Beard Care 101

+ Having a beard can make you look older & more distinguished & surprisingly, it also has a number of health benefits as well. Beards can protect your skin from harmful UV rays. The skin on your face is some of the most sensitive on your body, & your beard can act as a built-in layer of sun protection.

+ In colder weather, a beard adds an extra layer of protection to keep you warm.

+ Facial hair can even help keep airborne bacteria & irritants out of your mouth. Beards can protect you from colds, flu, & throat infections.

+ Most importantly, it can make you feel more attractive & confident in yourself.

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The problem is that an unchecked beard can start to cause issues for you! If you don’t properly maintain your beard, your skin can quickly start to feel itchy. Beard hair is much more coarse than most other body hair, so it’s important to keep it soft & moisturized to keep you from scratching.

An unkempt beard can also leave you looking like a vagrant, which isn’t something you want if you’re dating or trying to climb the corporate ladder.

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For most guys, the hardest part of growing a beard is just getting started! Going from smooth shaven to a full beard is a significant change. Your face is going to feel different for a while until you adjust. The best advice that we can give you when trying to grow a beard is the old phrase “less is more.” As your beard  starts to grow, you’ll feel a strong urge to micromanage it. This can be a big mistake!

We recommend not cutting your beard at all for the first 30 days, even if you just want a mustache or sideburns at the end. You won’t know how you feel about a full beard until you give it a try.

Consider starting your beard during a vacation or some other natural break in your work routine. This helps to remove a lot of the stress about keeping up appearances during the awkward stubble phase.

Most importantly, be patient! You can’t grow a whole head of hair in a couple of days, & your face isn’t any different.

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By far, the worst part of dealing with a new beard is that it can get super itchy! This can start just a few days after you stop shaving as your stubble starts to get longer.

I find the best way to quickly deal with an itchy beard is just to wet it. Improperly drying your beard can contribute to dry skin in the long run, but we find it really helps early on. If you’re at work and the itch is driving you crazy, you can just go in the washroom & splash a bit of water on your face to get a few hours of relief.

Conditioner can help reduce itching as well. Shampooing your beard is great once and a while (1-2 times per week), but it can strip the natural oils out of your hair, so conditioner is a better choice. It cleans & softens your beard without being as harsh.

We recommend that you apply our beard butter daily to your beard to keep it feeling softer & less scratchy. There are hundreds of beard products to explore and experiment with for yourself. All of our beard butters will leave your beard feeling less scratchy, so it's mostly up to you to decide what you like based on the scent. 

Combing your beard can help reduce the itch as well. It helps to stimulate your hair follicles, which increases blood flow. It also helps remove weaker hairs & dead skin that might be causing irritation. Combing also helps train your hairs to grow in a single direction. That reduces the risk of getting ingrown hairs & scratching. Regular brushing will also give your beard a smoother texture & a cleaner shape.

Keeping your linen clean is another way to keep your beard & skin at its best. It often gets overlooked. When was the last time you washed your pillowcase? Over time, pillowcases & bed sheets collect bacteria, dirt, dust, & dead skin cells. Then you rest your face on that stuff for hours every night while you sleep. Regularly washing your linen will keep your beard & skin happy.

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After you’ve left your beard alone for about a month, you’ll have a good idea of how it grows. You might find that you have bare patches in certain spots, or that your beard generally grows thicker in some areas than others.

This pretty much comes down to genetics, & there isn’t a whole lot you can do to fix it. If you’re in your teens or twenties, maybe in a couple years your beard will have grown in thicker. But after your thirties, you’re pretty much stuck with the beard you’ve got..

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GET GROWING!

Growing a beard can be a test of patience & willpower that's for sure.

The growing process itself is natural & happens completely automatically. The hard part is not getting impatient & trying to intervene! You need to commit to growing a beard & then let your body simply do its thing.

The biggest downside to having a beard is that it can get itchy if you don’t take proper care of it. Combing & washing it regularly with the right products can help with that. PLUS! Adding one of our beard butters into the mix can keep your beard feeling extra soft.

I can almost guarantee that people will look at you differently after you’ve grown a beard. Your friends, family, potential partners, & even strangers could all treat you differently once you’ve grown a beard. Generally, it’s a positive reaction. You’ll look older & more mature, and people might treat you with more respect. At the end of the day, growing a beard is something you should do because you want to though. So just do it! Have fun, & enjoy the process.  

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