5 Tips for Washing Your Beard Properly
This is a guest post courtesy of Paul Agelidis, the Founder and Owner at Revolucion, a cigar, tobacco and men’s gift shop in beautiful Vancouver, BC.
You might think that washing your beard is the same as just washing your hair, but in fact your facial hair is thicker and more coarse. The skin underneath your facial hair is also different from the skin on your scalp. If you want your beard to grow healthy, lush and well shaped, you’ll want to follow proper washing techniques that will help you accomplish that goal.
Here are five basic tips to help you properly wash your beard…
Don’t Go Overboard
The first bit of advice is to avoid washing your beard too often. Your facial hair produces natural oils that actually help protect the hairs and keep them healthy. So, if you wash your beard too often, you’ll strip away the oils and leave it vulnerable. A good range to follow is once or twice a week — if you tend to sweat a lot more than normal people because you’re very active at work or in your spare time, you can kick that up to every two days at most.
Not Hot, Not Too Cold… Just Right!
You should never wash your beard or have a shower with water temperature that is hot — and this is true for general washing and not just your beard. The heat of the water dries out your skin and your hair follicles, in addition to stripping away more of your hair and skin’s natural oils. The dry skin will make your beard feel more itchy, and the lack of oil will make it feel more brittle. The dried out follicles will damage your facial hair’s ability to grow. Water that is warm enough to be comfortable is ideal.
Use a Beard Wash that Works for You
Like we touched on earlier, your facial hair is different from the hair on your head. Body soap is too harsh on your beard and will just damage it, and while regular shampoo can be acceptable, it’s not ideal.
All men will have different hair and skin types to deal with, so you should experiment with different beard washes that will help both your facial hair and the skin underneath feel healthy and happy. Beard washes are made specifically to protect and improve the health of your facial hair, and usually have some good conditioner to make it look and feel softer.
Lather Up and Dig In
It’s always better to start with too little beard wash than too much, so whatever you would think you should start with you can cut in half. Start lathering it into your beard to get an idea for how much more you need, and then fill in the rest.
It’s also important to be thorough in spreading the lather throughout all of your facial hair, and not just the surface — especially if you have a longer beard. Use your fingers you’re massaging the beard, moving firmly in all directions and contacting your skin too. It helps keep your skin and follicles hydrated to help stimulate the hairs to grow properly. Make sure to be thorough in rinsing the beard shampoo out too.
Be Gentle When Drying It
When you go to dry your beard, don’t make the mistake of using the towel on your face like a belt sander. Being too rough will damage the hair and make it look more frizzy and wild. Just pat it firmly but gently to get it mostly dry, and then use a hair dryer. A good quality hair dryer will help your beard in two ways: it dries the hairs more gently, and the heat helps temporarily break down the structure of your hair to make it easier to train and shape with a good beard comb or brush.
About the Author:
Paul Agelidis has been the founder and owner of Revolucion, a Canadian cigar, tobacco and men’s gift shop in Vancouver, since 2005. For the last decade Paul has worked very hard to become an expert in tobacco products, men’s care, travel & accessories, body & bath, and gifts & home. Prior to 2005, from 1997 – 2005 Paul worked in the wholesale cigar industry and travelled to the annual cigar trade show (Habanos Festival every February). He loves to share his tips with others who are looking to achieve a complete lifestyle with the finer things in life.
