How To Use Popular Grooming Products; Your Beard

Hello readers, and welcome back to the blog! Patrick the Groomsmith here! Welcome to 2021! I wanted to take a moment away from the shop and my barber’s chair to check in with all of you and for this month’s first blog! I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season, and are getting geared up for this new year! Don’t forget to start this year off fresh with a new cut, style, new products, facials, a full clipper shave, a razor beard lineup, eyebrow shaping, color, texturing treatments, and much more! Make sure to visit my website to book your next appointment or give me a call today!

My last blog focused on a lot of great personal habits and suggestions you can add to your daily life to make your personal hygiene better than its ever been before. Have you had the chance to try them yet? What has worked the best so far? I know it can be overwhelming when adding new grooming products into your daily habits and routines. Who knew there were so many products available to you just to clean, maintain, and care for your hair, skin, and beard? The best place to begin if you’re feeling overwhelmed but you want to care for yourself better than you are now is coming to see me! I can help you choose the best products suited for your hair texture, type, style, and schedule. I can even show you how best to use them. For all of my readers who want a little tutorial to refer back to, or to all of my readers who might not be local but who are still looking for more information, this blog is dedicated to you!

To kick off this new year, I wanted to create a little guide on how best to use some of the most popular and important products for grooming and caring for your hair, beard, and face! In this blog series, we are going to be talking about the best ways to use and utilize some of the most important products out there. This first installment is going to be talking about beard products, the next will be talking about skincare, and the final installments will be dedicated to hair care. Let’s jump into installment number one; the best ways to use all of these products that are recommended and created for the care, growth, maintenance, and style of your beard!

Beard oils have become incredibly popular over the last few years, as the beard has become more popular in fashion once again. While it is not scientifically proven to help your beard grow faster, beard oil has several fantastic attributes. Beard oil is used to help moisturize both your beard and the skin underneath it, and to help keep both safe and smooth. According to Healthline.com, beard oils can help make the management of your beard much easier and helps as it grows longer. Beard hair is much more coarse than the hair on your head and can feel uncomfortable, wiry, and prickly if not regularly conditioned. That’s where beard oil comes into play. The first trick is to not use too much. Using too much of the oil can give your beard a greasy and slick appearance and feel. This is not what you want.

First, put no more than a few drops (1-3) in the palm of your hands and rub your hands together to spread out the product evenly and to warm it up a bit. Start by running your hands over your cheeks, move to the front of your face to rub the oil into your mustache and chin, and then move down into the rest of your beard below the chin. Make sure as you’re working the oil into the hair on your face that you make sure it gets worked into your skin as well. To guarantee that the oil is evenly distributed into your beard, comb it through with a beard comb after application. If you feel like you need more oil, especially for those who have thicker beards, add a few more drops into your hand and repeat this process. Once you’re satisfied with your beard, comb your beard back into place and groom as you wish! If you’re just starting to use beard oil, start by using it once a day. Once your beard has become considerably softer and more manageable, start applying it a few times a week. The best time to use beard oil is right after a shower when it’s damp and clean. Make sure to use a towel to dry off any excess water before you use the oil. During the winter or in particularly dry climates, you might have to continue to use beard oils more consistently or use more oil when you apply it to achieve the soft and moisturized skin and beard that you want!

Beard balm has many similar qualities to beard oil, but it does have its own list of benefits. Many consider beard balm to act as a leave-in conditioner. It is used to help moisturize, condition, and style your beard and mustache without looking greasy, crunchy, or dirty. It also helps soften your beard. Do you have a very unruly and thick beard that’s been hard to tame? A beard balm might be the perfect thing for you! Personally, using high-quality beard balms infused with natural essential oils and not synthetic products is the way to go. This can help avoid irritation or allergic reactions.

How do you apply beard balm? Open your tin or container of beard balm, and either scrape out a dime-size amount or rub your finger in a circular motion in the tin until you have a nice dollop on your finger. Rub the balm between your fingers and evenly in your hands until it’s warm and spread out across your palms. You can apply it just like beard oil, or you can start from your neck and work it up into your face and down to the tip of your beard, massaging it evenly through the hair and skin. You can then run a beard comb through or style as desired. Once you’ve used the balm for a while, and your beard has become more manageable, you can apply it and go straight to styling your beard. Again, beard combs help with achieving your desired look. When you begin adding beard balm regularly into your routine it can help make your beard stronger, healthier, shinier, and support healthy growth. It’s best to use a beard balm after you shower, and when facial hair has been dried. Hair can be damp when used, just not soaking wet!

While many men will just use regular body soap, shampoos, or conditioners to care for their beards, remember that beard shampoo and conditioners have been made and created with your beard in mind! Remember, too, that your facial hair is much different than the hair on your head. Beard shampoos are soft enough for the skin under your facial hair but strong enough to clean and care for your dense and coarse facial hair. It won’t strip the essential oils out of your face or facial hair. Due to how it’s made, you can wash your beard every day with beard shampoo if you want without any consequences to your beard to your skin. When you are washing your beard, a beard shampoo won’t have as many (if any) sulfites in it as other soaps do. Sulfites help make that rich lather in your shampoos and soaps but can irritate the skin, so don’t be alarmed if it doesn’t get a rich lather to it when you wash your beard.

Take the shampoo, and put some into your palm. Remember this is cleaning your skin too, so start at the base of the neck and wash up into your beard while massaging it into your skin and beard. Now, you don’t have to wash your beard every day. For those who work in construction, welding, or in a hot kitchen, I understand if you want to. Make sure to find a product that is gentle enough to allow this. If you don’t wash your beard every day, I do suggest that you wash your face twice a day, which will help manage oily skin. Beard conditioners are created with your beard in mind as well, just like hair conditioners are. They have been created to nourish both your beard and skin, and it helps prevent it from feeling and looking wiry and prevents your skin from getting flaky. Condition your beard as often as you wish. Take a nickel size amount and place it into the hand after your beard has been washed, and evenly work and distribute the conditioner in your facial hair and let it sit for two minutes. Wash it out with warm water, and you’re ready to add in products and style it!

This might seem like a lot of care for just your beard and the skin underneath, but it’s worth it. Plus, these were only three categories of products. I didn’t even dive into styling products or products like serums, sprays, night-time care, or tonics. While it might seem like a lot of work, you’ll get out of your beard what you put into it. If you give a little more time and attention to your beard, you’ll end up with a nourished, moisturized, soft, manageable, clean, and healthy beard for everyone to enjoy! So many people think that beards are maintenance-free, but I promise you this is not the case. Respect yourself and your beard, and invest in some high-quality all-natural products to achieve the beard you want. Follow up with me over the next few weeks to learn more about facial products and hair care products. I have a feeling these how-to blogs might continue to branch out! Until next time, I am Patrick the Groomsmith and I am here with the best barbershop in Summerville, the best nonsurgical hair restoration in Summerville, and more.