You can feel the difference between a healthy beard and an unhealthy one. A healthy beard is hydrated, soft, and easy to tame. You will be able to avoid beard beard related problems such as itchiness, dandruff and being able to kiss your partner without leaving them itching. Your significant other will thank you.
A nice soft beard is the way to go.
Luckily, there are solid techniques you can employ to soften your beard. This includes using the best beard products on your mane, as well as changing up your beard grooming regimen in order to maximize the products’ benefits.
We recommend that prior to trying to soften your beard, that you spend a little time looking into why your beard is not soft in the first place.
Knowing what is causing the problem, will help fix it a lot quicker.
Let us cover the most common reasons as to why your beard isn’t already soft.
Why Your Beard Is Rough
Usually if your facial hair is wiry, coarse or rough, then chances are something isn’t quite right.
It is important that your beard grows healthy and it is properly maintained if you want to achieve soft facial hair. There are many different elements that affect your facial hair.
1. Over washing using Hair Shampoo or Soap
Your skin does produce its own natural oil called Sebum. The job of sebum is to keep your skin moisturised.
However, most men strip their skin of these natural oils by using products like head hair shampoos and other harmful soaps on their beards.
When you use these sort of products, they remove the natural oils from the facial hair and the skin beneath it. This causes a huge loss in moisture in your beard, which will harden the skin and damage your beards health, leading to a dry and brittle beard.
2. Poor Beard Care Routine
This is the most common reason for dry and rough beards.
Using poor quality beard care products, not having a proper beard grooming routine or not knowing how to maintain your facial hair’s health, are also the reasons why your beard may be suffering.
Think of this: you touch your beard with dirty hands all day, crumbs from your food is being collected in your facial hair, dust is also being collected.
If you do not wash your beard correctly, then all that dirt, dust and food will remain in the beard, which will cause your beard to become greasy, which will cause your beard to become unhealthy and likely cause clogged pores and acne underneath your facial hair.
3. Dehydration
Our bodies do not function properly when they are dehydrated. All the processes that take place in our bodies operate effectively when the body is properly hydrated. Therefore, a dehydrated body will not properly function in new hair growth, including beard growth.
If you’ve owned a plant before, you’ll have noticed when you forget to water it, the plant begins to dry-up and become brittle and weak fairly quickly.
That is exactly the same process that happens in our bodies in regards to hair, if you are constantly dehydrated your hair will begin to lose its health and become dry and brittle.
Therefore, it is essential that you take in between 1.5 – 2 litres of water a day for your beard but most importantly your health.
How To Soften Your Beard
So we have looked at the most common reasons why your beard isn’t soft, let’s take a look at the best ways to fix the problem.
1. Use a Quality Beard Wash
Cleansing your facial hair correctly is very important. Not only for achieving a softer beard, but also for overall hygiene and its health.
Cleansing your facial hair correctly will remove any dirt, grime, dead skin cells and bacteria lurking in the beard, which is one of many reasons that causes an itchy beard. The problem is bearded men don’t buy a shampoo or wash that is designed for facial hair. A natural beard wash is much more beneficial to your beard and skin than your standard head hair shampoos and soaps.
Using a beard wash a few times a week, you will vastly improve the condition of your beard, not just in hygiene and health, but also it’s softness.
2. Apply a Quality Beard Oil
When you clean your facial hair, your beard is at risk of suffering from dryness, which is usually caused by hard water or hot water.
This is why we suggest you apply a quality beard oil at least once a day, preferably twice a day. A quality beard oil will penetrate the facial hair and the skin beneath and supply them both with great sources of nutrients which will help soften your beard.
When your beard hairs get a steady supply of nutrients and moisture, they tend to relax and look far more hydrated and healthy.
Your beard will also not feel like sandpaper on your partners skin which is a big plus for them.
3. Style Your Beard With Balm
The ingredients used in quality balms come packed with nutrients and hydrating natural butters such as Shea, Mango Butter that will help soften the skin, so if you are wondering is beard balm good for your skin, rest assured it certainly is, provided it only contains natural ingredients. Beard balm will also add some protection to your beard from daily elements such as sun exposure and cold air, thanks to the added beeswax.
You only want to use a little amount (around a dime size) of balm and apply it gently on a damp beard.
Beard oils mainly target the skin, while beard balms are well-known to soften and deeply condition facial hair and skin.
4. Comb and Brush Your Beard
Although it seems to simple, brushing your facial hair often, will help towards keeping the beard hair healthy and vibrant.
Brushing your beard will also massage the skin beneath the beard, which will help improve the blood circulation, which is linked to healthier beard growth.
A beard comb distributes any product thoroughly. This is also a good time to spot check your beard for any stubborn, stiff strays, once everything is combed or brushed back into place.
5. Trim your beard with scissors
If you live in an area where you suffer strong winds or strong UV rays consistently, then you will notice that your beard will become rougher and more brittle. After a period of time, this will lead to split ends.
A beard that is suffering from split ends looks very ragged and not-maintained. First, a spot check: Comb the beard upwards, so that it fans out like a lion. Then comb it back into place. See which hairs stick up and stand out, and snip at those with your beard-trimming scissors. This is a good way to check your beard for unruly, rigid hairs that might not be proving as soft and flexible as the others.