To have a great beard that looks and smells fresh, you have to put in a little effort. Like the hair on your head, your beard needs washing, conditioning, trimming, and brushing. Here are some tips that will help you keep your beard in tip-top shape.
Do not trim!
Well, I don’t mean “don’t trim ever!”, just that you should not trim for 40-60 days. The hair on your face does not grow evenly, and by giving it time to grow, your beard grows evenly. You can then pick a style that suits you.
If you’ve been clean shaving until recently, growing a beard can be an itchy process. You’ll have to endure it for a week or two as the itchiness will eventually go away. Especially if you
Wash and condition twice a week
Wash your beard twice a week. Make sure that the lather penetrates into the beard opening the hair follicles on your face and get the hairs clean. Once they are clean, condition them to ensure that they turn soft. You do not want ‘chagiri’ on your face.
Another thing that you have to do to ensure that your beard stays soft is
Apply oil regularly
Apply oil every day. Do it after your morning shower, and make sure that the oil penetrates your beard. The oil will help keep your beard and the skin underneath it moisturised. It will help reduce the itching too.
So now there are multiple beard oil brands and you might be wondering which ones to buy. That’s a subject for another article. But if you are just starting out I’d suggest you start with Johnson’s baby oil. I know it sounds funny, but baby oil provides the delicate care that your beard needs; it is much younger than the hair on your head, after all!
Also Read: Beard Shaping Tools That Malayali Men Should Know About
Brush your beard
You comb your hair every day, don’t you? You should brush your beard every day too. Brushing your beard helps train the hair to grow in the direction you want it to grow. It helps you cover up thin spots, and helps make the beard look managed.
Brushing also helps stimulate blood flow. The better the blood flows into your face, the faster the hair will grow. And talking about things that can make your hair grow faster and better, you have to
Eat right
Your beard is made up of protein and fat so make sure that you eat healthy food. Ensure that you eat a healthy dose of Vitamins B5, B3, and B9; which translates to lean meats, nuts, egg yolks, milk, and plenty of leafy greens. If you’re really serious about your beard, you might want to take Vitamin B and Omega 3 supplements.
And if you’re really serious,
Hit the gym
You must know by now that testosterone helps in beard growth. So to ensure that you have the right testosterone levels, you have to exercise. Aerobic exercise, running, and weight lifting are exercises that can naturally boost your testosterone production.
Aerobic exercises are said to be the most effective; short and fast burst exercises work best. So go do some HIIT workouts. Or you could run, but keep your runs short as sprinting is said to be more efficient in boosting testosterone production than long-distance runs.
If you are the weight lifting type, compound lifts are said to be the most effective.
Now that you’ve done all the hard work, it is time to
Style it
After 40-60 days of unhindered growth, you will be able to spot areas of weakness in your beard. This is when you can choose the style that best suits your face and your beard’s weak spots.
Also Read: Choosing A Beard That Suits Your Face
If you still have significant thin spots after 40-60 days of growth, keep the beard short as those spots will look thinner as your beard grows longer.
Now that was the beginner’s guide to growing facial hair thicker, fuller, and faster.
Are there other aspects of beard growth and grooming that you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments section below.
