush your beard properly can add volume, softness, and shine while exfoliating the skin below.
Train Your Beard
Training beard hair can be a challenge. While some guys give up and use beard straighteners to get their desired beard style, we recommend a natural approach that starts with conditioning your beard to grow straight to begin with.
The best way to train your beard is to regularly brush it in the mornings and after a shower. If you train your beard as it grows, you are better able to control the direction of growth.
Run your beard brush through to remove tangles, especially if you have curly facial hair. You may want to use a light-hold styling balm to keep the hairs in place all day. This will also minimize flyaways and stop frizz.
If you have a short beard, be gentle and don’t irritate the skin. For a heavy stubble beard, brush less until it has grown out more. The benefits are exponential for long, thick beards, and this can make all the difference in growing the perfect facial hair.
Fade Your Beard Neckline
Most well-groomed beards have a trimmed and faded neckline. But some guys have trouble deciding where and how short to trim their neck beard. Instead of leaving your beard neckline messy, the trendy look is to trim off this excess hair for a clean finish.
To trim your beard neckline, you’ll need a top-rated beard trimmer. Place 2 fingers above your Adam’s apple (or about 1.5 inches) and this is where guys will need to start cutting. Make sure this point curves symmetrically up both sides, and cut all the facial hair below this line.
Fading your beard neckline will require the ability to blend different lengths of hair. Just as a barber fades your sides and back, attach a #1 or #2 guard to your trimmer and work your way up. Gradually increase to a #3, #4, or #5 guard, depending on your beard style.
Modern and popular, the beard fade can really take your look to the next level.
Style Your Beard
Styling your beard requires using balm. Great beards often complement men’s hairstyles and face shapes. But figuring out how to style your beard can take some practice, not to mention quality styling products.
A high-quality styling balm will hold your beard in place without weighing it down, while giving you the volume and shine you need.
Like a cream, warm up the beard balm between your palms. Now spread it through evenly, using your fingers to push and pull strands to shape your beard.
After you style your beard, you may want to blow dry the hairs to maximize the hold and maintain your design.
With so many different beard ideas, feel free to try new styles and lengths to find the right look for you.
Experiment With Different Beard Styles
Choosing the best beard styles for any man depends on a number of factors. To discover cool ways of styling your beard, you’ll need to experiment with different lengths, shapes, and designs.
Take into consideration your head shape, jawline, and the fullness of your beard. Whether you want a patchy beard, goatee, thick short facial hair with a mustache, or a long full beard style, there are endless styling options for every guy.
Eat Well To Grow A Healthy Beard
If you lead a healthy lifestyle, your beard will likely follow. Good beard growth starts from within. For example, diet and nutrition play a large part in how full and fast your beard will grow.
After all, healthy skin and hair come from a vitamin and protein-rich diet, so eat well. Specifically, you’ll want to intake vitamin A, C, E, B6, B12, biotin, omega-3 fatty acids, and beta carotene.
Focus on salmon, eggs, carrots, sweet potatoes, spinach, green peppers, citrus fruits, almonds, peanut butter, rice, beans, legumes, oat meal, and flaxseed oil.
Other related factors include exercise, sleep, and stress. Physical activity such as cardio and weight lifting increases blood circulation and the production of testosterone.
Sleep and adequate rest accelerate cell recovery and production. And finally, stress can be a powerful contributor to hair loss, which can slow your beard’s growth.
In the end, great beard care and maintenance mean nothing without healthy growth. On the plus side, improving your health and lifestyle habits to grow a full beard faster can have a very positive impact.
Beard Maintenance Tips
- Beard grooming is a simple daily process that will keep your facial hair looking and feeling good.
- Good beard care starts with using the proper tools on a daily basis, requiring men to commit to the routine.
- Shampoo and condition with high-quality beard products.
- Apply beard oil and balm to moisturize and hydrate your facial hair.
- Brush your beard to train your hairs and spread your natural oils.
- Trim your beard to groom and shape the best style.
- Try different beard styles to experiment.
- Maintain a balanced diet, exercise regularly, sleep enough, and practice stress relief.
