Keeping a beard is not an easy undertaking. It requires commitment, steadfastness, and proper knowledge. If you are a veteran bearded man or have just embarked on your Viking journey, chances are you have dealt with some crisis related to beard growth. If you have ever faced any problem related to growing or maintaining a beard, it is highly likely that you have made some beard mistakes.
In this article, we will put some light on what are the most common beard mistakes and how simple but pragmatic changes in lifestyle can contribute to improving your beard. So stay tuned!
1. Not Using Beard Oil
-----------------------
Nourishment and hydration are essential for the growth of your beard.
Beard oil provides hydration to your beard and also ensures the provision of essential oils to your facial skin. It also contributes to improving the overall texture of hair and mitigates problems of dryness. Beard oil is typically made of one carrier oil and other essential oils. Commonly used carrier oils are as follows:-
- Sunflower Seed Oil.
- Coconut Oil.
- Argon Oil.
- Jojoba.
- Grape Seed Oil
- Castor Oil
- Apricot Kernel Oil
- Almond Oil.
In short, beard oil is a must in your beard grooming kit. But avoid over-use of oil as it might look greasy, which you don't want.
How to Apply Beard Oil
- You can use a dropper to put the necessary amount of oil on your palms and spread the oil between your palms and fingers to ensure even distribution.
- Apply beard oil by massaging your palms on the sides of your beard going diagonally down from the bottom of your ear toward the chin.
- Massage your palms, starting from your chin and going down, covering up to your neckline.
- Massage your hands up from your neckline to your chin in an upward motion.
- Use your fingers for deeper application of your beard and mustache.
- Use a comb to ensure the even distribution of the oils and thereby set your beard in the right direction.
2. Not Using a Beard Balm as It Gets Longer
--------------------------------------------
Beard balm is a beard styling product. Beard balms offer a relatively strong hold on your beard hair while providing hydration and care. Its regular application improves your overall facial outlook and gives a hygienic appearance.
It contributes to making hair softer, easier to harness, and styles in the manner that best suits your facial expressions. It also comes with the added advantage of protection against the itchiness associated with dandruff.
Benefits
The main benefits associated with the use of beard balm are as follows:-
- Beard balm improves the hydration of your beard and improves your overall outlook.
- It effectively counters beardruff and makes your life easy.
- It can be used to give the desired direction and style your beard, mitigating the problems of an unkempt beard.
- Help with protecting your beard. Its wax and essential oils protect your beard from being dandruffy and itchy.
- Improve the volume of your facial hair by providing ideal conditions for beard growth.
It is imperative to choose a beard balm made from skin-friendly, all-natural ingredients, such as shea butter, coconut oil, and others. Synthetic chemicals, especially those used in fragrances, have a higher chance of causing skin irritation and may be counter-productive.
How to Apply Beard Balm
- The best time to apply beard balm is after a shower as this is when your beard is completely clean and softest, making its application convenient.
- Carve out a small portion of the balm( commensurable with your beard length and density) and then work it between your palms to ensure maximum coverage.
- Thoroughly massage the product in your beard from the bottom up.
- Run fingers and palms through your facial hair.
- Lightly sculpt your beard to manage any loose hair.
- Brush your beard and wash your hands at the end.
3. Not Using a Beard Brush to Comb Your Beard
A regular brush can excessively pull on wet hair follicles and cause them to break. Generally, a beard brush works better than a comb or normal brush to give your beard a fuller, thicker look. Its bristles lift your hair away from the skin, remove unnecessary entanglements, and give a heftier appearance to your beard.
Beard brushes are also instrumental in the way they contribute to the optimum distribution of oils in your beard (both natural and man-made Beard Oil). Evenly distributed oils ensure your entire beard is healthy, while also preventing a patchy beard from becoming itchy or irritated.
Regular use of a beard brush can also help remove dead skin and stimulate blood flow. This in turn may help improve beard growth and prevent beard dandruff or beardruff.
4. Not Using Beard Wash and Conditioner
Washing your beard should be an important part of your beard grooming regimen. Its regular application is more emphatic if the nature of your job involves regular exposure to dust and dirt, which in turn gets trapped in your hair. But even if you work in an office, you still need to ensure regular washing of your beard to give it a hygienic look.
From various surveys, it is pretty apparent that a lot of guys make the common mistake of using headhair shampoo on their beards. This can be really detrimental to your beard as it removes most of the essential oils and can cause beardruff or a flaky beard. This condition can be pretty uncomfortable for bearded men and may derail them into believing that keeping a beard is a bad idea!
Hence, it is imperative to use a beard wash to clean your beard regularly. Ideally, 2-3 times a week.
Avoid using body soap on your facial hair. Lye, which is found in most soaps, is great for ridding your body of excess oils and grime, but it’s too aggressive to use on your beard or mustache.
Why Use a Beard Wash?
- Specifically, made in keeping with the properties of a beard and mustache and all repellents and harmful elements have been removed.
- It doesn't contain chemicals found in hair shampoo or body soap, hence no need to worry about the loss of natural oils your skin produces.
- It is free of parabens and sulfates and is made with natural ingredients such as green tea, which is full of Vitamins B2 and E.
- You can also find chamomile in it, which benefits the skin and hair with anti-fungal and anti-bacterial properties.
- Fixes the oily appearance which some people have due to more pronounced moisture in the skin
We also recommend using a beard conditionerin your beard care routine, as it will provide additional hydration and protection to your facial hair from problems like beardruff and itchy beard while making it soft and healthy.
How to Apply
- Get the beard fully wet and dripping with water as this will assist the shampoo and conditioner in building a lather, thereby ensuring maximum coverage.
- Apply a small amount of shampoo to your hands. The amount will depend on the length and density of your beard.
- Run fingers and palms through your facial hair and massage your beard from the bottom up.
- Let the shampoo remain in your hair for one to five minutes to allow the ingredients to saturate the core strands of each hair.
- Run water through your beard until all the shampoo is thoroughly rinsed out.
- Apply conditioner, concentrating on the ends.
- Thoroughly rinse the conditioner at the end.
5. Letting Your Beard Grow Wild
Depending on genetics, diet, and other aspects, the average growth of a beard is usually between 0.3 and 0.5 mm a day. Although this may seem quite some pace, it still takes a lot of effort and patience into growing a full beard. In keeping with Viking values, some guys don't like to trim or groom their beards at all, making them look shabby.
This problem gets worse when the overgrown beard is not maintained or groomed properly. Beard hairs have different stages of growth. Some of them are in the active phase of growth, and some are in the resting phase.
As a result, the rate of beard hair growth is not uniform, hence to get a more hygienic and well-kept look, trimming becomes necessary.
Trimming and Shaping Your Beard
Trimming also facilitates getting rid of split ends. Your beard hair can dry out and develop split ends as a result of harsh weather conditions or improper beard care.
Contrary to what you might have heard in commercials, once your hair develops split ends, the only solution is to cut off the affected region.
You should trim your beard when needed. There is no universal answer, and it depends on your beard style, beard length, beard care routine, and your beard hair growth rate.
In general, if your beard style is really polished, well-maintained, and complex, you’ll probably need to trim it once every 5 or 7 days, or even more frequently if you prefer to keep it on the shorter side.
For short beard styles, trimming is probably necessary once every 2 weeks, and for longer beards, you might go as long as 4 to 5 weeks without a trim.
6. Trimming Too Soon
Although we have been pretty emphatic on the regular trimming of your beard, another common mistake people usually make is trimming it too much off.
Some aspects that you need to remember include:
- Trim your beard into a style that is commensurate with your facial expressions.
- Try to balance your beard with your haircut.
- If you have a square face, then keep the volume on your chin and trim the sides.
- If you have a round face, then elongate the face with a longer beard.
- If you have a rectangular face, then keep your sides fuller along with a shorter length.
Trimming small amounts at a time also helps rectify mistakes efficiently.Remember to brush your beard before trimming so you can see exactly how long the hair is.
7. Shaving Too High Up Your Neckline
After a few months on your beard growth journey, you will likely need to trim your neckline to get that well-kept look. At this stage, you need to be cautious and we recommend that you visit a professional and get it done by them for the first time.
A few imperative aspects that you need to keep in mind as per the ensuing lines:-
- Start timing from the center of your neck by taking your Adam's apple as a reference and start to trim every hair below the line you've identified as your beard neckline.
- Trim from the center, taking your razor up towards one ear, being mindful of your jawline as you go.
- A rule of thumb that generally works for the majority of guys is to keep your neckline two fingers (or 1.5 inches) above your Adam's apple.
Important Considerations for a Neckline
- If you shave your neckline and keep the edges looking sharp, you're less likely to run into any workplace problems.
- Having less hair on your neck and throat gives a well-kept and hygienic appearance.
- By keeping a neckline, you'll have less itching, less sweat, less gunk, and fewer bacteria buildup.
Generally, for a better hygienic appearance, you will want to clean all extra hair protruding from your throat and neck area. More emphasis is on hair which is visible during the normal resting position of your head.
Using a trimmer or razor is your personal choice. Use whatever suits you best.
If you use a razor, then you might need to sanitize your skin with aftershave or any other suitable product.
8. Giving Up Too Soon
Keeping a beard is a very demanding choice. It entails patience, commitment, and belief in the process of growth. During this journey, there always comes a time when you are just fed up and can't do it anymore. At this stage of the endeavor, men get separated from the boys.
The remedy lies in commitment, understanding the mechanics of the process, and foreseeing this mental state which you are likely to encounter.
We recommend waiting at least two months before making any decision. Even the guys with the patchiest beards at the start, are usually much more comfortable after liberating their skin off from the beard-shaving routine. Be patient, because this patience will yield a great transformation. So stay geared in!
9. Believing Beard Myths
With the increasing popularity of beard products, we have also seen a sudden rise in the propagation of false myths associated with beard growth. Although it is true that the type of beard that you will develop has a great bearing on factors like genetics, diet, and recovery, it's still absurd to completely discard yourself based on false information.
As we have already elaborated, the right knowledge and understanding of the science behind the process are imperative for a smooth beard growth journey.
Shaving Off Your Facial Hair Will Make Your Beard Grow Faster
This is not true, shaving your facial hair will not make your beard grow faster. People generally believe in this myth, as after shaving the beard, new hair may have a better texture and look thick. On the flip side, a lot of shaves can be attributed to problems like acne and dryness.
A Patchy Beard Will Never Grow Into a Full Beard
This is definitely not true, as with the right beard care routine patchiness can be solved. Application of beard oil and brushing facial hair contribute to distributing essential oils all over your skin and promoting blood circulation, thereby enabling beard growth. It usually takes 2 -3 months with the right beard care routine to see visible results against patchiness. Although patchiness in some people can be due to genetics and is not likely to improve with any beard care routine.
Beard Can Negatively Affect Your Interviews
Aspects generally important in an interview are your grip on the subject, critical thinking, problem-solving, confidence, and how you carry yourself. It usually comes down to how confident you are in yourself and your abilities. Beard, in contrast to popular opinion, gives you masculine vibes and gives you confidence. As long as your beard is well-kept and hygienically sound, your beard will always act in your favor in interviews.
Beards Make You Feel Hotter in the Summer
Business Insider has claimed that beards can actually have a cooling effect during the summer. The beard also protects you from overexposure to harmful Ultra Violet radiations and skin rashes common in adverse summer conditions.
10. Using Heat to Dry/Straighten Your Beard
Heat does more harm than good to a beard. Regular exposure to heat can make your beard permanently dry, frizzy, and dull. Furthermore, heat also causes loss of moisture in the hair, resulting in hair falling and itchiness.
Combined use of speed and heat can result in your beard becoming brittle, and your skin being dry and flakey. This can lead to beardruff, split ends, and patchiness. It's better to avoid using heat application products on your beard, unless you are using a good heat protectant shield for your beard.
Attend Your Beard with Great Vigor and Valiance
Beard growth is a very fulfilling process. It is a journey that has resulted in amazing transformation for many men. It's a transition from your present to the best version of your Viking self. Remember like every esteemed transformation, this process requires commitment, perseverance, and knowledge of the process. We hope that this article provides you with the most relevant imperative information regarding the mistakes that people usually make in this journey. Keep yourself updated with the right information, debunk false rumors, and stay strong on the Viking Langskip. Best of luck!
