How To Train Your Beard: 5 Top Techniques and Tools

Athletes get trained, teachers get trained, politicians get trained, and even journalists get trained. Did you know that beards can be trained too? You’ve seen men with beards that appear immaculate. Beards that match their style so well yet look so natural at the same time.

Most of the time, those beards were not the product of natural growth at all. Those men have the right tools, proper techniques, and patience to train their beards. If you properly train a beard in the way it should go, it will not depart from it. It just takes the tools, techniques, and patience that these other men have.

Training your beard makes for some attractive facial hair. Whether you're trying to grow a full, thick beard or simply want to maintain the beard you already have, a consistent routine will make all the difference. The tools and techniques we’re here to show you will cover washing it, combing it, oiling it, brushing it, blow drying it, trimming it, and shaping it.

Some of these grooming habits should appear more often than others, but all are essential for getting the beard of your dreams. As we walk through all the relevant knowledge necessary to your developing grooming habits, it's essential to establish a regular grooming routine for your beard.

Consistency is key, alongside patience and dedication. These three remain the core values of getting your best beard no matter the circumstance, so forget what you think you know. We’ve done all the research so that you don’t have to. Everything you need is right here.

Five Top Techniques and Their Tools

To give you all this information in the most efficient way possible, we’ve laid it out in an order that makes for the perfect beard care routine. You can follow this guide step-by-step and accomplish everything necessary to train a beard in a healthy and hearty way.

A regular grooming routine like this means washing your beard with a beard-specific shampoo or conditioner. Then, detangle it with a beard comb, evenly spreading beard oil throughout your facial hair with a beard brush to keep it moisturized. Add balm to the mix to prevent it from becoming dry and brittle when (if) you blow dry it. Lastly, use a trimmer to shape your beard.

While it may take some time and effort to train your beard, the results will be well worth it. 

1. Wash It, Comb It

Before you do anything else, take some time to wash away the dirt, grime, and debris in your beard. This will make the entire rest of the process substantially easier: A clean beard is a healthy beard. Additionally, use the proper techniques and products when washing your beard to avoid stripping your skin and facial hair of their natural oils.

1. First, rinse your facial hair with lukewarm water to get it damp. 
2. Grab a Shampoo & Conditioner when washing your beard and lather it into your beard.
3. You can wash the beard itself like you would wash the hair on your head. But when washing skin beneath your beard, grab a clean rag and use a circular motion across your beard. 
4. Rinse with cold water for a nice, refreshing finish.
5. Then grab a beard comb and work it through your mane from bottom to top. This helps untangle any knots that form.

If you take care of your beard, it will take care of you, so take some time to clear away the sweat and debris from whatever hard work you were in the midst of that day.

2. Oil It, Brush It

Training your beard with beard oil and a beard brush will keep it looking healthy, moisturized, and well-groomed.

Here are some tips for using these tools to train your beard:

1. Take a small amount of Cedar Beard Oil, depending on the size of your beard, and apply it to your face after washing it and gently patting it dry.
2. Use a Boar Bristle Beard Brush to distribute the oil evenly throughout your beard. Brush your beard, starting at the roots and working your way to the tips.
3. Check for any missed spots and reapply oil to those areas.

Remember to brush throughout the day to keep the oils evenly distributed and your beard groomed. Brushing with oil allows you to train your beard while protecting it.

3. Balm It, Brush It Again

This technique is similar to the previous one, but instead of oil, we are applying beard balm. Beard balm is not only a strong styling agent for training your beard, but it will also protect the blow dryer in the next step. 

1. Apply a small dollop of balm to your beard after evenly brushing out the oil. A little bit of balm goes a long way, so don’t overdo it. It’s not hair gel. 
2. Take the brush again and use it to evenly distribute the balm from root to tip. 
3. Check for any missed spots and reapply balm to those areas.

This technique is fairly straightforward, but remember not to overuse balm since that can start to clog your pores and get your grooming tools gunky. The balm is critical because it makes the beard hairs more pliable while also keeping them where you leave them.

4. Comb It, Blow Dry It

A blow dryer can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Never turn it on high heat, and know that even medium heat is dangerous. Low power is also preferable, though high power is more effective.

Here is a guide for the blow dryer technique:

1. Make sure your Folding Beard Comb is dry (since you used it on your wet beard earlier). Once again, untangle any knots that occurred when applying the oil and balm. The comb has a better reach into your beard, making it well-suited for this job.
2. With your blow dryer on low heat and low power (though medium heat and high power are also acceptable), begin blow-drying your beard hair in the direction you want it trained. Hold the blow dryer at least five inches away from your beard to avoid damaging it.
3. Grab the comb again and comb out your beard as you see fit while blow-drying it. The comb can help bend and direct hairs in the direction you desire.

This process can be time-consuming depending on your beard size, but it is probably the most effective in shaping your beard without trimming anything.

5. Trim It, Shape It

While all the previous steps deal with bending your beard's hair to train them, this step focuses more on the final touches to get your beard exactly how you want it. After all the toil, you will still have bits of hair sticking out or rebelling against your touch.

1. Choose the right tools. To trim and shape your beard, you'll need a beard trimmer or Beard Trimming Scissors, a beard comb, and a mirror. A beard trimmer allows you to achieve a precise, even trim, while scissors can be useful for shaping and trimming specific areas of your beard.
2. Know what you want. Before you take sharp objects to your face, know what you want. You can always trim something shorter, but once it’s gone, it’s gone.
3. Start with the long beard hair and gradually trim it down. This will allow you to make small, incremental changes and avoid cutting off too much of your beard at once.
4. The comb is great for getting an even trim and shape wherever you want. Use a mirror to get different angles on the cut.

The Art of the Beard

This is the technique where patience is probably the most important, so take your time, and eventually, you’ll get the hair exactly where you want it. Training your beard, in general, takes time — sometimes weeks. But eventually, you’ll have the beard everyone else is gawking at.

Sources:

How Your Shower Routine May Affect Your Health | UCI

Face washing 101 | AAD

Heat-Damaged Hair: How to Repair It Without a Haircut | Healthline