What Black Men Must Know to Grow & Maintain a Neat Beard
In the recent years, we've seen a bunch of iconic black man—involved in music, movies industry, and in professional sports—helping to shed a new light on beards. We just have to think about the actor Idris Elba, the rappers 50 Cents, Drake and the basketball player's James Harden who each owns their signature beard. With their social status, these black men—who proudly wear beard—helped to redefine the new beard trends and styles for black men. Thus said, beards among black men are far from being a new trend. Instead, beards have always been for black men a stepping stone towards the man's life. The main difference that we've seen is that today, men give more importance to their beard than before and seek to maintain it with natural high-quality beard care products. Maintaining a beard has now become a serious matter which deserves to be well done. This new trend—men who groom their beard with specific products—has lead us to introduce the most common challenges that black men with beards are struggling with. Of course, skin's problems and needs of black men are not the same as the ones of white men, but rest assured, the following lines will give you some advice on how to groom and maintain your beard and underlying skin—in order to promote beard growth.
Before we continue, make sure to grab your copy of our brand new Free ebook: The ultimate Beard in 10 easy steps!
Always have a Neatly Trimmed Beard
As you may have noticed, if you don't take care and don't trim your beard, it can lead to split-ends and then became unmanageable. On the contrary, trimming your beard will help you to get a tidy beard that looks great. Rather than going to your barber every week to trim your beard, we strongly suggest that you invest in a good beard trimmer and a good pair of stainless steel scissors for beard and mustache. Both of these tools will allow you to save money and time and with them, you'll be able to always have an intact and neatly trimmed beard.
Never Tear Off an Ingrown Hair
Generally, the hairs of black men are often frizzy or curly. This type of hair naturally tends to cause razor bumps and ingrown hairs. Very often, men with black skin suffer from hyperpigmentation and react more strongly to the inflammation caused by the razor strokes. Although dermatologists would agree to say that beard for blacks is a kind and form of protection—they are also willing to say that waiting too long to treat razor bumps and growing a beard over them is a grave mistake to avoid—If you don't treat these razor bumps when they appear, they could damage your hair follicles and significantly decrease the growth of your beard. So the main thing to keep in mind is to treat razor bumps as soon as possible to avoid any skin problems. If despite your treatment—you're still struggling to get rid of your ingrown hairs— we suggest that you consult a dermatologist or an aesthetician to get more professional advice tailored to your situation. Don't try to pull off your ingrown hairs if you don't want to end up with a face full of scars. By being too aggressive, you'll just trade your ingrown hairs problem for a scarring problem.
Never Neglect your Beard & Skin
Although you probably have already heard the expression, "black doesn't crack", this doesn't mean that black men must put aside all skin care and beard care products. Instead, they should use cleansers and exfoliating products for face and beard—If a black man has a long beard. Well, it's even more important to properly treat it and the skin underneath. Generally, black men should avoid skin care and beard's grooming products containing dyes, lanolin, and artificial fragrances. These agents can cause irritation, dry up the skin and clog the pores of your skin. Traditional soap bars—often too aggressive—should also be avoided as they divest the facial skin of its moisture and its natural oil (sebum). If you have a relatively short beard and wish to opt for facial skin products instead of beard products, you should look for an exfoliating cleanser containing salicylic acid and/or fruit acids—These ingredients help to prevent ingrown hairs and the pores of the skin to not clog. Finally, regardless of your ethnicity, when you plan to go outside, it is very important to use a moisturizer with a sunscreen. Using a moisturizer with FPS will help to prevent signs of skin aging and skin cancer.
Use a Grooming Kit Specifically Designed for Beards
A second mistake that can be avoided is to use the same products to wash your beard as the ones you use to wash your hair—as these products don't have the same functions. The vast majority of products specifically designed for the hair of black men are often very thick, waxy and often contain too many chemicals products. Thus, if these products are applied in your beard, they could very well cause acne, clog your pores, and cause several other unpleasant complications. We suggest a daily cleaning of the face with cold water and a washing the beard with proper beard care products, one to twice a week. A Regular application of a beard oil could also help to counter any skin problem—since it also feeds your underlying skin. If your hair is still curly and frizzy after applying a beard oil, you should use a little of beard balm containing shea butter—as it will help to make your beard more manageable. After applying these products, you should comb and brush your beard with a beard comb to give it a nice finish and distribute the oil and butter evenly in your beard.
