10 Ways To Step Up Your Beard Game

We see them everywhere. Social media, especially Instagram, is brimming with pictures of them. Our favorite celebrities don't fall short either. The Beard Gang™. Their characteristics? Full luscious enviable beards that put Greek gods to shame.


  
   
                                                                              


You may have tried everything to grow yours. But it still looks like an awful, half done job, with stray hairs here and there with lots of empty patches you have no explanation for. Or you can't even grow one. Maybe you've just ended up with a stubborn wiry beard, looking no different from a homeless drug addict.


Whatever your beard issues are, you've come to the right place.


Here are 10 effective ways to step up your beard game:
1.) Grow a beard.

There's no beard game without a beard, and a lot of men have issues with growing a full beard. There can be a lot of reasons why your beard isn't growing. Here are a few of them:

  • You aren't eating healthy
  • Your skin is in a terrible state. Hair wont grow where there are clogged pores and dead skin cells suffocating the area, or if your skin is always dry.
  • You aren't taking good care of the beard already growing there. Hair won't grow in an unhealthy environment.
  • You aren't old enough yet. Some boys will start growing facial hair as early as 14-15 years while some won't see any facial hair till 18-20. In some cases, it extends to even their mid twenties. Everyone's puberty calendar isn't the same. So if you are below 20 and you've tried everything to grow a beard to no avail, you should exercise patience. Maybe your body isn't ready yet.
  • Genetics 
Noting all these obstacles to grow out facial hair, here are a few ways to combat them and grow out your dream beard

  •  Eat healthy. Healthy foods loaded in vitamin d, protein and omega-3 fatty acids, help in cell growth, keep your skin healthy, stimulate the hair follicles to promote hair growth.
  • Take Biotin. Especially for students and people who may not be getting enough nutrients in their meals. This supplement is a tested and trusted way to increase hair growth.
  • Exercise. Exercising frequently will increase testosterone levels, which will in turn stimulate beard growth. 
  • Exfoliate. Exfoliating will clear up clogged pores, remove dead skin cells, and increase blood circulation, which makes it easier to grow out hair. Taking good care of your skin will help your beard growth. Buy a gentle cleanser to use on your face.
  • Massage your beard area every night with a gentle beard brush
  • Use essential oils or growth serum. They are rich in antioxidants, increase blood circulation and stimulate blood circulation. They are perhaps the most effective way to grow out hair. Try these:
         Peppermint oil and olive oil
         Coconut and rosemary oil
         Eucalyptus oil and castor oil
         Amla oil and lemon oil
         Almond oil and argan oil
Remember to be patient. A full beard won't grow in a day

2.) Trim your beard.


 


Trimming will allow your beard stay in a chosen shape with an overall clean look. Not trimming your beard will cause split ends, which will make your beard very unmanageable. If you can't trim your hair properly, ask someone who can do it to do it for you. It can be your barber/groomer.
Shave your neck, fellas. Trim the hairs that curl into your mouth and grow at the top of your lip, so your lips are very visible.

3.) Find a good style that suits your facial features.
You may have seen an epic beard that caught your attention and struck you speechless. As much as you want it on your face, remember not every beard style will suit you. Find a style that suits your face and even head shape. There are a lot of beard styles to choose from. Note that the full, voluminous Hebrew beard isn't for everyone either and may not suit you. It's a hard pill for a lot of dudes to swallow, but its the truth.

  

  
If you know you can't maintain it, its better to stick to smaller beards.



Some men's features will favor a prominent mustache

   
 
Others work it with a goatee

   

Some pay great detail to their sideburns


     

Who can ever forget Ludacris' iconic sideburns?

You could add a soul patch.

 

    

The full beard, but short and grown close the the face

 
     

  
 

Or you could grow your beard out, in a Bandholz, Dutch, Hebrew or any other voluminous style and let your beard flourish in all its glory:


  
      


  



So at the end of the day, its up to you to find out what beard shape and style compliment your facial features best.

4.) Brush your beard everyday.
 
       
Buy a gentle brush specially for your beard, and brush your beard in the direction you want it to grow. Brushing your beard will not only increase blood circulation, it will reduce the risk of ingrown hairs. Brushing your beard will also fluff up the hair and increase beard volume. It also helps in getting rid of dead skin cells, promoting better growth.

 5.)  Choose a complementing hairstyle.








  



  

 

You could have the meanest beard in the world, but with a bad haircut, your entire look will end up looking wack. Find a good barber to give you a clean cut to go well with your beard.



6.) Keep your beard hair soft, moisturized and shiny.

Use sulfate free shampoo because the sulfate removes natural oils from the hair. Use brands like Cantu and Palmers, and use conditioners from the same brand. Use a gentle, cleansing conditioner twice a week.
Moisturize twice a week with a good lotion. I recommend ORS Olive Oil Hair Lotion
You could also get a spray bottle, add warm water and argan oil or olive oil, or coconut oil and spray on your beard and brush thoroughly.

7.) Buy a beard care kit.

  

If you can afford it, buying a beard care kit will make things easier for you while trying to achieve your dream beard. A complete kit will have high quality brush/comb, beard oil, beard shampoo, beard conditioner, beard balm, beard trimming scissors, and a few even come with mustache wax.
Rapid Beard, Naturenics, Beardsley, Zeus, Oalen and Wahl are few good brands.
Click here to see some quality beard kit brands you can select from

8.) Get a good barber/groomer


 

Getting someone who knows what they're doing with your beard is the endgame of your entire beard plan. Find someone who understands head shape, styles, hair type, etc. It would be a huge disappointment if after everything, your barber couldn't give you your desired result. Better still, learn how to groom and trim your beard yourself, Watch YouTube videos and continue to practice

9.)  Understand not every hair product isn't for your beard.
Like i said earlier, avoid sulfate free shampoo. For black men, avoid products with dyes, artificial fragrances and lanolin. They cause dryness, irritation and clogged pores. Use cleansers with salicylic acid.

10.) One of the biggest issues men with beards, especially black men, are ingrown hairs.


Ingrown hairs are hairs that have curled around and grown back into your skin, instead of growing out of your skin. This causes inflammation, swelling, pain and tenderness. It's more common among black men, since the hair is normally tightly curled.



These are a few ways to combat ingrown hairs 
  • Shave with a sharp, single-bladed razor.
  • Shave in the same direction of hair growth
  • When shaving, shave with a few strokes of the razor
  • Tea tree oil is very effective against ingrown hairs
  • Don't shave too close to the skin
  • Wet your skin with warm water before shaving
  • Exfoliate with salicylic acid before shaving. A good example is St Ives Apricot Scrub. 
  • Use a lubricating gel while shaving. Don't ever shave on dry skin.
  • Grow your hair out
  • The days following your shave, apply warm compress on your skin. You could then use a soft brush or a wet washcloth and rub over the area










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