Harmful Beard Habits Pt. 3

Not Moisturizing your beard

                I know we’ve talked about it before (a lot), but this is really one of the most important parts of beard care.  If you don’t keep your beard and the skin under your beard moisturized, you’re going to have problems.  Some of those problems may include a dry, itchy, and brittle beard.  Dry and itchy are bad enough by themselves, but you throw brittle into the mix and now you’ve got problems.  Every time you itch your beard, you’re going the damage the hairs and they will eventually break off and you’ll start to lose the body of your beard.

                If you keep your beard and skin moisturized, you’ll have a more pleasant beard experience all around.  You’ll have a nice soft, manageable beard that has a nice shine to it.  You also won’t have beard itch nor will you have beardruff!  Your skin and your beard will look and feel healthy.  If you’re not keeping your skin moisturized, then you’re not letting your beard look its finest, and if it’s not looking its finest, then why even grow it?

Using normal hair shampoo for your beard

                If you’re like most guys out there, you probably try to keep your routine as simple as possible.  You’re trying to get the most bang for your buck especially when it comes to showering.  If you take a walk down any men’s hygiene isle you’ll know what I’m talking about, all you see is tons of anywhere from 2in1 to 9in1 products.  You can pick up a product that will clean your body, face, feet, car, floors, deodorizes, exfoliates, and works as a shampoo and conditioner!  Sounds to good to be true right?  Well, if it sounds that way then it probably is.  Soaps work for most of your body but your face needs something a little better and your beard is no different. 

                The hair on the top of your head and the hair in your beard are different, the skin beneath each type of skin is also different.  The skin in your scalp is thicker and more resilient than the skin on your face.  The chemicals in standard hair shampoo are harsher and your head hair and scalp can handle these, but these chemicals can be really bad for your face skin and for your beard hair.  Beard shampoos and beard soaps are generally all natural and contain ingredients like essential oils that don’t strip the natural oils from your beard and skin.  These natural ingredients also help nurture and soften your beard, help to eliminate beard itch and beardruff, and most of all, they keep your beard clean.

                Don’t go crazy washing your beard though, shampooing or soaping your beard 1-2 times per week should be enough to keep it clean depending on your environment.  If you’re constantly getting stuff in your beard or work in dirty environments, then you’ll definitely have to wash it more often, but the amount you wash it is ultimately up to you!