What is the best way to maintain my beard?
I want to grow it out longer but after a while it starts looking sloppy. How can I prevent this without trimming?
1. Trim it. Trimming is necessary to keep things looking good. Trimming prevents split ends, and split ends become tangles. Shaping the beard is important as well, to keep it looking intentional and not hobo-ish. You don't have to take off a lot, just enough to keep the ends from splitting.
2. Comb it. This keeps it from tangling, plus it distributes the natural oils down the length of each whisker.
3. Wash it. You may not need to wash it as often as you wash your head hair, but you need to keep it clean. There are some beard-specific shampoos out there like Beardsley Beard Shampoo, but regular old head shampoo should work well, too.
5 Answers
You have to trim. This isn't so bad. I trim maybe once or twice a week and things are in good order. You can grab one of these http://www.remington-products.com/grooming/mb_mb-900.htm for pretty cheap. My trimmer has an adjustable length, so I trim to 6mm all over, then touch up neck / cheeks closer. It is worth the effort if you don't want to look sloppy.
Honestly the only way to maintain a beard without trimming is to shampoo/condition it, comb it and pray for the best. Without trimming your beard can become shapeless and detract from the entire look itself.
Washing it is fundamental shampoo and condition it with whatever you're using on your head. This helps prevent breakouts and keep you manly. The beard shampoos and creams act as a softener but regular condition will do almost the same job and remove a step from your routine.
Combing your beard prevents knots and shows you areas you need to trim though if you're not trimming you can shape your beard through combing for a while.
In order to maximize your beard's potential you have to trim it. Whether you're going for the unkempt, the Leonidas, or the woodsman, trimming is key. Grab yourself a Wahl trimmer kit and try it out. Trimming never hurt anyone and brings a beard into its own. If it doesn't work out, the only thing you have to do is nothing.
Trim the length to keep it consistent. Whether that length's long or short is up to you, but make it look intentional.
Shape it. This may take some time to find what's right, but go with what your face and beard dictate and clean-up the lines, then maintain them. You don't want to end up looking like a boy-band (and if you do, quit reading), so keep it to conservative, natural lines around your chin, cheeks and neck.
Comb it occasionally, but you probably don't want a frickin' part in your beard. Just keep it "maintained".
Last, but certainly not least: if you're going to wear a beard, you need to understand the way it affects meals and women. First, you need to learn to eat cleanly with your beard or the next part won't matter to you. Secondly, many a lady loves a man in a nice beard. There are few things more masculine than a beard and for many women, it signifies protection, which they want. This is good, but take-heed to the affects your beard has when things get more intimate. Every lady's different, some like the roughness, some like the tickle and some may find it too abrasive on their skin. Find out and act accordingly.
Ok, you're all set for a beard... grow when ready.
The key to maintaining your beard is to make sure to focus on the outline of the beard. Keep that in order and everything else will fall in line. You can use a product like our "Grooming Lounge Beard Master Shave Oil": http://www.groominglounge.com/grlobemashoi.html Grooming Lounge Beard Master Shave Oil which is perfect for grooming goatees and mustaches and outlines for beard. Great razor glide and obviously can see what your shaving instead of most shaving creams. Just use the edge of your Mach 3 razor and try to do it at 45 degree angle for best results.
Also, no matter what you’ll have to do some trimming the best product by far is the Forfex Trimmer. We use that in our barbershops and on our site and can be used for everything from cleaning neck hair, sideburns to trimming beards. Use a 3 or 4 guard (or the biggest) and that will get out all the stragglers in your beard. Finally, you could definetly use Bluebeards Wash and Beard Saver which are fantastic products for guys with beards. http://www.groominglounge.com/bluebeard1.html
So, in the end. Keep the outline. Shampoo/condition it properly. And use the right trimmer to maintain while keeping the beard growing and looking good.
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1. Trim it. Trimming is necessary to keep things looking good. Trimming prevents split ends, and split ends become tangles. Shaping the beard is important as well, to keep it looking intentional and not hobo-ish. You don't have to take off a lot, just enough to keep the ends from splitting.
2. Comb it. This keeps it from tangling, plus it distributes the natural oils down the length of each whisker.
3. Wash it. You may not need to wash it as often as you wash your head hair, but you need to keep it clean. There are some beard-specific shampoos out there like Beardsley Beard Shampoo, but regular old head shampoo should work well, too.