"Hard to Build Easy to Destroy". This saying is true when it comes to your beard as well.



Lack of attention or knowledge, busy life, or just a force of habit. If you adopt some bad beard habits, it won't be too long before they will affect your beard's health and look. Patchy spots, split ends, dry and brittle beard, itchiness and more. You'll probably suffer from one or more of these symptoms. Being aware to these bad habits will make it easier to avoid them and cultivate good beard habits.

1. Pulling At Your Beard

Picking or pulling at your beard can cause hair loss and bald spots or holes in your beard. It can really ruin your beard, imagine how you'd look with a hole in your beard. This can ruin all the hard work you put into growing it. Depends where that hole is, sometimes the only solution is shaving off that area or the entire beard and growing it back. There are few reasons why pulling at your beard can be so damaging. When you're picking at your beard, you're actually pulling out individual hairs, even if you're doing it gently and slowly, there's a gradual damage to the hair which makes it weak and it just falls off. You might think that losing one hair is not a big deal, and that's true, we're losing hairs naturally every day. The problem starts when it becomes a routine, some even do it unconsciously. What's even worse is that usually it's in the same area, so you're constantly losing hairs in the same area, the result is a bald spot.

How to Stop ?

Becoming aware of you picking at your beard it is the first step. If you're doing it unconsciously then it can be a bit difficult. Analyze your behavior to figure out when you're pulling at your beard and what triggers it. Here are some common scenarios:

While reading, watching TV or any other activities?

When you're nervous, concentrated or bored?

While working on the computer?

If you catch yourself pulling at your beard, you need to stop it and do something else with your hands:

Sit on your hands or put them in your pocket

carry a beard comb or a brush with you at all times - brushing your beard will better than picking at it

Get a piece of paper and start drawing

Get a hand gripper or a squeeze ball - It's healthy

Make a deal with a friend to pay them a dollar every time you pick at your beard

2. Plucking Beard Hairs

Hate those grey or white hairs that are starting to pop? My advice is, embrace them with love. Plucking those hairs won't do you any good. why? Plucking beard hairs may cause irritation, infections and ingrown hairs. It gets even worse, you need to pluck those ingrown hairs, which can again cause the same issues. It's a vicious cycle.

3. Stroking Your Beard

Stroking a beard feels great. Some people even pay money to stroke a stranger's beard. Stroking your beard gently doesn't do any harm really, the problem starts with your hands, which are usually dirty, full of bacteria or oily. Think about the stuff your hands are touching during the day. When you stroke your beard with dirty hands all that dirt and oil gets onto your beard and skin. It can cause acne or make beardruff worse. If you know your hands are not clean, you should refrain from stroking your beard. If you just love stroking it, at least make sure your hands are clean. Use a soap, lukewarm water for at least 30 seconds.

4. Not Moisturizing Your Beard

Moisturizing your beard is one of the most important things you can do. I've already said that at least for me, beard oil is the most important product out there. Failing to keep your beard and the skin underneath moisturized and hydrated will make it dry, itchy and brittle. Here are some of good things that will happen once you start moisturizing your beard:

Say goodbye to beard itch

No more beardruff

Soft and manageable beard

Your skin and beard will look and feel healthy. When you're not moisturizing your beard you're not letting your beard look at it's finest, instead you get a bad looking scruff. Of course that there there's much more you can do. But let's start with the basics. Make a promise to yourself: Apply beard oil daily.

5. Using Hair Shampoo for Your Beard

Are you saying to yourself 'what the heck', and just wash your beard with your hair shampoo? BIG mistake! Hair care products usually contain chemicals that are bad for your skin and beard. You see, these products are designed to work on the scalp which is far more resilient than your face skin. This is why using these products on your beard will only make things worse. You should use a beard shampoo or beard soap, they are all natural, contain essential oils and other natural ingredients that won't strip the natural oils from your facial hair, will nurture and soften your beard, eliminate beard itch and beardruff and will keep your beard clean. Don't go crazy with washing your beard, 1-2 times a week is enough. Washing your beard on a daily basis is not recommended.

6. Using a Hair Brush for Your Beard

Borrowing your girlfriend's brush?

Using that 1$ comb from the drugstore? Undo and delete! If you take a close look on a hair brush you'll see that every bristle is of the same length. Which means that those bristles won't reach the short hairs in your beard. Such a brush won't distribute oils evenly through your beard and won't do a good job cleaning your beard from dust and dead skin cells. A beard brush is a totally different story, the bristles are cut in different lengths to make sure not a single hair is missed. It will distribute oils evenly throughout your beard and will untangle, tame and soften your beard. Boar hair brushes are the most popular. Same goes for cheap combs. Avoid them! Cheap combs have tiny jagged edges which will snag and pull your hair. This can cause damage to your beard. Wooden combs are the most popular. Bottom line: Get a beard comb or brush, nothing else.

7. Bad Neckline Shaping

Your neckline outlines the bottom portion of your beard and face. Getting it wrong can make things look weird. You want the neckline to look natural, not hard and sculpted. Also remember to shave or trim your neck beard and make sure it's clean. Use the two-finger rule to determine where your natural neckline should end. Put two fingers near the top of your Adam’s apple. The top of your index finger indicates where your neckline should end. Move it up or down a little if it doesn’t look quite right.

8. Blow Drying Your Beard the Wrong Way

When done correctly blow drying your beard is a great way to style your beard. However, when done incorrectly you can really damage your beard. The key phrase here is 'Heat Damage'. On one hand heat makes it much easier to style hair, the science is here. On the other hand, too much heat damages hair, beard or head hair it doesn't matter. It will dry your beard, make it brittle or even change its color. The same is true for a hair straightener. You should avoid applying too much heat on your beard.