Beards don’t just maintain themselves. Although admittedly, it’s not hard to go out on the street or hit your local mall and see way too many examples of people who seem to think that they do.
Beards are very popular these days, but a lot of women will still say that they don’t like beards on guys. I think a good part of the reason these women still exist is just the general lack of thought paid to the subject of maintaining your beard and making it and keeping it something that’s genuinely aesthetically appealing and doesn’t make you look like Sailor Jim or a hobo.
1) Trim
You have two choices here: Either get a beard trimmer or go to a pro. If you choose the beard trimmer option, for Pete’s sake, get a good one! Poor quality beard trimmers are the number one cause of patchiness, and patchiness is one of your big enemies. If you choose to go to a pro, pick someone who truly understands what you are going after and what works on your body, hair and facial type. There are women barbers out there who are awesome, but there are also many who are worse than useless, because they will mess up your bread. Caveat emptor.
2) Detail
Hopefully this one is mostly preaching to the choir: your beard is not finished just after having trimmed it. It needs to be contoured and cleaned up around the edges. There really is no substitute for a straight razor here… people who scrimp and use a disposable blade or the trimmer for this look like what they are: cheap! Once again, you have the choice of DIY or going to a professional. Using the machine and then going to a professional to have the finishing touches put on your beard is a perfectly acceptable alternative. Just don’t wait too long between professional visits. If you choose DIY, get a good blade a good brush and a quality cream.
3) Care
Your beard is just like the hair on your head. You should wash it, comb it out, etc. This becomes more and more key as the beard gets longer, of course, just like it would with your head hair. If you want volume, use a biotin treatment or something similar. And of course it’s always nice to finish off with a high-quality beard oil.
Hopefully we can get the number of Sailor Jims down out there if we spread these few simple tips around enough so that everybody out there will get it. And the beard will finally get the 100% approval it deserves.
