What Beard Grooming Products to Use When Growing It for the First Time

Growing a beard may seem to be an easy way out of constantly shaving your face, but even so, a beard will require maintenance if you don’t want to look unkempt. A man with a beard can make themselves appealing by just making a little effort into looking their best. After all, putting your best face forward needn’t cost the earth or take hours.

Whatever beard you may have, here are some of the things you can do to make sure you look impeccable–especially when you’re growing it for the first time.

Shape Your Beard with a Trimmer

The secret in growing your beard out for the first time is to give it time before you start cutting and shaping it. Ideally, you should wait at least a month to give you something you can work with. If you mess with it after only one to two weeks of growth, you may accidentally end up shaving the entire thing off.

Once you’ve got a decent bit of growth, you can start maintaining it with a beard trimmer for professional-looking results. Whether you decide to go for a goatee, a petite goatee, short boxed beard, stubble beard, or something else, make sure you wash your face with warm water and dry it thoroughly before trimming it.

You can trim your beard in two ways: a beard trimmer or a pair of barber’s scissors. Beard trimmers make it easy because it comes with various length adjustments. Barber’s scissors, on the other hand, can be used on the beard or the mustache.

When using the scissors, comb your beard and the snip at the hair outside of the comb. That way, you don’t miscalculate and cut more than you intend to. You may also want to invest in a simple cartridge razor to remove stray hairs that grow outside of your beard area.

Shampoo Regularly

A common mistake a lot of men make is using their regular shampoo to clean their beards. Unfortunately, these types of shampoos strip away oil, leaving your beard dried out and itchy.

Solve this by using a beard shampoo to reduce the likelihood of getting dandruff in your scruff, also known as beardruff. You don’t want to use beard shampoo every day, though. In fact, some beard gurus recommend that you simply rinse your beard in the shower and apply beard oil.

Nourish with Beard Balms

While you may be hiding your skin under that scruff, you still have to wash and take care of it. There are exfoliating cleansers that contain special ingredients to help scrub away the dead skin. After you finish the exfoliation process, don’t forget to apply an alcohol-free moisturizer, as your beard can dry out your skin.

You can further care for your beard by using balms to remove tangles. Remember though that whatever you put into your beard will end up on your skin, too, so always pick noncomedogenic products that won’t clog your pores.

Talk to Your Barber

If you’re growing a beard for the first time, consider visiting your local barber. A good barber or hairdresser will have experience with all kinds of beards and will know precisely how to shape a beard based on your facial features. You can even get tips on how to do maintain your beard by yourself at home. Note, though, that you’ll still be limited by your genetics, so don’t expect to grow a full beard when every guy in your family have been a babyface.

Growing your beard is easy with all these beard grooming products that can help you along. At the end of the day, however, the secret to growing a beard is still patience. Wash, moisturize, trim, and wait. After all, full beards don’t just grow overnight.

Sources:

RealMenReal Style.com

All About Beards. beards.org