Growing a beautiful mane is easy, just stop buying razors and wait. Right? It may seem that simple, but anyone with a glorious beard will be the first to disagree. For every well-groomed, magnificent beard you see – there is a story of hard work and attention behind it.
The success of a beard can be measured in three ways; the thickness of the hair, the length and the health of your beard and skin underneath. The sad truth is most guys do things to impede the growth of the beard long before it reaches its full potential. The wellness of your beard broadly depend on Genetics, Personal Health, Grooming Routine And Diet
It is true that genetics has a lot to play in how fast your beard comes in (some people say 60% of beard growth depends on your genes – but there are things everyone should be doing to ensure your beard grows optimally and healthy. Read on for JC Grooming’s comprehensive guide on growing a beard.
Those of you new to the beard world can learn something new, and those of you who are already part of the JC Grooming family can pick up some new tips for your grooming regime.
1. Know where to start
We all have to start from zero. It’s the one thing that links everyone with a beard in a sense – that we all started from a clean-shaven face. The difference is how you started. The difference between a full, luxurious beard and a patchy, itchy mess is down to planning and dedication.
Set aside proper time to look after your facial skin and hair, this encourages your beard to grow at its maximum rate and is really something you should be doing anyway. Like with many of the beard tips we will go over today – it really comes down to “healthy body, healthy beard”.
You should be washing your face and whatever hair you have regularly, but be careful of overwashing, especially in these early stages. Your body produces oils that moisturize your facial skin and beard, and over-washing can strip these oils and dash your chances of a beard before it’s even begun.
Knowledge is key. Know what you are doing and equip yourself with the proper tools to jumpstart your beard growing journey.
2. Persistence – just hold on
Everyone’s facial hair grows at different rates, and it will take a while for some guys to grow beards, while others will seem to sprout whiskers in between morning shaves and evening showers. At whatever age and maturity level you’re at, it’s important to stay patient and wait for your beard to grow at it’s own pace.
The first weeks are the toughest. Your beard will be itchy, grow in patches and even cause irritation to your skin. It’s at this point many men decide to break out the razors and give up, so be persistent when you inevitably go through this stage.
Luckily, you can combat beard itching at any stage. This itch is caused by poor grooming, which causes the skin not being moisturized enough to allow the follicles to grow. It can be exacerbated by dirt and dust as the hair follicles grow through.
So, take care of your skin and help the hairs grow through. The best way to do this is by careful cleaning, protection from the elements and using a natural beard oil.
The rule is to keep your grooming up and have patience for the first 4 weeks.
3. Plan your own style in advance
There are hundreds of common styles out there, and there are thousands of different combinations. So plan your beard style based on your face type. What looks good on someone else probably won’t look good on you.
To step up your look and really boost your style, you need to pick a hairstyle that complements your beard and vice versa. This will give you a nice cohesive look that makes looking good effortless while making your whole look feel intentional.
Having said that, it’s up to you. You should cultivate a style of beard that you are happy with – but be sure to know the style in advance to optimize trimming and grooming.
If you want some jumping-off points about choosing a beard style, see our page detailing the four most popular beard styles in 2019.
4. Highlight your strengths, hide your weaknesses
This takes some research and knowledge. The general rule of thumb is if you have fuller cheeks, style your beard with shorter sides. If your face is narrow, keep some length on the sides to fill it out.
You also have to decide the lines, i.e – where your beard will stop going up your face. The higher it grows differs from man to man, but if you notice it approaching your cheekbones, feel free to trim it down.
For rounded faces with larger chins, try growing a beard with “strong lines and borders” this does a good job in “hiding the curves”.
Angular faces do well with long beards because it “adds girth”. For men with long faces, grow a full beard with thicker sides and trim up the areas around the mouth and chin to “bring your mug in proportion”.
5. Be proud and own your mane
Take control of your beard. Pay attention and learn to love the grooming process. Be aware of patchy areas or hairs that start to tangle or knot.
Your environment and lifestyle differ from everyone else, so the problems you encounter won’t apply to everyone. Even the position you sleep in can cause differences in how your beard grows.
Your beard is yours, so own it. Take a good look as often as you can to identify problem areas, and soon you will love taking note of how your beard looks.
6. Survive and maintain
Getting through the first 4 weeks is tough. When going through an itchy period, it’s all too alluring to break out the trimmers. If you survived, congratulations!
The tough part is over. Your beard is long enough and your body has adapted to the change. It’s not the time to give up, however, you want to have a polished appearance so keep up the grooming and start reaping the benefits of a healthy, awesome looking bush of manly hair.
It’s at this point you may notice new needs for your beard. It may become difficult to style or keep clean with just beard oil and a comb. Think about including a good beard grooming kit.
A good natural wood comb along with natural, organic shampoos and conditioners should now be part of your daily routine, your beard is as important as your facial hair so give it the same attention.
7. Keep in clean
Everyone should keep a clean face – even men. The skincare market for men is miles behind the female range, but that’s no excuse not to moisturize and practice proper hygiene. When your face and beard get dirty, it dries out the skin and can cause flaking, also known as “beardruff”.
On the other hand, scrubbing your face raw causes the exact same problems – as this strips your skin and beard of natural oils. So keep it clean and pay attention to your skin. Look for signs of flaking or patches where your beard feels a bit rougher than others.
A good natural wood comb can clean the dirt and grime from your beard, but applying a natural beard butter is even better – it acts like a shield throughout your day. This is perfect if you live or work in a dusty environment.
8. Take Care of Your Skin
Healthy skin is the foundation of a healthy, thick beard. That’s why you’re going to need a good moisturizer.
Cleaning and washing your face regularly will stimulate circulation, exfoliate the skin, remove dead skin cells that are causing ingrown hairs, and open up your pores.
A good moisturizer keeps your skin healthy. In return, you’ll notice increased beard growth, which leads to thicker beard over time. Just like JC Grooming’s Beard grooming products, you want to choose a moisturizer that is natural and organic – with no chemicals that can irritate your skin in the long-run.
9. Start Exercising
It’s great for your body and mind, it’s also fantastic for your beard. Increase in testosterone levels speeds up how fast your beard grows. Intensity training, cardio and weightlifting stimulate your testosterone levels an encourage hair growth. Testosterone levels are also complimented by having enough Vitamin D.
Ever wonder why they call a massive beard the Lumberjack style? All that exercise give your body a boost of serotonin and testosterone, which directly affects how big and thick your beard grows in.
Regular workouts are pretty much essential to your physical and mental health – the impact it has on stress and fitness promotes your body to speed up beard growth and keep it healthy.
10. Reducing stress
Less stress equals better body health, better body health further promotes better hair growth. Your beard and hair will grow more quickly when you are relaxed. The condition of your hair is an easy way to reveal stress so you should take steps to stay relaxed.
This all may sound obvious, but a life with less stress is beneficial all around. It is one of the main contributing factors to hair loss and the effects of age.
11. Remember to get enough sleep
After all that exercise, your body needs to increase and replenish testosterone levels. It does this while you sleep. Studies show that men that sleep for at least 8 hours a night have twice the testosterone of the bag-eyed men who sleep 4 or 5 hours sleep.
Lack of sleep reduces your testosterone production by a staggering 15%, which in turn can result in those patchy areas throughout your beard that
If you are getting enough sleep, your stress will decrease, and your facial hair will benefit.
The healthiest way to do this is to make a schedule and stick to it. Your body will adapt to the new pattern, and be more prepared for rest periods.
12. Take supplements and know what they do
Keeping your beard hair healthy can be boosted by getting enough vitamins. Unfortunately, this is something most of us overlook – a truly balanced diet is hard to maintain, so taking supplements is an efficient way to keep your body in balance. . Incorporating supplements into the diet will have a positive impact on your facial hair, as you will begin to see the quality of the hair improve after changing your diet, this is alongside the improvements in your body and mood.
Zinc, vitamin D, vitamin E and tons of others play a crucial role in growing thicker hair.
Vitamin A – Vitamin A is a powerful antioxidant that serves a myriad of beard growing benefits, including aiding in the skin’s production of sebum, and the growth and reproduction of cells.
Vitamin B – Vitamin B gives your body a jump start on protein processing. And in turn, it speeds up the building and growth of hair follicles. Luckily, most of the foods that contain protein are full of B Vitamins as well.
Vitamin C – Also, Vitamin C is a super-powerful antioxidant that protects your hair from damage at a cellular level. There is no drawback to the inclusion of Vitamin C in your diet for the effects on both your body and beard.
Vitamin E – A powerhouse of an antioxidant that destroys bacteria and protects your hairs deep down at a cellular level.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids -This nutrient encourages growth and protects your hair from getting dry and brittle.
Zinc – It helps regulate the testosterone in your body, keeping that beard growing steady. It can even help slow down those patches of grey hair (sometimes even reversing the loss of colour!).
Iron Iron is something all of us need to look at, lacking iron in your body can lead to serious health risks – it is linked to hair loss.
13. Eat Right
All of your hair is made up of a protein called keratin. Your head hair, body hair and beard hair all grow the same – each requires a diet rich in protein for the best growth and health. Protein is also linked to testosterone production – along with being good for your muscles it is also proven to have an impact on the speed your beard grows.
Lacking proper protein in your diet can make your beard dry, brittle and easy to split. It will hit the brakes on your beard coming in full and thick.
We take this step seriously, as should everyone. They say a healthy body starts in the kitchen and we believe this. So much so, we have written a guide on how to do just that. You can read it here.
If you are serious about your beard, then you need to think about what you are feeding it. There is no downside in eating healthy, nutrient-rich foods. You will feel better and increase your overall health. Add a good diet to a beard grooming regime, and you can be assured your beard will look simply glorious.
14. Apply Beard Oil Regularly
Beard oil is a moisturizer that can penetrate beneath your hair to also work as part of your moisturizing skincare routine.
This word is thrown around in commercials, print ads and anywhere else men’s grooming is promoted. Moisturizing is something we usually associate with skincare or any of the hundreds of women’s products that purport to moisturize better than the rest. The truth is that your beard needs moisturizing, as does your manly skin.
When your skin dries out, your beard hair will grow in patches, be itchy and just look bad. Having healthy, moisturized skin makes your beard grows faster and avoids any dreaded “beardruff”. Well maintained skin creates the optimal conditions for hair to grow in evenly.
A premium, organic beard oil moisturizes your skin and beard with quite literally zero downsides. There’s no reason not to have beard oil in your grooming routine.
Look for beard oils that include jojoba oil. This is the same as the sebum you’re your skin produces naturally, which helps your face and beard to stay moisturized.
15. Know your tools
Just like any trade, know the tools you are using. Equipping yourself with the knowledge to groom your beard and look after your body is something every man should know.
Having the proper comb, razors, shavers, oils, balms, butters and countless other items can be hard to keep up with. The most important thing to remember is that your beard is a part of your body, it’s a part of your style and how you present yourself to the world, so treat it with the same care as the rest of your body
16. Don’t be afraid to trim
Once your mane of manliness is looking good, it can be sad to cut it away – but as anyone with long hair will know – trimming is a big part of a grooming routine – even if you just have a bit of starting fuzz.
Not only does this clean up your lines and keep the focus on the parts of your beard that you want, trimming cuts away dead ends and encourages regrowth.
If you are trimming properly, that is 90% of styling done. After planning what beard style you are going for, keep a watch on the lines you decided for the start and end of your beard.
There are hundreds of beard tips out there, different all around the world. These tips are universal and can act as the basis for your grooming routine, until you start to do things in your own way.
If you are new to beard grooming, we recommend the JC Grooming kit. It comes with 100% natural and organic Beard Oil, Balm and Butter all in one pack. It’s a one-stop grooming kit, and you can choose from any of our three bespoke scents; Komorebi, Zyphr and Trouvaille.
Just like what you put into your mouth, we here at JC Grooming only use natural, organic ingredients to make our beard oils, butter and balms.
- If you want to give your beard the same quality of nutrition you give your body, check out JC Grooming’s line of beard products!
- If you want a more guided look at exactly what to eat to ramp up your beard growth, we wrote a guide on it here.
- To see an example of the beard grooming routine we use at JC Grooming, check our video on YouTube here.
2 thoughts on “16 Best Beard Care Tips for all Beard Styles”
i am starting my beard adventure been doing it for almost a month now. i am liking it so far. read alot about growing my beard.
Hey Rudy! I’m glad you found us. Hopefully this article was a good starting point for you on your journey. We’ve got a few more articles on the different stages of beard growth and what to expect – you may find those useful as well. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!
– Jack