In our previous article “How to Grow a Beard” we gave you some tips on how to grow your beard. Now that you have a beard, or at least started to grow one, you have questions on how to maintain your beard. The good news is that you’re in the right spot. Here at The Dapper Man we don’t care if you have stubble, a vandyke, or you have a full-on Gandalf we want to help you take care of that face rug so read on.
Wash your beard
Just like the rest of your body, your beard gets dirty. How dirty depends on what you do. So how do you wash your beard? Most days a good finger scrubbing while you’re in the shower will be fine. You don’t want to strip away the oils in your beard because that will leave your skin dry which will cause problems with itching and beardruff, and your beard will be dry and brittle.
If your beard is moderately dirty co-wash your hair. What’s co-washing you ask? Co-washing is using conditioner to wash your beard instead of soap or shampoo. Conditioners are mild and won’t strip your beard.
If your beard is just a mess after a long day of grimy work, or you’ve just finished having a messy dinner then shampoo your beard. We recommend you find a good beard shampoo or baby shampoo as they are milder on the hair. Don’t use body soap or hand soap on your beard, as they are very tough on it. Also if you’re going to shampoo your beard use a conditioner afterward. This will help replenish the natural oils you just stripped out of your beard.
If you’re looking for a good beard-washing routing we suggest something like the following:
- Sunday – Shampoo and condition your beard.
- Monday – Wash with water
- Tuesday – Wash with water
- Wednesday – Wash with water
- Thursday – Co-Wash
- Friday – Wash with water
- Saturday – Wash with water.
Beard Oil
Using quality beard oil is important for your skin and beard, it’s like having good soil to grow a garden. How’s that you ask? Well, think of it this way. A beard just like a garden needs a good place to grow and beard oil helps ensure that your skin is a great place for your beard to grow.
A high-quality beard oil has natural oils that will nourish and moisturize your skin. This will help in many ways but most importantly it will help prevent beard itch and beardruff. You can find out more in our article “The importance of beard oils“, and you can purchase some of our high-quality beard oils from our Shop.
You can learn more about using beard oils from our article “How To Use Beard Oils“.
Beard Balm or Butter
Beard Balms or Beard Butters are important for keeping your beard healthy just like using moisturizer or sunblock. A high-quality beard butter like our Beard Butter will help protect your beard from getting dirty and drying out by keeping it moisturized and protecting it from the elements.
A dry beard will feel brittle when you run your hands through it. A healthy beard will feel soft and appear thicket. You can learn more about using a beard butter/balm from our article “How To Use Beard Butter“. You can see our selection of beard butter in our Shop.
Beard Wax
Beard Wax is used for three reasons. First, beard wax helps lock in the beard oils and butter/balm you’ve already applied to keep your beard soft. Second, it adds another layer of protection for your beard against the dirt and elements. Third for styling keeping your beard in the shape you want.
You can read more about using beard wax in our article “How To Use Beard Wax” Browse our selection of beard wax in our Shop.