If you want to maintain a healthy, stylish beard, you’ll need to brush it properly. Brushing the beard comes with tons of benefits, as it stimulates blood flow and encourages the chin skin to moisturize the hair to keep it shiny and well-groomed.
However, the proper beard brushing direction remains a mystery to some guys. So in which direction should you brush your beard?
As a rule of thumb, you need to brush your beard towards your chin. This means that the area under the mouth is brushed downwards while the cheeks are also brushed downwards but towards the inside.
If you want to find out more about beard brushing and how to do it properly, keep on reading this brief guide!
What Is the Best Direction to Brush Your Beard?
The best way to brush your beard is by starting from underneath the chin and brushing your neck area upwards towards your chin tip. This move will help in separating the tangled hairs and give your beard an extra sense of fullness.
The cheeks area should be combed downwards and towards the chin as well. This goes with the direction in which the hair grows and gives your beard a cleaner look with fewer stray hairs. The area beneath the mouth is also brushed straight downwards.
As for the mustache, you should use a comb rather than a brush. However, the combing/brushing direction should be downwards or slightly to the side if you want to style your mustache and make it stand out.
If you want your mustache to blend in with the beard, brushing it downwards should do the trick just fine.
There are plenty of reasons why I think brushing your beards towards the chin is the best way possible.
For starters, it’s one of the easiest rules of thumbs out there “just follow the chin”, so it makes it pretty easy to do it consistently. Additionally, in most cases, your hair grain will grow in the direction of the chin.
Moreover, the way your beard looks after brushing it that way gives a clean outline with minimal stray hairs that looks neat on a wide range of face types and shapes.
It also adds volume to your hair with a balanced appearance that gives the impression of a thicker beard.
When Should You Brush Your Beard?
This is one of the most popular misconceptions about beard brushing. Even if you only have stubble brushing your beard will still provide you with various benefits.
This is because brushing the beard area also exfoliates the skin and stimulates more blood to reach your beard hair follicles.
It also encourages the hairs to grow thicker and also encourages glands to moisturize the hair naturally. Moreover, brushing distributes the moisture all over your beard and keeps your beard clean and fresh.
The only difference between brushing a thick beard or stubble is that you brush it more gently as your hairs are shorter.
Also, brushing the beard is a very good practice to maintain a healthy beard, but doing it very little or too much can have adverse or undesired effects.
Ideally, you need to brush your beard once every 1 to 3 days. If you take too long between beard brushing sessions, your hair will get tangled and you’re going to hit so many painful snags as you do it.
However, too much of a good thing will reverse its effects, so you should never brush your beard more than once a day.
If you do it so much, you might notice a problem of split ends as well as skin irritation from excessive friction, so moderation is the key to such a healthy practice.
What Is the Best Time of Day to Brush a Beard?
I usually brush my beard every morning because it helps in creating a routine that I can stick by. However, Just about any time of the day can be a good time to brush your beard.
For that reason, I recommend that you also brush your beard in the morning. This way, you’ll enjoy a neat and well groomed beard all day.
Also, it’s usually a good practice to brush your beard after showering and applying beard oil. This way, you’ll help in spreading the oil properly across the beard and enjoy a shiny and clean looking beard all day long!
Does Beard Brushing Improve Its Growth Rate?
The answer to this question depends mainly on your situation. While beard brushing in itself won’t speed up your beard growth or make your patchy beard thicker, the practice still has a few tricks up its sleeve!
Brushing the beard can help it indirectly to grow if the growth rate is already hindered by the lack of nutrition and proper blood supply to the beard. However, if you already have a healthy growth rate based on your genetics, brushing the beard wouldn’t do much to help it.
Also, when you brush your beard regularly, you may create an effect of a thicker looking beard that gives the impression that the rate of growth has improved.
Should You Brush Your Beard While It’s Wet or Dry?
Throughout my experience with beard grooming and after contacting various experts in the field, it’s best to brush your beard or even comb it when it’s dry.
This is because, chemically speaking, the bonds that hold the keratin and cuticle are affected by water. In other words, your hair is at its weakest when it’s wet. And since you’re going to pass through tangles and knots that need clearing, putting extra pressure on the hairs, in that case, will cause damage and increased hair loss.
However, if you still prefer the convenience of brushing wet hair, you can use beard oil instead. Since it has little to no water content in it, it doesn’t weaken the hair as you brush it.
Are Beard Brushes Better Than Combs?
The choice between a beard brush and a beard comb is mainly down to your personal preferences, as you can use either of them to keep your beard neatly groomed.
In fact, using a combination of both (starting with brushing and following up with combing) is my favorite way to style the beard and clear any knots along the way. Luckily, there are plenty of beard brushes and combs on the market that you can consider.
However, If I get to pick one as my top recommendation, I’d go for the ZilberHaar Major 2 in 1 Hair and Beard Brush. Both the comb and the brush are made with high quality materials and come at a very reasonable price.
Wrap Up
Brushing your beard is an integral part of your beard care routine. The ideal way to brush your beard is towards your chin, preferably after showering and applying beard oil.
However, if you don’t want to shell out a lot of cash in order to buy premium beard oils, here’s a brilliant way to make your own beard oil at home and save a lot of money while rocking a majestic beard!