Are you wanting to deal with you beard split ends?
The technical term?
You and I probably know the term more commonly as “split ends”.
However, you and I know the term much better as “split ends”.
A truly heartbreaking affair for any beardsmen who experiences one. You can be right on track for a darn great beard and then a bit of neglect here a bit of lacklustre care there and before you know it you’ve got bits of literally beard fuzz hanging around your beard.
And trust me, it’s hard to feel the same way about growing beards anymore.
You don’t need us to tell you, that it just ain’t a great look fella.
All that said, it’s actually a pretty common beard issue especially for those who are starting grow out a longer and longer beard. There’s a couple of things that you can do to prevent it (and if you keep a pretty decent beard grooming regime, you’ll be doing them anyway.
But first, let’s answer why you get beard split ends in the first place:
They are pretty much a case of your beard hair getting damaged in some way, whether it be through constantly touching your beard (referred to as mechanical stress), can be through using bad products (harsh chemicals and the like) or just being way too dry.
If you have had the split ends for a while you can see they start to tear up into numerous different strands - and wills tart to fracture all the way down to the very root in some cases. The result? Your beard looks fuzzy and combing it? You might as well forget about it.
So back to how we can prevent it from occurring (and if you do have a fuzzy beard - we’ll let you know how to fix it in just a second).
Like we said, it’s pretty easy to care of.
Your first step (and one you’ve already taken) is getting a mighty fine bottle of some top rated beard oil that you can apply daily (the Outlaw Bay Rum scented one we have is the one that currently seems to by my go to from the bathroom cabinet), this will help to properly nourish and hydrate the beard. Twice a day for those who feel like it seems to go dry towards the end of the day.
Massage it in thoroughly, then use a comb or a brush to help distribute the oils right around the beard and if you use the latter it shown to help potentially stimulate beard growth. Then if you are particularly concerned we recommend using a beard moisturiser as well this gives hold and locks the moisture into the beard. Don’t go too heavy with the beard oil in the morning if you plan on using this as well though.
Then of course you want o be also avoiding situations where you can potentially dry out your beard unnecessarily. We don’t think you should be going over the top investing in an umbrella for when it is sunny out to give your beard some shade, but don’t do unnecessary things.
Blow drying your beard (instead, give it a nice gentle pat down).
Using a straightening iron on it (instead, see or guide here on how to straighten it naturally).
Showering in red hot temperatures (instead, just turn it out down a nozzle or two).
Also, avoid washing your beard with bad hair chemical products. Don’t do it too often either. We recommend about once or twice a week at max with a proper beard wash, shampoo or soap. If you want washed in between use the co-washing method (using a beard conditioner). Then make sure you top that up with a beard oil. You want to be avoiding chemicals that are harsh on your beard that can cause damage.
If you’ve managed to keep this up.
First off, props.
You should have a pretty darn soft and good looking beard by now. At this stage? You’re going to be tempted to touch, stroke and play with it.
And to be fair, you’ve somewhat earned it - however remember what we said above - about touching your beard, it can cause mechanical stress and increase the likelihood of beard split ends occurring. If you can, keep it a bare minimum. It’s sounds easy, a thousand times harder to actually execute.
So that’s how to prevent it.
However, what if the beard split have already started to occur?
Now there are products that claim to help you repair them but frankly we don’t have much trust in them (but if you do find otherwise please do let us know) - for now we’re pretty sceptical. There are treatments out there that claim to work such as hot oil treatment (again not something we’ve tried out), again though pretty sceptical.
Unfortunately, the only real way is to literally just snip them off.
It’s basically a case of getting hold of a decent pair of proper beard scissors (and not the paper ones you found in the kitchen drawer that will likely cause more issues than it is actually solving), get yourself in front of a mirror and start to prune them. It’s a lot of work, so split it up in to different days. You want to be snipping a couple of millimeters above where you see the split starting to occur.
Identify them off one by one. Unless you go all out with a beard trimmer, chances are though you are going to lose a lot of beard to this and write it off as a mistake you won’t make again for the next bearding growth process.
Is there anything we can help your beard with?
If you are having any troubles with your beard with it being as simple as an insistent itch that won’t go away or something more serious like the beard split ends that we talked about above.
And you’re just after some advice on the best way to proceed and take it from here?
https://www.robinhoodbeardco.co.uk/pages/get-in-touch
Then please just get in touch with us here and we’ll see what we can do to help you out. We’ve literally helped hundreds of beardsmen out of difficult situations.
Let’s see if we can help you out too.
Let us know how you get on with fixing your beard slipt ends too.