We can all agree that well-groomed beards look masculine and admirable on black men. Behind the scenes are lots of hours spent on maintenance and unmatched discipline.
Beard care for black men requires a lot of attention. The beard’s curly, coarse texture and slow growth make beards for black men more challenging to groom and manage. However, well-groomed and maintained, it blooms into a thick, shiny, healthy mane that turns heads.
Black Men Beard Growth Tips
Sadly, there are no shortcuts or quick tricks to getting there. However, we’ve handpicked some valuable tips to help you grow and maintain your beard if you’re interested in black men’s beard grooming.
#1. Clean and Moisturize Your Beard Regularly
The skin underneath and beards themselves often collect germs, dust particles, bacteria, dirt, and other pollutants. If you don’t remove them regularly, they can clog your pores.
Clean your beard thoroughly as often as 2-3 times weekly or at least once per week. As mentioned earlier, make sure you use a high-quality beard shampoo so it can remove the dirt and a beard conditioner.
Moreover, keep your beard moisturized. Even though your skin produces oil, your beard hair needs more oil to stay moisturized. You don’t want a dry, flaky, and itchy beard.
After cleaning it, follow up with a natural moisturizing oil or beard balm to lock in the moisture. You will appreciate how moisturized and soft your beard will feel all day.
#2. Take Care of the Skin Underneath Your Beard
Probably the most ignored during beard care, the skin underneath the hair is a massive contributor to your beard’s health. Taking care of it assures you of positive growth results.
If left uncared for, the skin gets dry— this lack of care results in:
- Dry or flaky skin
- Beard dandruff
- Annoying itchiness.
To prevent this, take care of the facial skin by cleansing, exfoliating to open any clogged pores, and oiling it regularly. Even if you decide to shave your beard, you can expect soft, smooth skin if you’ve been taking care of it.
#3. Trimming Your Beard is Essential
I know you’re wondering how trimming a beard you’re trying to grow helps in any way. Trimming black men’s beards might seem a challenging task due to the thickness and coarse texture. However, leaving your curled facial hair for a long time can result in stray hairs and split ends.
Split ends are the damaged and oldest ends of your beard. They take up more nutrients that you would have used to grow more hair and nourish the healthy ones. Therefore, you should trim them regularly.
Additionally, trimming will help style your beard and make combing easier. Start trimming as soon as your beard starts to grow and take shape. You might want to invest in a beard trimmer and a pair of scissors.
Visiting your barber every fortnight or weekly can be costly. Additionally, there’s no better feeling than trimming your facial mane to your desired shape and style.
Face Shape Vs. Beard: Which Beard Style Is Best for You?
#4. Feeling Like Picking at Ingrown Hairs? Please Don’t
Black men have curly hair. After a shave, it can sometimes coil inwards into the skin. This occurrence often results in ingrown beard hair and razor bumps.
You’ll feel itchy, irritated, and even get tempted to pluck the ingrown hairs. However, no matter how itchy it feels, don’t pick at ingrown hairs. Plucking ingrown hairs can leave permanent scars.
People with dark skin often get inflammation and irritation, like the kind caused by ingrown hairs and razor bumps. Instead of plucking, consult an aesthetician or a dermatologist to have your ingrown hair removed safely. Additionally, if you’ve suffered razor burns, you should get them treated sooner than later.
Delaying the treatment can damage your hair follicles which will negatively affect the growth and health of your beard.
#5. Invest in a Beard Grooming Kit
A proper beard grooming kit is the most basic need for successful black men’s beard grooming efforts. You’ll need a kit consisting of beard products and tools made specifically for black men’s beards.
They include:
- Beard Shampoo and Conditioner: Shampoo made for beards will remove dirt and excess oils without stripping off the essential oils. Regular shampoo may dry out your beards and the skin underneath, leaving it flaky and brittle. Look for a beard conditioner too.
- Beard oil: A natural beard oil helps keep your beard and the underlying skin moisturized. Go for one that contains organic ingredients and apply it after a shower when your hair is still wet for easy combing and styling.
- Beard balm: In addition to acting as a leave-in conditioner, beard wax or balm helps shape and style your beard. Go for an organic balm that’ll help grow hair on the patches, moisturize, and prevent tangles and split ends.
- Beard comb and brush: While a beard comb helps you detangle your facial mane, a brush will help distribute oils all over your beard. Avoid plastic combs as they tend to pull on hair, thus damaging follicles. As for the beard brush, go for one with boar bristles.
If you can’t find a pre-made kit, make one yourself by purchasing a bathroom box and adding all the items to it.
#6. Use High-Quality Products Made Specifically for Beards
Using regular hair products on your beards is a common mistake. Additionally, some products marketed for beard use contain harsh chemicals that damage your strands.
They’ll irritate not only the skin but also block the pores. The nutrients will not adequately distribute, resulting in a negative growth effect.
Black hair and skin are usually sensitive. For this reason, natural or organic is always better. These will not have adverse effects on your beard and skin.
On the contrary, natural products contain ingredients that’ll moisturize and repair damaged hair and skin.
#7. You Are What You Eat
Want a healthy and growing beard? Make sure you eat right. If you’re doing all the above but still not getting your beard to grow right, you are most likely not eating the right food.
Obesity can reduce testosterone production. So, ensure you maintain an average body mass index. Some nutrients, such as zinc, help improve testosterone production. A healthy diet may help grow a more lustrous and healthier beard.
Include the following in your diet:
- Iron such as liver
- Foods high in zinc like chickpeas and nuts
- Fruits and vegetables high in vitamins A, B, C, D, and E
- Lean protein such as salmon and chicken
- Whole grains
- Healthy fats like those found in avocados
Including these foods in your diet will increase your probability of beard growth for sure.
Foods That’ll Help Your Hair Grow Faster
#8. Keep Hydrated
Water is life, even for beards. When you’re hydrated, there’s increased circulation and blood flow throughout the body, even the skin underneath the beard.
Hydration ensures your skin is getting all the necessary nutrients and, in extension, the beard. Your hair takes up essential nutrients for the growth and repair of damaged strands from the skin.
Additionally, this can help your skin heal quicker from skin problems and promote growth on beardless patches.
#9. Avoid Stress
Whatever you do, avoid stress if you want your beard to grow longer and healthier. How are stress and beard growth related?
According to a study, testosterone amounts reduce in response to stress and sleep reduction. When you are stressed, the body releases cortisol, the stress hormone, and limits testosterone production.
Testosterone primarily propels the growth of facial hair. That means its reduction will lead to slower growth. So, avoid stress for the sake of your beard. While at it, remember to sleep adequately.
#10. Hit the Gym
We have all heard about the massive benefits an active lifestyle and regular exercising have on our overall health. Have you ever thought of its benefits to beards?
Exercises, physical warm-ups, burning calories, and even sweating promote beard growth for black men. They increase testosterone production, which stimulates healthy hair follicles and, as a result, healthy hair.
Moreover, you also improve blood circulation when you work out. Nutrients can quickly get to your hair follicles and skin. So, hit the gym or set up a regular home workout session — anything to get your body sweating — then see how your beard will react.
Does Shaving make Your Beard Thicker?
#11. Patience is Key
Be patient with your beard. How long does it take to grow beard? On average, beard hair grows about ½ inch in a month. So don’t expect it to grow in a day even if you follow the above tips.
If you’re starting, you’ll need about six weeks to start seeing substantial progress in your beard growth journey. During this time, some areas may grow thick beard leaving patchy areas. You may also experience itchiness — it’s normal.
Fight through the itchy, patchy beard phase. After a few days, the itch will subside. Growing a beard does not happen overnight. Be patient with it, practice the above tips, and in a few weeks, you’ll start seeing results.
Wrapping Up
Black men’s beard grooming and growing aren’t easy. From coarse, curly hair to sensitive skin requiring unique products, most men often do it wrong.
Unfortunately, getting it wrong can affect your skin, growth, and health of your facial hair. Remember to clean your hair, moisturize, stay hydrated, avoid stress, and fight the urge to itch and pick on ingrown hairs.
While a proper diet won’t override genetics, it will help grow healthier and more lustrous hair. Keep in mind the above tips and watch your beard grow longer and healthier.