You may have spent, weeks, months or in some cases years growing out your beard. Once it reaches the desired length it can feel like the hard work is over and you can just sit back, relax and enjoy your new facial hair. However, to keep your beard looking its best it’s important to follow a regular grooming and maintenance routine to keep you from looking like Tom Hanks in Castaway. In this article, Youngmans founder and experienced barber Craig Evans shares his top five tips on how to care for and maintain your beard like a pro.
1. Wash your beard
It is important when washing your beard to use a Beard Wash as opposed to a standard shampoo. Our Beard Wash has been formulated to maintain the natural PH balance of skin underneath the beard, which differs from the scalp. It contains essential oils and charcoal powder to gently cleanse the beard. We recommend washing your beard on a daily basis. Start by wetting the beard and massaging the product into your hands and running it through your facial hair in circular motions, ensuring you massage down to the skin. Rinse the product off with warm water. We recommend patting the beard dry as overzealous towelling will lead to split ends and frizziness.
2. Condition your beard
If you’re finding that your beard hair is lacking lustre at the moment it may be because the hairs are dry and maybe lacking key vitamins and nutrients. One easy way to combat this is by applying a Beard Balm or Beard Moisturiser every day morning and night. Our Beard Moisturiser is specially formulated with hemp oils to promote growth, relax stray hairs and protect the beard from the elements. Our Beard Balm also acts as a light hold styling product and includes cocoa butter, seed oils and beeswax which moisturise whilst taming, styling and conditioning hair.
3. Deep condition your beard
Alongside your daily beard maintenance routine, we also highly recommend implementing weekly beard grooming habits to maximise the health of your beard. Applying Beard Oil several times a week helps to condition and hydrate your facial hair at a deeper level. This deep conditioning treatment should only be done a maximum of three times per week rather than every day, as overuse can result in over moisturising which will cause dry skin and facial hair.
4. Comb your beard
As you would brush the hair on your head it is equally important to comb through the hair on your face, particularly if you are sporting a longer length beard. For facial hair, we recommend using a wide toothed comb or brush as a short toothed comb can damage the hair. We also recommend combing your beard when it is dry, as it is most vulnerable when wet and can potentially cause damage to the hair.
5. Train your beard
In an ideal world, beards would stay in shape without any maintenance, in reality, some training has to go in behind the scenes to achieve this. To ensure your beard looks as sleek as possible we recommend regularly using either Beard Balm or Beard Moisturiser to help keep stubborn hairs in place. Brush in a downward motion towards your chin to help shape your beard.