How To Maintain A Beard: 7 Tips With Regular Beard Care Routine
Learning how to maintain your beard is an essential part of keeping yourself looking presentable. But even if you’re enthusiastic about caring for your beard, getting started can be a little overwhelming.
Since there’s so much information that you can find from different sources, a pretty straightforward maintenance task can become more confusing.
So, to help you get your beard looking fresh and well-maintained, we’ve created this comprehensive guide. Here, we’ll cover how to maintain your beard and general tips for beard maintenance. We also have a separate set of instructions for how you should care for different types of beard hair.
How to Maintain Your Beard Regularly
Growing out your beard is the easiest part of having a beard. The real challenge is taking the time to properly wash, moisturize, and brush it to ensure it stays healthy. Here is your step-by-step process for maintaining your beard regularly.
Step 1: Determine Your Beard Type
The first step to maintaining your beard is to determine what type of beard you have. Based on facial hair growth directions, beard can be classified as straight, wavy, or curly. You can tell your beard type by looking at it.
Now, touch your beard with your finger and determine the texture of your beard hair. It can be fine, coarse, and frizzy.
Fine beard hair is soft and thin, while coarse beard hair is thick and rough to the touch. Frizzy beard hair is characterized by small, tight curls that can be difficult to manage.
Knowing the texture of your beard hair can help you choose the best grooming products and techniques to keep it looking healthy and well-groomed. Each type of beard requires different maintenance techniques. For example, a short beard is easier to maintain than long beard.
Step 2: Choose the Right Tools for Beard Care
The tools and products you use for beard care will also affect how it looks. After determining your beard type, you must have the right tools to maintain your beard.
Some of the essential tools required for maintaining your beard include a trimmer, comb, beard oil, and scissors.
Ensure you have a good electric trimmer and find a good beard brush, preferably from a company that specializes in them. Use a quality tweezer to pluck out stray hairs, and find a beard balm or oil that suits your beard specifically.
Step 3: Rinse Your Beard
Just like the hair on your head, your beard can become dirty and oily. Once you know your beard type and have all the tools and products for your beard type, make sure to wash your beard regularly to keep it clean and healthy.
Use a beard shampoo to clean your beard twice a week. Do not use shampoo designed for your head hair on your beard to avoid stripping the natural oils from your beard.
Step 4: Use a Soft Cloth to Dry
The next step is to use a soft cloth to wipe off all the excess water on your beard, but avoid fully drying it. Make sure you’re not too harsh when drying since you don’t want to break off any strands of hair.
Step 5: Use a Conditioner or Oil
After drying your beard, use beard oil or conditioner, preferably one that fits your specific type of beard. Apply the oil directly if you have a long beard or on your hands first if you have a short one.
Apply the oil gently and make sure it makes it reaches the skin and adequately coats your beard.
Step 6: Use a Brush or Comb
Finally, brush or comb your beard to help the oil spread and exfoliate your skin. For very curly beards, it’s best to skip the comb entirely since that could just pluck out your beard hair.
Step 7: Dedicate To The Process
Finally, the most important tip to ensuring that you can enjoy a good-looking and well-kept beard is if you keep at it. Every day that you go through the motions of maintaining your beard, the fuller and longer it will grow.
It is important to note that steps 1 and 2 are not part of the regular maintenance routine. These steps are typically only done once, at the beginning of your beard maintenance journey, so that you have the right tools and knowledge to care for your beard properly.
Once you have identified your beard type and gathered the necessary tools, other steps should be repeated regularly to ensure your beard stays healthy and looks great.
General Beard Care Tips for All Types
Regardless of whether you have a straight, wavy, or curly beard, here are a few beard care tips for your beard so that your beard stays healthy.
Trim Regularly to Shape and Control Beard Growth
Unless you want to be making weekly trips to your barber to keep your beard looking good, you will have to trim your beard regularly. All you need is a beard trimmer, and if this is the first time you’re trimming your beard, a shaping tool.
Trim your neckline and cheek line since it gives you a more polished look. Even if you’re looking to grow a much longer beard, trimming is usually good when your beard is still growing as it looks less messy.
Avoid Excessive Heat Styling Tools
The combination of heat and the speed at which it hits your face and beard makes it especially damaging to both. Excess heat can leave your beard hair brittle and make the skin underneath flakey. That’s why most people who use heat to style their beards can experience dandruff, patchiness, and even split ends.
Maintain a Healthy Diet for Optimal Beard Growth
Maintaining a healthy beard also comes down to your food since the nutrients you consume will go into your beard. Ensure you eat food containing vitamins A, B, D, K, and E since they all promote or maintain testosterone levels. You should also eat foods with selenium and zinc, all of which ensure optimal beard growth.
How to Take Care For Different Beard Types
As we stated earlier beard care is not one-size-fits-all. Different beard types have different requirements to make them look great. They all share the same maintenance steps, such as washing, combing/brushing, and moisturizing but the difference lies in the frequency and intensity of these steps, as well as the specific products used.
Straight Beard Care
Though the growth rate has nothing to do with beard type, a straight beard seems longer than a curly and wavy beard for the same length since they don’t curl and fall straight down. So, it needs more frequent trimming to keep your beard at a consistent length and shape.
You can also see some patches where the beard isn’t growing. These patches shouldn’t concern you since they will eventually grow out with time. You can oil your beard regularly to promote growth and just be patient with it.
You should also be careful to trim your chin and neck to make it even with the beard growing on your cheeks.
Curly Beard Care
Curly beards feature one of the unique types of beard hair texture since they often look like a fully loaded spring. Since they tend to grow in spirals, they have a much thicker and fuller look. However, you need to be more careful with maintenance since there is much more tangling.
Make sure that you brush regularly with a brush that features boar bristles. You should also oil your beard regularly to get rid of tangling. Avoid any and all heat straightening methods.
Wavy Beard Care
This type rests in between curly and straight beards. They’re a lot flowier but don’t curl in on themselves like a curly beard. These beards can look good, but they will often need a lot more trimming and taming.
To take care of your wavy beard, you need a brush with wider teeth so that you don’t tear out the hair, and use a comb to untangle any rough patches. You should use a conditioner to maintain its softness and a balm to shape it and help it flow down. However, you must avoid contorting the beard in unnatural positions.
Coarse and Frizzy Beard Care
If your beard hair is very coarse or frizzy, it is likely because you haven’t been maintaining it properly. A rough beard is usually a result of a lack of hydration, which can lead to the skin underneath becoming irritated, itchy, or even flaky.
Start by washing your beard with a dedicated scrub since that can help clean out the pores and let the natural oils flow out.
- Start by washing your beard with a dedicated scrub since that can help clean out the pores and let the natural oils flow out.
- Avoid using hot water when washing your beard, as it can strip away natural oils and cause frizz.
- Oil your beard at least twice a day to help soften it.
- If you have a long beard, then you can even use a comb to distribute the oil throughout the hair properly.
Here is a table for maintaining different beard types:
| Beard Type | Steps | Frequency | Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight Beard | Wash, trim, oil | Twice a week, trim as needed | Beard shampoo, trimmer, comb, scissors, beard oil |
| Curly Beard | Wash, brush, oil | Once a week, brush daily, oil as needed | Beard shampoo, boar bristle brush, beard oil |
| Wavy Beard | Wash, comb, condition, balm | Twice a week, comb daily, condition and balm as needed | Beard shampoo, comb with wide teeth, conditioner, beard balm |
| Coarse and Frizzy Beard | Wash, oil | Once a week, oil twice a day | Beard scrub, beard oil |
Finally, don’t skip your beard care days if you want the best results.
Regular Beard Care Routine For All Beard Type
From everything that you have read here is a beard care routine table with the summary:
| Steps | Frequency | Tools/Products |
|---|---|---|
| Determine Your Beard Type | Once | N/A |
| Choose the Right Tools for Beard Care | Once | Trimmer, comb, beard oil, scissors |
| Rinse Your Beard | Twice a week | Beard shampoo |
| Use a Soft Cloth to Dry | After washing | Soft cloth |
| Use a Conditioner or Oil | After drying | Beard oil or conditioner |
| Use a Brush or Comb | After applying oil/conditioner | Beard brush or comb |
| Trim Regularly to Shape and Control Beard Growth | Every 1-2 weeks | Beard trimmer |
| Avoid Excessive Heat Styling Tools | Always | N/A |
| Maintain a Healthy Diet for Optimal Beard Growth | N/A | A balanced diet with vitamins A, B, D, K, and E, as well as selenium and zinc |
Note: For coarse and frizzy beards, add a dedicated scrub to the routine for cleaning out the pores and softening the beard.
While it may seem difficult at first to maintain and care for your beard every day, once you properly implement it into your routine, you will see your beard look healthier and more attractive.
