When your beard looks amazing, you feel amazing. You find yourself walking with your chest pushed out a little farther; you have a little more swagger in your step. When you walk into Diesel Barbershop St Johns Town Center in Jacksonville, FL, you are already feeling good about yourself and can’t wait for the stylist to compliment you on your stunning facial hair. 

Some of that may be a bit over the top, but let’s face it, when your beard is on point, you just feel more confident.

When your beard is not feeling up to par, that is a different emotion. You may not realize that there are different habits that can affect your facial hair’s health. You’ll want to be mindful of some dangerous habits that might damage your beard over time. After sinking weeks and months into growing your facial hair, the last thing you want is to mess it up and have to undertake a beard reset to fix your mistakes.

We sat down with the stylists and barbers at our Diesel Barbershop Jacksonville, FL location to find out some reasons why a beard can become damaged, and these are a few reasons they provided.

 

Overwashing

A common problem the barbers at Diesel Barbershop, St. John’s Town Center, see is washing beards too often. The longer a beard gets, the less you should wash it. It is tempting to want to mimic the hair routines you see women go through at the hair salon, but what you don’t know, women caught on to this trick a long time ago. It is true; hair salons have been telling women not to over-wash their hair for years now. A lot of care goes into long hair, but that does not always mean a lot of work.

Sometimes, care means knowing when not to fuss with something. Ask any man or woman with glorious tresses, and they’ll tell you that the key to their luxuriant locks is smart hair care—which is to say, laying off the shampoo. Now, shampoo is an essential tool in beard grooming; washing away grime helps make those whiskers look more appealing, but using shampoo too often can lead to dry, over processed-looking hair. Our barbers in Jacksonville, Fl, had this little insight for our long-beard champions. 

Your beard, like the rest of your hair, is naturally protected from the elements by your body’s oils. When you keep your hair short, that oil builds up quickly and requires frequent washing. But once you let your hair grow out a bit, it takes longer for those nourishing oils to make their way along the length of your hair. Washing too frequently strips away the oils before they have a chance to do their work properly, leading to split ends, frayed hair, brittle whiskers, and worse.

 

Improper Grooming Habits 

The next concern of our Jacksonville, Fl stylists is some of the grooming habits they hear when guys come into the barbershop. Some talk about the variety of products they are adding, some mention they don’t even own a comb, and a few of them do not even know the importance of beard oil.

Too little grooming will leave your beard filthy and tangled. Too much shampoo will make your beard more vulnerable. Too much combing can damage your hair. And needless to say, using cleansers that contain harsh chemicals is just asking for disaster. At Diesel Barbershop, Jacksonville, FL, the barbers there recommend these tips. 

The trick is to get a sense of how frequently your whiskers need to be washed and build a routine around that. This will take a trial-and-error process because everyone’s needs differ according to their hair length and biology. There are a few standards beard tricks you should start with and then tweak from there:

1. Wash your beard every two to three days. 
2. If you shower daily, take care to keep your beard from getting scrubbed on “off” days.
3. Use our Beard Brush or Sandalwood Beard Comb a few times a day to prevent dirt and grime from building up and to help work your natural oils along the length of your whiskers.
4. Apply beard oil once a day regardless of whether or not you’ve washed your whiskers.
5. When you do shampoo, use a beard shampoo specially formulated for facial hair.
6. Be picky about ingredients that are in your grooming products. Look for brands with a short ingredient list with little to no complicated words. Often, complex grooming products just cause more damage than good. 
7. Find a barber you can trust. They can help give you personalized advice based on what they see when working with your hair, make product recommendations, and get you on a regular schedule to come into the barbershop for beard maintenance.

Over Touching

Our barbers and stylist at Diesel Barbershop said one of the most common issues they see regarding facial hair is the temptation to always touch the beard. Being handsy with your beard is something else that can turn into a beard problem. A little hands-on appreciation of your chin hairs is fine every once in a while. But do it too much, and it becomes just another source of trauma for your whiskers. 

Rubbing, picking, and tugging at your beard is rough on the hair and causes strain on the underlying skin. Even worse, your habitual hands-on habits tend to be concentrated on specific areas of your beard. Before long, all that strain and friction will leave you with a damaged or even bare patch of beard. And no one wants that.

One Diesel Barbershop trick to help fight against this wear is to make regular use of beard balm. By gently working a little bit of balm into your beard, you’ll create a protective coating that not only strengthens your beard but also keeps it looking smooth and feeling soft. Of course, having such luxurious whiskers only means they’ll be more tempting to run your hands through, but at some point, the ol’ self-control has gotta kick in.

Ultimately, the hazards we see at Diesel Barbershop, Jacksonville, come down to overdoing it. Taking care of your beard doesn’t just mean knowing how to groom it, but also when to leave it alone. But we’re confident that with our care tips, a healthy relationship with a barber, and an attentive eye, you’ll be perfectly prepared to prevent unnecessary beard wear. Swing by Diesel Barbershop St Johns Town Center, and let one of our beard experts help set you and your beard up for success.