First things first: If you've come here because you've been hearing complaints about how unruly your beard's become—man, what? For real. Do you know how fortunate you are that you can grow enough facial hair to get a solid beard going in the first place? Don't take it for granted. I'd do dark and unspeakable things to get a beard as strong as yours, dude. Dark and unspeakable things. The fact that you need any of these products in the first place is a sign you should check your privilege.
It's not all men that are blessed with your follicular strength, and the potential to grow a great (and I mean great) beard is a terrible thing to waste. But growing a beard ain't simply about stopping shaving for a few weeks and going about your business like nothing's changed. Keeping that beard looking clean must now be your raison d'être, the first thing you think about before scrolling through the timeline for half an hour when you wake up in the morning and the last thing you think about after scrolling through the timeline for half an hour when you go to bed at night. Well, not exactly. But you definitely can't up and forget about it and expect people not to notice. (Hence the complaints.)
The good news is, keeping your beard in tip-top shape requires a few steps you're probably already familiar with–including brushing, conditioning, trimming, and washing– and a few products you'll likely recognize, too. Treat your beard with the same degree of devotion you'd show the hair on your head and you'll be more than fine. Here's how.
Wash It
You wouldn't use regular face soap on your hair, so it makes no sense to use it on your beard as well. They're both hair, and hair needs shampoo. Fortunately, there are plenty of great beard-specific shampoos out there that use special botanicals to help soften the hair and keep it from getting dried out. Just make sure that whatever you, use you like the smell of, since it's right there by your nose.
Condition It
Keeping your beard soft is the key to not wanting to shave it all off. A dry scratchy beard will be unbearable, and the way to avoid that is to use a beard conditioner. A good conditioner will moisturize your beard, and it will keep it healthy—two important factors in maintaining face comfort. A conditioner also has the added benefit of working almost like a styling gel, so you can keep that thing tame and not look like you just rolled in from eight years of living alone in the woods.
Oil It
Baseball mitts, butcher blocks, and beards. What do they all have in common? You need to oil them. While a conditioner does soften your beard, a good beard oil will soften it even further, plus has the added advantage of warding off the dreaded beard dandruff. No one wants to see a guy with a dusting of skin flakes down the front of his shirt after all. And perhaps the coup de grace of a good beard oil is that it will make your beard smell amazing. And since it never leaves your face, smelling amazing is a pretty sweet perk.
Trim It
The final piece of maintenance for your beard is that you need to occasionally trim it. Beard hair doesn't always grow evenly, plus, as it grows out, you're going to want to give it a little bit of shape. This is best done with a quality beard trimmer—one with a selection of attachments that you can use to keep from accidentally carving out giant bald spots if (or when) your hand slips.
