Dealing with curly beard hair can often feel like both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you naturally have a masculine, full style that often makes your straighter-strand friends and patchy pals jealous. On the other hand, you also face issues like deep tangles, knots, frizz, and breakage more regularly than those without such luscious locks.
While these facts prove true, there are various styling solutions you can explore beyond chopping off your curls or trying to force your curly beard hair straight. Thick hair and curls just require some extra TLC and a bit of careful navigating among tools in the hair care market.
Here at Zeus Beard, we hope to make your curly care process easier. To help you out, we broke down which products and tools can harm your hair and how acetate beard picks and certain techniques can revamp your curly beard hair routine.
Products to limit using or avoid on curly beard hair
Your curly hair is glorious but also sensitive. With that said, certain products are better than others when it comes to treating and styling your curly beard hair.
From heating tools to rough towels and fine-tooth combs, not all hair tools are designed for proper curl upkeep. Instead, they are best used sparingly on thick or curly hair types or not at all. When you're deciding what to use on your beard, here are some of the products to limit using or avoid:
Heating tools
You may have heard the common notion that heat helps train stubborn beard hairs into place. However, it's also very easy to improperly use heat. Rather than your desired tamed mane, mismanaged heat can quickly lead to awkward straightened sections, split ends and breakage.
Instead of reaching for a blow dryer or straightener, consider grabbing some beard oil and a trusty brush or comb to style your curly beard hair instead. Both boar bristle brushes and acetate combs provide better options for taming curls and distributing oil than heat does. While heat dries out your beard ends, oil delivers much-needed moisture back to your beard.
If you feel that you absolutely must use heat, it's better to choose your blow dryer over a straightener. After all, when you are using heat, you should aim to avoid direct contact and continuously keep the hot air moving along the hair. In addition, it's also best to apply a heat protectant like a beard oil or beard balm before applying heat and to use the lowest setting on your blow dryer with a diffuser to avoid frying.
Rough towels
At this point in your life, it's likely just second nature to use a bath towel to dry off after a shower. However, while the towel may feel soft to the touch, the average bath towel is still too abrasive on your sensitive curls. Moreover, using the wrong towel will undo any useful conditioning processes you did on your beard in the shower and leave you with a dry hairy heap on your face instead.Next time you shower, reach for a plain cotton t-shirt in place of a textured towel when you get out. This gentler alternative fights off frizz and keeps your curls in tact without appearing scraggly.
Fine-tooth combs
When you have thick curly hair, fine-tooth combs are not your friend. On straight thin hair types, fine-tooth combs can glide through bumps and slight tangles. However, curly thick hair types need stronger combs that won't snag or get stuck.
The best combs to use on curly or thick hair types are wide-tooth combs made from horn or acetate. Horn combs contain keratin, a moisturizing protein your hair creates naturally, while acetate combs come from plant cellulose and work to detangle and minimize static.
What is acetate and how does it tame curly beard hair?
The pure plant cellulose material in acetate naturally minimizes static build-up, which prevents your beard from breaking or becoming frizzy. Its organic makeup also makes the picks durable, flexible and strong, the ideal combination for long, textured or thick beards.
At the same time, Zeus Beard acetate picks are ideally designed for painless detangling. This makes them unlike fine-tooth plastic combs that snag and create split ends. Reversely, Zeus acetate picks are crafted with wide-set rounded teeth and offer an extended handle to make working out even the deepest knots easy. Its thoughtful construction allows smooth gliding and stays gentle on curly beard hair and the sensitive skin under your beard.
Finally, acetate picks maintain the structure of your curls. While other combs deplete curls and leave behind a wavy aftermath, acetate keeps beard curls looking fluffy and full.
How do I use an acetate pick on my beard?
Unlike a traditional comb, using a pick on your curly beard hair will help to maintain its texture and fullness instead of training it straight. While a boar bristle brush is great for dry styling, combs are gentler than brushes and can be used on both dry and damp hair.However, it's important not to pull a comb through a fully wet beard. When you first get out of the shower, your wet beard is at its most susceptible point. During this stage, it needs to be handled gently because even combs can cause breakage if the beard is too wet.
Reversely, your beard can also be too dry to begin the picking process. If this is the case, it's best to run a beard oil or balm through your strands beforehand. This helps return moisture and allows the comb to glide easily through curly hair, finding a happy medium.
