How to Maintain a Beard During Summer Months
Your summer beard is ruggedly dapper and even has health benefits. It protects your skin from roughly 50 to 95 percent of ultraviolet radiation, especially UVB rays, according to a study published in the Oxford American. If you’re wondering how to maintain a beard over the summer, we have the perfect tips for you.
Maintaining your summer beard isn’t too different from general beard maintenance, but there are several considerations to bear in mind. Following are some useful tips on how to groom, hydrate, soften, cleanse and exfoliate your summer beard to keep it healthy, clean and handsome.
5 Tips on How to Maintain a Beard During Summer Months
1. Keep It Trimmed… or Not
Tips on how to maintain a beard must include a reference to trimming. Trimming your beard might seem to defeat the purpose of growing it. However, trimming is more like pruning. It gives your beard a clean silhouette for work and special occasions and trains it to grow uniformly. There is some evidence that pruning even encourages your hair to grow more quickly and fully, rather like pruning a bush.
To properly trim your beard, you need the following items:
- Comb or brush.
- High-quality beard trimmer or clippers with beard attachments.
- Barber shears (for detailing).
- Beard moisturizer or oil.
Comb out your entire beard from your top lip to your Adam’s apple. Untangle the hairs and get them all to lay in roughly the same direction to facilitate smooth trimming. To give your beard a professionally looking trim, be sure to fade it. There are two possible ways to fade your beard.
Start with the hair above the dimple in your chin, using a beard guard of 3 or 4. As you work your way down to your neck, lower the number of the beard guard to gradually fade the hair. Conversely, you can begin trimming at your Adam’s apple with a lower beard guard number and raise the numbers as you progress toward your chin dimple and beyond.
Fading takes practice, so be patient with yourself. For your mustache, you should comb your mustache hairs to each side, and trim them on the desired setting. Comb your mustache hairs downward, and trim any overhangs. Address any strays using your handy barber shears.
Finish with an application of beard oil or moisturizer to prevent dryness and itching. Repeat this regimen as your beard grows, using higher beard guard numbers. You’re also welcome to trim your beard all the way down and rock a thick shadow for the summer. This is how to maintain a beard during busy, active summers when you don’t have much grooming time.
2. When H2O Met Your Beard
When deciding exactly how to maintain a beard, remember to stay hydrated. Hydrate your beard from the inside and the outside as best you can. Don’t see this as an excuse to linger at the pub or the craft ale house. At the same time, don’t stress too much about the types of fluids you guzzle. Water is preferable, naturally.
Optimal internal hydration improves the health of your skin and follicles, keeping them dewy, supple and functioning properly. Dehydration, which is quite common in summer, can result in dry, brittle hair that itches, breaks off and grows very slowly. Hydration is your most effective form of internal beard conditioning.
3. Soft Beards Are Happy Beards
Speaking of conditioning, choose between beard conditioners, moisturizers or oils for general, routine external hydration. There are standalone beard conditioners to choose from, such as Honest Amish Beard Balm or Scotch Porter’s Hydrate & Nourish Beard Conditioner.
For summer, look for ingredients that correspond to the warmer months or climates, like citrus, tropical fruits, berries, and greens. These ingredients tend to have tons of naturally astringent and cleansing properties, they’re usually lighter in consistency, and they often smell fresh and summery.
There are also moisturizers for both face and beard, such as this product from Stubble N’ ‘Stache. This moisturizer eliminates your need for two separate products. It is how to maintain a beard inexpensively during the summer.
4. Squeak Away for Sweet-Smelling Days
Cleansing is essential when considering how to maintain a beard. It is vital to year-round beard health, but it is an absolute must in the summer. Summertime and your unwashed beard add up to heat and humidity, excessive sweating, bacteria, dead skin cells, shed hair, dirt, itchiness, inflammation and horrid stench.
Cleanse your beard at least every other day to keep it fresh and squeaky. Generally, washing your beard too often can make it abrasive. Summer calls for a different regimen. If you’re outdoors daily and you sweat copiously, consider cleansing your beard daily.
Specialized cleansers, like beard washes and shampoos, remove debris and grime. Some even inadvertently exfoliate the skin under your beard hair. However, be sure to exfoliate on purpose.
5. Remember to Exfoliate Routinely
This is how to maintain a beard using exfoliation. Grab a toothbrush with medium hard bristles. Dip the toothbrush in your beard wash of choice. Moisturize your beard with warm water, or step into the shower. Work the toothbrush beneath and between your beard hairs, making certain there is contact between the toothbrush bristles and your skin.
Exfoliation removes dead skin cells and unclogs pores, exposing brand new skin underneath to the fresh air. Anecdotal evidence implies that properly, consistently exfoliated skin helps your beard to grow faster and more fully. In any case, cleaning the skin under your beard prevents infection and profoundly reduces the likelihood of beard stench.
Summing It Up
There are entire books on how to maintain a beard, but you don’t need to stress or worry about complicated grooming routines. If you’re wondering how to maintain a beard during summer, just perform the five most important steps on a regular basis: groom, hydrate, soften, cleanse and exfoliate.
Grooming keeps your beard manageable and trains it to grow downward and outward. Hydration prevents your beard from becoming brittle and breaking off, while conditioners, moisturizers, and oils ensure your beard remains soft, pliable and healthy. Cleansing washes away dirt and bacteria, and exfoliation removes dead skin cells. Each step contributes to a healthy, happy, full, clean beard during summer.
