My Morning Beard Routine
I have had a beard for some time now. I have found that during the course of having a beard a lot of experimentation and refinement goes on. Eventually you get to the point where you have your beard routine down to a fine art. That is then a beautiful thing. From chaos in the beginning to a well oiled machine!
Every man is different. We each have different beards. The way our beard hair grows is different. We also have different preferences. How we want to style our beards. How we want to trim our beards. What fragrances we like.
The guide below is simply what works for me. I hope that it serves to be an inspiration to you. But make it your own! This is your ritual. Own it.
Step 1: Get that beard wet!
Having a damp beard is the perfect starting point for applying beard oil, so I always make sure that I get my beard wet. Often this is in the shower using some good quality natural beard wash. I, personally, have turned full-180 in the last few years and try to use as many 100% natural products as possible. I really cannot see the benefit to using harsh chemicals on my body. For mornings when I don’t shower (yes, sometimes it happens), I always have a bar of 100% natural beard soap standing by at my sink to give my beard and face a wash to start my beard grooming process.
Step 2: Apply beard oil
Once you have towel dried your beard, leaving it slightly damp, it is ready for beard oil. As I have already mentioned, my preference is for 100% natural products, so I use our Peppermint & Lemon Peel beard oil which uses just 4 natural ingredients; sweet almond oil, peppermint oil, lemon peel oil, and vitamin E. The amount required can vary from person to person depending on a number of factors including:
- The length of your beard
- The thickness of your beard hair
- Your desired look and feel
My current beard has about 4 months of growth and having been recently trimmed it’s roughly an inch long in most places. At this sort of length I usually use about 3–4 pumps of beard oil. The idea here is to get enough beard oil on your beard to fully coat all of the hairs and for the oil to penetrate to the skin to do it’s magic there also. I will generally rub the oil between my palms and spend 30 seconds gently massaging it into my beard and moustache.
Step 3: Comb to detangle and distribute beard oil
Because I have never been someone to do things by half measures I actually comb my beard twice with two different combs! For this first round I use ourWooden Beard Comb. This solid comb is made of beautiful pear wood. Because of it’s rigidness and medium teeth, it is ideal for ensuring that your beard oil is distributed evenly and gets any major tangles out of your beard before styling. This is a necessary step in the process for me as I have a rather course beard which can get tangled and messy very easily!
Step 4: Comb to style
At this point I switch to comb number 2. For styling my beard I prefer to use a very fine comb. I have found the Kent Extra Small Moustache & Beard Comb to be perfect for this. It’s beautifully handmade with very fine teeth that are perfect for combing a beard into shape. It allows you to style your beard with a lot of precision and is especially good for getting your moustache looking awesome. This is the point at which I do my overall beard styling using the comb.
Step 5: Apply moustache wax and final touches
Moustaches are very much down to personal preference. I have a handlebar moustache which I like to keep styled and looking good. Therefore, moustache wax is a must. I like to use a very firm moustache wax as moustaches can take a lot of abuse throughout the day. This is especially true of me as I spend a good part of my day drinking coffee! I always go for our Old Street Barber Moustache Wax. It’s made using beeswax which not only makes it sold as a rock, but combined with the lemon oil it smells absolutely incredible. I only use a tiny bit of this wax, warming it between my thumb and index finger. Once it’s warm I apply it quite evenly across my moustache and comb it in with my Kent Moustache Comb. I do not put extra wax on the ends of my moustache. Although I want to shape it, if you apply too much wax or over-work it, it will look greasy and have no volume! Whilst you still have some moustache wax on your fingers, this is a great opportunity to tidy up and waifs and strays. After all, there are always one or two hairs which need a little extra encouragement to do what they are meant to!
And that’s it! My morning beard grooming routine. I hope that it inspires you to experiment and create your own. My template is not going to work for everyone, but it’s certainly a starting point if you are looking for some inspiration and guidance.
