Top celebrities are now sporting beards. From Ryan Gosling and Jake Gyllenhaal to Australia’s own Hugh Jackman. The length of the beard can range from a very short 5 o’clock shadow to a long, full grown beard.
The beard trend has been growing rapidly in Australia for at least the past 12 months. A few articles have been written about reaching ‘peak beard’ status, but with Movember just around the corner there might be more life left in the beard yet! Not to mention more hair to stick some flowers in. Men who shave their faces need to use certain products to provide the optimum shave. Men who choose to keep a beard on their face, also need to use certain products to maintain and groom it. That means washing, moisturising and styling their beards.
It doesn’t matter what type of beard a man grows on their face, grooming is essential. There are only 3 steps that should be taken to maintain ones beard.
WASH – No matter what, you will need to wash your beard. Imagine not having a shower for a week – what would that smell like?? If you are working in an office then you may not have to wash it every day but, say, if you are working as a mechanic, that would require a daily wash. As your face skin is under the hair you need to make sure you use a really gentle soap or beard cleanser. Head shampoos are meant to clean the scalp which tends to be oilier and hairier than the beard so we’ve seen a lot of guys who find head shampoos a bit too harsh and drying on their skin.
MOISTURISE – Once your beard is clean, you need to ensure that the skin under the beard is moisturised, otherwise you might get a case of bad beardruff (dandruff ~ beard style), which isn’t attractive to anyone. Normal moisturising creams are too thick to even reach the skin, let alone help moisturise it. A good beard oil (which also smells nice), will penetrate not only the hair but the skin as well. The oil will help minimise beard itch that many men experience and minimise beardruff. Ben, a beard enthusiast, decided to grow out his beard during the summer holidays but found it was not without its challenges. ‘You get into day 4 and 5 and the itch can make you want to shave it off.’ He found beard oil to be the solution to this problem.
STYLE – The final step is styling your beard. If you are not inclined to style it that’s cool, the beard oil will tame your beard and help to make sure the hairs point the same way. However if you want something to hold the hairs in place, then you best get a beard balm or a moustache wax to do the job.
Jacqueline De Campo, Milkman Australia
