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How To Style and Maintain Your Beard For Max Growth

HOW TO STYLE AND MAINTAIN YOUR BEARD FOR MAX GROWTH

You want us to tell you that there’s an easy way to grow your beard, and grow it as fast as possible. And trust us, we wish there was. But the fact is, growing a beard is the result of approximately three things: TIME + PATIENCE + Throwing away your razor for a while.

If you want to get up to speed on the 101 of beard growing, check out our article  

‘How To Grow A Beard – The 3 Tips You Must Know’


Now while it’s great in theory to just sit back and relax watch those inches roll in, we’ve found that there’s a couple of things you can do to give your beard an extra helping hand. Knowing these extra tricks will give your beard the best shot of survival.


FACT: Beard styling and proper beard maintenance will help your beard grow better and faster. 


As cheesy as it is to say, a beard is not measured in length, it’s measured in months. There’s the one month beard, the quarter-year beard, the year long beard (otherwise known as the “yeard”), or the “terminal” beard (a beard that’s as long as you can possibly grow.) As you pass these milestones, the beard grower will encounter different challenges.

Here we explain how to handle each of the main growing phases in terms of styling and maintenance.

Follow this advice to complete that beard phase and move onto the next.


THE 0-2 WEEK BEARD


We’re all familiar with the 0-2 week beard, as this is the stage of beard-growing that causes the most beard-fatalities. This is the itchy phase. The 0-2 week beard often looks patchy, uneven, shaggy, and not very manly.


Take note - the itchy phase is caused by shaving. The blades effectively turn each piece of hair into a spear, which grows long enough to bend around and dig into your skin. Your neck is predisposed to this problem because of the angle where the head attaches to the neck.


What to do:

  1. DON’T give in to temptation and shave.
  2. DO deal with the discomfort and wait. This is a short phase and it’ll pass quickly.
  3. Use a beard oil. Applying beard oil will soothe and calm the skin underneath while softening the beard hairs.
  4. Avoid shampoo as it can dry out the face and hair. Use a natural bar of soap that doesn’t have any irritating chemicals.

Using something that will stop you from wanting to shave (such as a beard oil) is the most important thing you can do in the very early stages of growing a beard.


If you’re planning on stopping here, this length is suitable for the “European” or “Corporate” style beardsman. At under two weeks you’ll get a good overall stubble, with a natural vibe. Do not trim anywhere on the face such as as the cheek, and use clippers on the lowest setting only as necessary.


THE 2 WEEK - 2 MONTH BEARD


You survived the itchy phase, so congratulations are in order.


For maintenance:

  1. It’s now time to wash your beard every couple of days in the shower with a gentle shampoo.
  2. Apply beard oil daily.
  3. Start combing the beard with a proper beard comb.
  4. Applying beard balm to soften the hairs and shape the beard the way you want it.

After the first couple of weeks, the beard can begin to look a little untidy. If you’re wanting a more conservative length beard, then now is the time you can carefully begin to trim some of it. To neaten things up, it’s recommended to trim the neckline, the upper cheeks, and mustache.


Note, if you’re wanting to keep growing through to the yeard phase, then you should leave the beard untouched.


If you are prone to overdoing things, and think you could get a little too scissor or razor happy, then it’s best to hold off on trimming the beard until the one month mark, or later. (You wouldn’t be the only novice beardsmen who has gone too far with trimming in the early stages, and stuffed it up.)


Another option is to visit a barber or grooming shop to get an expert to neaten it. Just be sure to tell them to take it easy and trim conservatively.


Remember that you’re better being safe than sorry. Less is more and you can always come back to trim more off another day.


Beard Trimming Tips:  

  • Be careful not to trim the neckline too high. The ideal location for the line is where the neck meets the head.
  • In the early days, there’s very little of the beard that you should be trimming. Just try to create a curved shape from one ear to the other.
  • For the mustache, scissors are better over clippers. Why? Scissors will give you more control and you only need to cuts a few hairs at a time.
  • For the cheek line: Stick as close as possible to your natural hairline, and only trim off the odd hairs that are outside the main line. Even if you have a very dense cheek, don’t trim below the bottom of your nose.

The 1 to 2 months phase is ok for corporate beardsmen, or those wanting a more traditional appearance. It’s still important to keep the beard trimmed and tidy - especially if you want to keep your job in certain workplaces.


To keep the length, it’s recommended to use scissors instead of clippers. Like we said above when trimming the moustache, using scissors gives you more control and prevents mistakes. Just use a beard comb to comb through the hairs to the length you want, then trim off the overhang.


Don’t have a beard comb? Get one of ours here.


THE 2 MONTH PLUS BEARD


For those endeavouring further with growing their beard, this is the fun part. You’ll notice that your neat little beard starts to get a life of its own. It suddenly becomes wavy and curly and this is actually your natural beard.


For maintenance:

  1. Rinse your beard daily, and wash around every 3 days to once per week
  2. Comb daily
  3. Apply a beard oil daily
  4. Apply a beard balm daily
  5. Trim only with scissors

For styling:


With a longer beard, you’ll get into the flow of your weekly routine with washing and applying products. One extra thing that can make your beard appear fuller and tidier is to use a blow dryer. Yes, you read that correctly.


Basically, using a blow dryer can fluff up your beard and give it more volume. If you blow upwards into the beard, it’ll go fuller, if you blow downwards it’ll make the beard go smoother and flatter.


To prevent your skin and beard hair from drying out, it’s a good idea to apply beard balm BEFORE blow drying when the hair is still damp.


Once the beard is dry, you can use the downward technique to get the beard back into the size you want it. Using a proper beard comb can help style the beard into shape while you do this.


So there you have it gents. You’ve just learned the main ways to style and maintain your beard to give it maximum growth potential.


But one last reminder: As we said it before in this beard-growing article the best thing to do is work with what you’ve got. Once you know what the best parts of your beard are, all you need to do is emphasise it. There’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to beards, as what looks good on one man won’t work for you (and vice versa). Just work with what nature gave you, be patient, do a little grooming and the rest will fall into place.