Re: Best products for your beard

From world bearding champ, Madison Rowley...

[www.mensjournal.com]

I admit it, I'm terrible when it comes to pampering my beard with special products.
My main factor way back when in deciding to grow a beard was that I was sick,
sick, sick of shaving every day. I remember it took me seven minutes, from start
to finish, to shave. I thought that there just had to be a better way -- and alas,
growing a beard was the solution.

So with that, I didn't want to turn around and then tack on time with beard
maintenance. I felt that would be defeating the purpose. For years now, my
beard "maintenance" consists of washing my face and beard while in the
shower with whatever bar soap I happen to be using. Then, after rising, I
shampoo my head hair and beard with a bar shampoo and rinse. Once out of
the shower, I comb the head hair and beard with a wide-tooth comb. I let them
both air dry.

After breakfast and before I leave for work, my head hair and beard have pretty
much dried, so I then comb my head hair and beard with a brush ... and that's it.
Super easy. Super fast. Because essentially, I'm not really doing anything
special for my beard at all. It gets pretty much the same treatment as my head
hair.

Do you put special care into the pampering of your beard, TwoBear? You have
a competition-level quality of a beard, so I'm assuming you do or must to bring
out the best in it.

Actually, Gym, my routine is not all that different from yours. I usually wash my hair and beard in the shower with a natural castile soap. Sometimes I use whatever shampoo my partner has in the bathroom just for a change, and some days I just rinse my beard with water. Once in a while I use a bit of conditioner on my beard - either regular conditioner for hair or a beard conditioner I got at Wallgreens. (Frankly, I don't notice much difference and won't spend the extra money for the beard conditioner again.) I towel dry and then use a detangling brush on my beard and that's pretty much it. I do use beard oil occasionally, but not every day.

As for being competition quality, I think I'm pretty much done with the beard contests for now. I'm pretty much decided that this is as good as my beard is going to get and I'm happy with it. I don't need to prove anything to myself or anyone else, and I always feel so out of my element at those contests. At least that's how I feel right now... we'll see what happens in the future.

When taking care of a beard I personally have found that using a beard oil everyday has really helped my beard come in very nice. I started using it as a way to deal with beard dandruff in the winter but it has turned out being great even in the summer months when it is not as necessary. My beard started growing in more full and was able to stay softer even during those pesky stubble periods after a reset shave. I must say using products on your beard takes it to the next level when it comes to looking good. My Girlfriend loves it.

I would recommend at least looking at it. I hate using review sites but I did find find the one I use from Beard Blog. I use the Honest Amish beard balm and created my own beard oil using a similar recipe to theirs.