Just like oiling hair, you might be thinking combing a beard is an easy task. Importantly, both require a series of steps and are not a matter of seconds. Several factors including picking up the right beard comb to pre-preparation and maintenance of the comb contribute to how to comb a beard process.
Besides, the steps bring in a lot of benefits of bringing a beard to the table. Apart from this, the right time to comb, and what else can you use for combing is a must-know piece of information.
So, just be ready with a freshly washed and dried beard to comb your precious facial hair.
Table Of Contents
Choose Beard Comb As Per Beard Length
Before knowing the beard combing process, you must know which facial hair comb (or beard brush) to use on what hair length.
So basically, a beard brush is ideal for a short beard while a beard comb best tames the long beard.
But why is that so?
When your facial hair is in its formative stage, the skin underneath requires nourishment and moisture. Plus, the facial hair should be trained since its growing stage so that it doesn’t remain unruly or frizzy.
Brushing with a beard brush offers many benefits:
- Help spread natural oils produced by sebaceous glands
- Keeps dead skin cells and dandruff at bay
- Makes your beard healthy and soft
Useful Extra Reading
Always use beard brushes made up of horse or boar’s hair. The bristles are natural and distribute natural oils to every single hair strand. On the other hand, say no to synthetic bristles due to their inability to evenly spread the sebum oils.Now let’s know how a beard comb tames long facial hair.
A beard comb should be dual-sided with narrow and wide teeth. The wider teeth work well on coarse beards while the narrow ones are beneficial for fine hair.
The beard comb teeth should be rounded so that they won’t rip off your beard hair from roots. Just like beard brushes, beard combs also help distribute beard care products evenly.
Useful Extra Reading
Always use rubber-made or wooden combs since they are anti-static and do not tear away your hair strands. Plus, these beard combs are good at stimulating blood circulation that results in beard growth. Contrary to this, a plastic-made cheap comb causes static energy and even causes hair fall. Neither they are good for facial nor head hair.Now that you know which beard combs (or beard brushes) to use on what beard length, let’s know the actual process of combing your beard.
How To Comb A Beard?
Before knowing how to comb, let’s wash facial hair.
The Beard combing process is divided into two categories:
Beard Brush for Short Beard
As you know beard brushes are good for short hair, let’s know how to use them:
Step 1: Start Brushing Facial Hair
Firstly, start with the neck area and then move towards sideburns, cheeks, and chin. This way, you would be able to straighten all your short beards. While straightening, it also removes little food particles trapped inside your beard.
Pro Tip
Do not apply beard oil on wet facial hair since it fails to penetrate the skin and facial hair follicles.
Step 2: Apply Beard Oil
Once you are done straightening your facial hair, it’s time to apply beard oil. Hold the beard brush in a way that bristles your face towards you and pour 2-3 drops of beard oil. Start brushing in a downward direction to evenly distribute beard oil. It keeps your beard moisturized and tamed.
Step 3: Keep Strokes Short
When brushing a beard, you need to keep the strokes short and gentle. Also, ensure that a beard brush bristle tip touches your skin. Doing this stimulates your blood circulation, which eventually promotes beard growth.
Note
Do not try to brush your beard when it’s wet since it damages your facial hair and can even tear them out.
Step 4: Clean Your Beard Brush Post-Brushing
Once you are done cleaning your beard, it’s time to clean the beard brush. Otherwise, saving hair from shedding could make the bristles shed. To clean your beard brush, face the brush bristle downward and tap on the wooden part or shake it. This way, the dead skin or hairs will shed off.
Another method to clean a beard brush is by running a comb through the bristles. Lastly, you can even wipe bristles with a paper towel to remove oily residue.
Pro Tip
Do not clean a beard brush under running water since it weakens the glue holding the bristles, which results in bristle shedding.
So this is how you would be combing short beards. But what about longer ones? Just check out our next section.
Beard Combs for Long Beards
Note that, longer beards require a dual-sided beard comb that has wide and narrow gaps between teeth.
Both short and long beards require combing down the beards to remove any stuck environmental pollutants or food particles.
Now let’s see how to comb long beards.
Step 1: Apply Beard Oil or Beard Balm & Run Beard Comb
Firstly, apply beard oil or beard balm and then comb your facial hair. It will help distribute the beard care product easily. Plus, it will moisturize your beard hair and the skin beneath it.
Pro Tip
Do not apply beard oil on wet facial hair since it fails to penetrate the skin and facial hair follicles.
Step 2: Comb Beard Upwards
This is the most crucial step since it involves combing the beard from the neck towards your chin. After doing this, work the beard comb towards your cheeks to make the beard hairs point outwards against your face. Upward combing lifts facial hairs and easily detangles them.
Step 3: Pull Out Beard Hair Comb if Pulled or Snagged
Long-beard guys deal with snagging and pulling since the facial hair often tangles up. When combing a beard, if you feel the hairs are tangled up, we suggest stopping it immediately. Remove your beard comb and start combing again. Keep patience and try to detangle your facial hair. Despite all the efforts, if you aren’t able to solve the knots, try trimming your beard.
Step 4: Shape & Style Your Beard
Just when you solve all the knots and make your beard clean, it’s time to shape and style your beard. Run the beard comb from the cheeks to a downward direction. Make sure you maintain short strokes and don’t apply too much pressure when combing.
Step 5: Comb Your Mustache
Once you comb your beard, it’s time to style the mustache. You might have noticed the hairs on your top lip coming into your mouth. And that’s quite annoying. It must be trained in such a way that hairs point towards the outer corner of your lips.
To make things happen, run the comb from the middle of your mustache towards the outwards direction. That’s how you train your mustache to not remain on your upper lips.
Pro Tip
Try twisting the end of mustache hairs with your thumb and index finger.
Step 6: Clean Your Comb
The comb’s longevity depends on how well its teeth are maintained. It means you must clean your beard comb teeth regularly post-using. Doing so not only saves your investment but also your beard’s health.
You can use a paper towel and start cleaning the gap between the comb’s teeth. With this method, you would be able to remove gunk or dirt stuck in the gap. Ensure that the entire beard comb is clean and there is no gunk or messy substance left.
Note
Make sure you are not cleaning a wooden brush with water.
So that’s how you would comb your beard, irrespective of beard length. Now that you know how to comb, let’s know what advantages are you reaping with the combing.
Advantages of Combing Your Beard
A healthy beard has no knots and is soft and moisturized. But how do you keep a beard healthier? Well, combing is one of the steps that contribute to good and thick facial hair. And here are the benefits:
Prevents Ingrown Hairs
Ingrown hair or red spots are a result of those few hair strands that curl back, penetrate the skin, and begin growing. It is painful and could even provoke you to shave off your entire beard hair.
Combing emerges as one of the good solutions to restrict those strands from penetrating and training them to grow in the desired direction.
Easily Detangles
Tangles are the most common in a long beard, which eventually leads to split ends. Another major issue could be hair loss.
To save you from hassles, start combing slowly to untangle those knots. A longer beard requires a longer teeth comb. Be careful when combing and don’t be rough.
Note
Always prefer wooden beard combs over plastic combs since they create static and have rough edges. It pulls hair follicles and sheds them.
Make Your Facial Hair Uniform
Keeping your beard in shape is one way to look handsome. An unruly beard looks unkempt, which ruins its appearance. Beard comb does this task exceptionally well. It aligns your beard and gives a longer beard look.
Moisturize Your Beard
If you comb your beard, it is important to apply beard oil and balm. Doing so uplifts your grooming routine and gives your beard the right direction to grow. Beard oils and combs are absolutely essential to enrich hair follicles and give them proper shape.
Properly Spreads Beard Care Products
Beard grooming products are specifically designed to promote beard growth and nourish beard hair follicles. If you comb your beard post-applying grooming products, then the before and after beard comb effects would be mind-blowing.
So that’s how you can reap beard comb benefits. Now let’s know the right time to gain the optimum benefit of a beard comb.
When Should You Comb Your Beard?
This question comprises two answers, which includes:
- Right time of the day
- Whether to comb on a wet or dry beard
Firstly, the right time is in the morning after taking a shower. But it should not be immediately since that’s when the hairs are wet and tangled up. Combing your beard when wet could do more damage than good. From breakage to shedding, anything worse is possible.
Combing thrice a day and brushing once a day is good but only when the beard is dry or oiled up with beard oil.
Now that you know when to run a comb in your beard, let’s know what else is available in the market for combing, and is it really safe?
Are Beard Comb Alternatives Safe?
Since the market is all about selling anything, we believe in making you aware of what to add or not in the name of men’s grooming.
There are 3 different types of beard combs available in the market:
Electric Beard Combs
The electric beard combs are specifically made for curls and coarse facial hairs. Such hair types are difficult to tame and straighten. That’s where electric beard combs come into the picture. It sounds like beard straighteners but is quite different. This one even works with beard oil and beard balm. Plus, the electric beard combs remain gentle on your skin, which you cannot experience from blow dryers or hairdryers.
Beard Picks
Another comb particularly caters to curly whiskers due to its wide and long teeth design. The teeth design causes less pulling than other combs and makes detangling a cakewalk. Beard picks are durable, heat-proof, and anti-static. Plus, they are made of rubber material. It means it’s worth investing in if other combs have failed to tame your curls.
Mustache Combs
As the name suggests, it works amazingly well for the mustache. A tiny, compact grooming tool that caters to the hair above the upper lips. It is made to cope with thickness and mustache length. The main aim of the mustache comb is to train your mustache to grow in a particular direction.
So these are the three comb alternatives. With this, we end this article and hope it finds you well.
FAQs:
1. How Should You Comb Your Beard?
Beard combing works both ways; up and down. When combing in the morning, start combing up and outwards. Comb from the neckline towards your chin. This way, all your hairs would be separate tangles-fee. Post-combing outward starts combing downwards to make it uniform.
2. Does Beard Comb Help Train Facial Hair?
Yes, combing every day is extremely essential since it not only makes hair free from impurities but also trains it to grow in the desired direction. Always use a wooden comb and not a cheap plastic comb.
3. What Are The Advantages Of Beard Combing?
It helps in several ways, such as styling, moisturizing, training, and removing impurities. Besides, it also tames the beard and restricts ingrown hairs.
4. How Often Should a Man Comb His Beard?
Brushing your beard daily is crucial for maintaining its tidiness and enhancing its full appearance. When you brush your facial hair regularly, it helps direct the growth in a preferred direction, significantly improving the appearance of your beard.
Conclusion
Apart from letting beard hair grow, many other things account for a healthy beard. From beard oil to balm, everything is essential for the beard. Making them available to hair strands and follicles comes down to beard comb. A beard grows flourishingly when perfectly groomed.
Make sure you buy an ox horn or wooden comb and not some plastic combs. Such combs pull and remain rough. Also, check for the length, width, and tip roundness so that it gently combs. So that’s how you can comb your beard without pulling, tugging, and snagging.
Reet Patel
As a college student, I understand the value of a polished appearance. My dedication to a well-groomed beard signifies the importance I place on self-presentation and consistency in my personal and professional life. My commitment to a well-maintained beard reflects my broader attention to detail. Whether in my studies or my appearance, I strive for precision and quality.