BEARD MAINTENANCE AND CARE - 4 VITAL TIPS
You’ve grown that beard - you’ve gone through the itchiness stage and whether it’s still short and patchy or carrying some length, you’re proud of it. Your next step now is essential beard maintenance, because the journey has only just begun.
For your beard to grow healthily and look the part, and not look like you’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards, it needs maintaining. This means a regular beard maintenance routine.
But don’t worry bro, you’re not going to be spending hours each day in front of the mirror. Well, you could if you wanted to, plus it’ll take a shorter time than having to shave your beard regularly.
You know your beard and what it needs to get you going for the day so everyone’s beard maintenance will differ. Let us give you some tips on maintaining that beard and you build up your own routine to suit.
Trimming
Listen bro, at some point you are going to have to keep your beard well presented and that means some sort of regular beard maintenance trimming. Now ideally you would book yourself in with a barber every 3-4 weeks but we know that isn’t realistic, however, it’s quite easy to do it yourself….and to be honest it can be quite therapeutic.
If you want a full breakdown of how to trim your beard then pop over to our blog post on the subject matter. Here are the main takeaways from that post.
Use a bloody decent pair of barber scissors. Here at the Mo Bros we use one with a razor edge so it’ll give you the option of shaving that cheek line. Ours come with an adjustable tensioner and a finger rest to give you the edge of fine tuning your trim.
Don’t trim when your beard is wet. Once dry, your beard hair will shrink back and you will lose that evenness.
Our blog post will talk about trimming the neckline and cheek line, however, when it comes to the beard, start slow. Take small cuts until you start to master those scissors, it can take a few goes, so go easy on the Edward Scissorhands impressions.
Comb your beard through so it looks tidy and then start trimming away at the stray hairs. Do this a few times until it’s looking to take a bit more shape.
Now take out a beard trimmer if you have one, add the longest attachment and just gently follow the beard shape down slowly. Don’t go up as you may snag the beard and will take off more than you want. Keep moving around the beard slowly and shape as you go.
Lastly, don’t forget to maintain that moustache, especially your lips. You don’t want to look like a walrus. Comb your tache downwards and starting with your scissors in the middle of your upper lip trim the hairs in one direction to the corner of your mouth. You want to see the whole lip. Then go back to the centre and use the scissors in the other direction.
Keeping it clean
When talking about beard maintenance a lot is made of your beard oil and balm. They are important and we will come onto them later, however, we at the Mo Bros believe that keeping that beard clean is just as critical as to what styling products to add.
Washing the beard with a beard shampoo (not a normal shampoo please) gets rid of all the dead skin, dust and bits of food. Not only does this look healthier but it also stops your follicles from getting blocked and promotes beard growth.
Beard Shampoo along with conditioner will also soften your beard, which makes it much easier to maintain.
Beard shampoo is used much like regular shampoo: pour some into the palm of your hand (three pumps of the beard wash bottle if you’re using our product) and work it into a lather before massaging it into your beard and skin so it’s all nice and soapy. Then, rinse off the shampoo thoroughly with warm water and towel dry. Do the same with the conditioner and Bob’s your uncle. Trust us, it’ll feel great.
Oh, and when drying pat dry with a towel. Don’t rub it vigorously as this will cause damage to the hair. You might want to use a hair dryer as well, so why not check out our post on blow drying your beard.
Hydrating and styling
Normally hydrating your beard and styling it will come under separate sections, however, we’re sure you’ve got more to do than read this blog post. So we’ll keep it quick and to the point. Most of our styling products also hydrate your beard. It’s just that they all do the job slightly differently.
The daddy of all beard maintenance products is beard oil. Always keep a bottle of this handy and pump a few drops onto your palm and then massage it into your beard and skin. This really does give your skin a good moisturise and prevents it from drying out.
Next up is beard balm. Now beard oil is a great product but it doesn’t really give you much hold or volume and tends to give you a shinier beard. If it’s hold that you’re after then balm is your best bet. It’ll still moisturise your beard due to the shea butter but for longer beards it will allow you to shape your beard a lot better.
Simply scoop a pea sized amount into your palm, rub until it melts and then massage into the beard and skin. How much oil and balm you need depends on your beard, only you will find out exactly what works.
Combing your beard
Your final stage of your beard maintenance journey will involve the use of either a beard comb or beard brush. Now I know what you’re thinking: which one should I use? Well don’t worry bro we’ve covered that question on our blog post.
We tend to find that those with shorter beards use a brush while those with a longer beard use both a comb and a brush. Try both, find out what works and go with that.
Both a comb and a brush helps remove dead skin, dust and left over food prior to adding styling products, while after adding styling products a comb and a brush makes it easier to spread the product throughout all the hairs, follicle and skin.
Your beard maintenance and care routine will be unique to you, so take your time in figuring out what works best for you and it’ll soon become second nature to you.