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#Beardstr tips:

Having a well groomed beard is the difference between looking like a gentleman and looking like a bum.

Every morning before you leave the house you should wash+dry+oil+brush it.

Once it grows out to near the size you want, you should start trimming it weekly. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube on how to do this properly. Don't trim it more often than once a week or less often than every two weeks.

Also carry a small comb in your pocket so that you can tame it throughout the day.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

I'm going for a goatee-shenandoah style - mainly because that's mostly what grows on my face, apart from my mo, which i hate, so I just shave it. I like how it shows off my face but makes a nice frame around it. Plus I always thought that some of those old presidents with them looked sweet.

Keeping a brush handy is a good plan, as is the oiling thing, I'm gonna look into that, my first instinct is to go for olive oil, but maybe you can correct me about that. My goatee tends to want to go the wrong direction on one side, and generally get a little crazy, so taming that would be a great thing for my vanity.

I want to also report that I just got one of these fancy 5 blade things, I think it's really just 4 and a trimmer blade edge on the top, but I've noticed this before using these fancy razors, for the parts you want to make naked, there is nothing better. Everything just goes smooth. Something for my fellow Shenandoah fans.

Honestly though, I want to get a proper straight razor and a strop and master making razor sharp edges on it. I've got basic skills at blade sharpening but getting the shaving sharp edge is elusive at the best of times, without expensive multi-density diamond rods, those are the best.

Incidentally, this is a clear case in which vanity is not a bad thing. My mother always used to berate me about not having "enough pride in myself" and I think she was right. There's nothing as confidence boosting as looking in a reflection and liking what you see.

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Discussion

Fiat Shenanigans 🤡🌎 2y ago

For oil, I prefer using beard balms that have a high beeswax content. They have better hold then using oil alone.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

beeswax eh? I wonder if cacao fat also works well? It's actually more rigid and it's more glossy. So is beef dripping, the two are almost the same.

Fiat Shenanigans 🤡🌎 2y ago

Any thick natural oil is sufficient. Using it daily will keep the hair soft and groomable.

One thing I forgot to mention is that you should never allow oil stripping face scrubs to touch your beard. They'll leave hair dry and damaged.

I use face scrub on the upper half of my face as well as my ears and neck, because I have oily skin and even at 38 years old I'm still prone to a little acne from time to time. But I rinse it quickly so it doesn't harm my beard hair.

I actually use a good quality shampoo and conditioner to wash my beard.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

yeah, funny you mention, i've just discovered my hair is in much nicer condition with a lauryl sulphate style thing but with oils added. I'm gonna cook up my own blend including either beef dripping or cacao in small quantities, and maybe a little olive oil to soften those up and make them penetrate well. Alkaline soap is literally damaging to hair, in particular, but it's not that bad, over time it just makes it fray at the ends.

Fiat Shenanigans 🤡🌎 2y ago

Consider adding johoba oil to that blend. It's great for hair.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

yeah, it seems to me the ideal is something with high and low density and not so much in between, a wax, and a light oil, and no middle viscosity. The hard oils give you gloss and stiffness, and the light oils give flexibility. Its surprising how much difference these kinds of things can make.

to be honest the thought occurred to use light oil, like, barely heavier than kerosene, mineral oil.

The fats naturally in skin are great but the composition of those fats depends on what you eat. That's partly why beef and chocolate make you look younger and smoother. They have stearic acid in them, which is a very rigid, glossy fat. I'm not sure what low density oils are suitable. Honestly it seems to me like something that is nearly volatile would work best, just something that adds a little flexibility to the waxes to stop them cracking off the surface of the hairs.

ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴍʟᴇᴋᴜ 2y ago

ah yes, i know a combo that might work perfectly. Orange oil and beef dripping. Or cacao butter.

I know that for sure Shea Butter is amazing in soaps for the skin. By the way, you can reduce the complexity of the work of maintenance by using a soap that naturally leaves the perfect residue. Probably, speaking of light oily substances, glycerine isn't a bad thing to have in the mix too, and honey, sugars are very drying though, they clean amazingly but strip the fuck out of fats. Glycerol is a bit more gentle. The sugars also are more prone to changing a lot with the humidity.