Some Are Blessed
For a while, you've been wondering how your friend Jason is able to keep his beard looking so sharp, all the damn time. He's the sole reason you sigh every time you look in the mirror and notice your patchy, thin beard. Goddamn it Jason. The inner Viking in you is alluring.
Most Are Not
Chances are, Jason, among countless other sharp-bearded men, did not win the jackpot of extraterrestrial beard genes. In fact, growing out a beard is one thing. Maintaining, styling, and unleashing its sharp characteristics is not so simple. It's a surprise to most that regular, intensive beard care is an undertaking compulsory to relish the nature of sharp beards for those of us who do not possess Viking genes.
Thankfully, for those of us lacking the Viking genes, beard care does not have to be rocket science
Growing out a beard takes time. Growing out a beard correctly takes considerably less time, however, and may even provide significantly better results. Putting it simply, a couple of weeks or months of an established beard care routine will sharpen your beard to levels you haven't deemed possible. We've transformed the lounge's in-house advice we give to our bearded customers into a compilation of 4 simple checklists, helping you bring out the boldness of your beard with simple adjustments you can easily incorporate into your lifestyle.
1. Keep An Eye On Your Diet
Clearing away past weak, patchy, or thin beard hair requires subtle diet commitments. When it comes to your hair and beard in general, the lack of access to nutrients essential to hair growth could surprisingly be the reason your beard's growth is being held back. Your hair adores Vitamins, and a lack of essential Vitamins such as B3, B7, D, and Vitamin E can perhaps be the sole reason your beard is growing so slow, thin, and fine.
A thorough analysis of your diet could help you point out if you're deficient in any of the aforementioned Vitamins. If you consume eggs, salmon, nuts, and beans on a regular basis, chances are your diet is sufficient to support consistent hair growth, and your diet is not to blame for your unreliable beard growth. Otherwise, if you find that your diet lacks such Vitamins, and you've no access to Vitamin-rich food, are allergic, or prefer alternative food options, perhaps it's time to consider dietary supplements.
2. Lay The Foundation Down
Fast, stable beard growth rests mainly upon the foundation you lay for your hair. Taking care of the skin and the underlying hair follicles and pores that grow out individual hairs is key to nurturing consistent, reliable beard growth. A periodic facial exfoliation done every 2-3 weeks using the right facial cleansers cleanses oil-clogged pores, and extracts skin complexities such as ingrown hairs. Facial cleansing in turn gives the skin and its pores room to breathe, making way for stable, reliable, and healthy growth of hair.
3. Hydrate, Nourish & Condition
As soon as you are done with your regular, everyday morning shower, you may begin to notice that your skin is drier than usual. It's a normal occurrence that happens when skin oil washes away from the skin. You might have heard earlier that shampooing your hair on a daily basis damages it. What you've heard is partially true. That's mainly because washing strips hair away from its natural moisturizer, oil.
This phenomenon doesn't just happen after showers or cleansing with shampoos, soap, or the like when it comes to beards though. Our faces are much more exposed to the natural elements that dry out this natural hair moisturizer, called sebum. Therefore, even if you haven't had a shower in a day or two, your beard is probably under-hydrated as you are reading this text.
Left unmoisturized for a long period of time, the skin beneath your beard may begin to dry, itch, and break, causing dandruff, patchy skin, skin irritation, and inflammation. Aside from skin damage, your beard is also albeit dragged along into this mayhem. Dry follicles result in weaker, finer hair.
As such, by routinely using your favorite brand of beard oil to moisturize your beard, you guarantee nourishment to your follicles, helping them ease the growth of strong, manageable, healthy hair. Aside from healthy hair that is reliable in growth and strength, you are preventing dandruff and a dozen other skin problems. Win-win, don't you think?
4. Pave The Way For Hair Growth
If you've been doing your part so far by keeping up with the basics of diet, foundation, and hydration, you should now start noticing subtle to moderate surges in your beard growth. That's it. You've done it. What a champ. We believed in you all along. Nevertheless, we highly recommend you don't start celebrating just yet. You've grown one heck of a beard. We get it, man. Ragnar would be proud. But, unless you want an unmanageable beard that you have absolutely no sort of control over, you have no reason to celebrate, yet.
It is still important you pave way for your beard to grow in the most optimal way. Have you seen some of ISIS's bearded leaders? Those guys grew their beards alright. Yet they forgot to pave the way for their beards, hence why their facial hair looks no different than their scalp hair. Unless you want to be branded as a member of Al Qaeda, God forbid, you must brush and comb your beard on a daily basis. Brushing keeps your beard free of knots, tangles, and snags, helping it grow more manageable and supple. As a rule of thumb, a beard you cannot control is a beard that will not be long. Once your mighty, 3-inch beard starts getting out of hand, you'd be lying to say you haven't contemplated cutting it off. That's unless you're into the frizzy look, of course.
While regular brushing allows you to grow hair that is more straight and aligned, combing also distributes sebum across less hydrated parts of your facial hair, nurturing dry follicles and allowing you to optimize the way your hair grows across all parts of your beard. We generally recommend thicker beards be brushed at least twice a day. But hey, that's just our recommendation, and we haven't seen the kind of magnificent beard you have beyond the screen. Generally speaking, brushing yields the best results when it is done after showering, just after waking up, and along with beard oil in your beard moisturizing routine.
Patience, My Friend
Growing out your beard to the length and style you'd like is a vigorous process that will not bear fruit overnight. Beard growth is a lengthy process if you lack the right genes that help make it a walk in the park. Regardless, most of us are not descendants of badass bearded individuals. And yet the most resilient of us are keeping up with the effort to unravel the beauty of man, the beard. Truthfully, the process takes some time, but by following our simplified guide, all you need is patience, for the saying goes something along the lines of "Good things take time. " Sit tight, my friend. You're in the home stretch.
