Today I want to go over eight mistakes that most guys are making when it comes to growing a beard.
1- Don’t trim your beard when it’s wet, now I know this seems like the most convenient time to do it but when the beard is wet the hair acts different and when it dries it shrinks up so always make sure you’re trimming your beard when it’s dry.
2- Beard oil it’s mostly for the skin, I know that doesn’t seem to make sense because it’s called beard oil, but when you’re using beard oil it’s meant to replace the moisture that’s in your skin that gets lost because as your beard grows the skin underneath it has a hard time producing enough oil for it to be soft and manageable, so it tends to dry the skin out so what we’re gonna do is take just two or three drops work it between the tips of your fingers and then massage it into the skin underneath the beard, that should take care of the itchy and flakiness but it’s also going to help moisturize and soften your beard hair and leave it smelling fresh.
3- Outlining is what we do around the outside of the beard to make it look more solid but where you outline the beard is really important to maintain its density especially the baseline, is the lower point of the beard where it interacts with the neck, now a lot of guys like to take this up really high which is okay when your beard is very short but as your beard gets longer make sure you don’t take your baseline too high, you want to keep it as low as possible, here’s my rule of thumb leave your head at a natural resting position and look to see if you can see any hairs on your neck behind the lowest line of the beard if you can’t leave it you’re just fine, but if you can see hair growing in the neck area here just clean it up to the point where you can’t see it any more that will allow you to have the most amount of growth area so you can grow a thicker fuller beard.
4- A lot of guys also take their top line too low, the top line of the beard is where it interacts with the face, you want this line to be as high as possible so you can keep the most amount of growth area on your cheeks, this line should descend from the corner of your sideburn to the corner of your mouth and should be relatively straight or slightly curved but don’t take it too low.
5- Stop over trimming, I know that every time we see a little flyaway hair, the easiest thing to do is simply just cut it off but the more we do that the more we start to remove the bulk from the beard you should really only give your beard a good trim every four weeks to get those little pesky flyaways to lay down, in between trimming use a blow dryer a brush and a balm.
6- Don’t use plastic combs, plastic combs are not good for beards when you use plastic combs they have very fine teeth and when you’re pulling them through a tangly beard will often remove more hair than they should. I suggest using a pick or a brush both of these are excellent ways that you can polish up your beard and you can make it look nice and smooth and detangled without removing extra hair, as an added bonus brushing your beard actually helps circulate the natural oils from your skin or from your beard oil and leaves your hair feeling much softer it also stimulates blood flow, so brush your beard every day if you want to grow thick and healthy.
7- Stop using soap and body wash, you should be using a dedicated beard and hair wash, something that’s specifically designed to care for the needs of your skin and the hair, you want to make sure that it’s not going to have any extra residue leftover behind but it’s going to remain moisturizing and softening also helps if it smells good.
8- Stop comparing your beard to anyone else’s, everyone’s beard is unique to them and it grows in a unique way, it has a unique style and if it’s trimmed properly it will suit your face shape, don’t go looking for a beard that you can’t grow, just embrace what you have and wear it proudly.