Growing and maintaining a good-looking beard without any effort seldom happens. One has to put an effort to take care of his beard to make the beard hair look healthy and well-nourished. If you are someone who’s in search of some grooming and beard maintenance tips, you’ve landed on the right spot. Taking care of your facial hair doesn’t need to be a daunting task. A little effort on a regular basis pays off really well in the end.
You have to follow some simple men’s grooming and beard maintenance tips to ensure your facial hair is properly taken care of. Here are a few ways you can take care of your beard and maintain it like a professional as investigated by DSCENE Beauty Editors.
1. Invest in Beard Hygiene
The first step to maintaining your beard is to invest in its proper hygiene. You don’t need to spend hours in the bathroom to keep your beard in good shape. A few minutes daily would be enough to keep your beard healthy, vibrant, and nourished. Invest in a quality beard growth kit to help you take care of your beard regularly. In addition, your beard care routine should consist of the following:
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Trimming
Trim your beard properly to avoid split ends. Just like your scalp, your facial hair is prone to split ends which make your beard look hard to manage and rough. You can use a beard trimmer or a scissor for trimming.
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Brushing and Combing
Regular brushing or combing of your beard is vital to prevent the tangles and keep the direction of beard hair lined up. However, never brush or comb your beard when it’s wet to avoid hair breakage.
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Shampooing and Conditioning
Just like you put a lot of effort into the hair on your scalp to make them lusciously thick and healthy, facial hair is no different. However, you need to be cautious of one thing not use regular shampoos for your beard as they can irritate your skin and make it itchy.
Use specifically beard shampoo followed by a conditioner to keep your beard clean and fresh. However, prevent frequent shampooing as it can strip away the natural oils your facial hair needs for moisturizing. Shampooing 2-3 times a week should be enough.
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Nourishing with Beard Oil
Beard oil is one of the basic beard essentials to hydrate your facial hair and replenish the oils lost in the shower. Invest in a quality beard oil with main ingredients such as hemp seed oil, argan oil, coconut oil, castor oil, jojoba oil, etc. Try to use beard oil regularly especially after a shower to nourish and hydrate your skin.
2. Eat Healthy
Male hormones; testosterone and DHT are responsible for facial hair growth. Eating right can help you promote normal hormone levels in the body to boost beard growth. In addition, incorporating adequate proteins, carbohydrates, fats, macronutrients, and micronutrients is important to keep up with the overall health of the body.
Similarly, adequate water intake which is at least 8 glasses per day is crucial to keep you hydrated from the inside. Moreover, include foods in your diet that boost testosterone and DHT. For instance, eat more saturated and unsaturated fats, limit intake of polyunsaturated fats, and include high-carb foods in your diet to boost facial hair growth naturally.
3. Moisturize to Keep Dryness at Bay
If you have a sensitive or dry skin type, try to use beard balm in addition to beard oil for extra moisturizing. Sometimes using beard oil is not sufficient and you need an extra moisture-locking seal to prevent dryness of your skin.
In addition, if you are already using beard oil, use beard balm after a few hours of oil application to seal the moisture and enhance its hydrating effect. Moreover, make sure to invest in a quality beard balm that consists of ingredients such as beeswax, saturated fats such as shea butter or jojoba oil, and lanolin for best results.
Beard balm is also useful for styling your beard as it is thick and helps to shape the beard the way you like.
4. Optimize Lifestyle factors that affect Beard Growth
Some lifestyle factors such as adequate sleep, reduction of stress and anxiety, physical activity, etc play an effective role to influence levels of beard growth-regulating hormones; testosterone, and DHT. If you are not taking sufficient rest or are stressing too much, you’ll likely disturb your hormone levels which can affect the growth of your beard.
Therefore, you have to combine beard maintenance with a healthy lifestyle to promote the overall health and wellness of your body. Try to sleep roughly 7-8 hours per night and cut off stress from your life to promote normal hormonal levels in your body. Also, exercising can help you boost androgenic hormones for a healthy beard.
All images starring Emiliano Calvo photographed exclusively for MMSCENE Magazine by Aitor Pardo – see more on our menswear page MMSCENE.
