As we enter into the year 2020, this New Year's celebration marks the beginning of a new decade and the ideal opportunity to make bad beard habits a thing of the past. It's time to look back at your beard faux pas' and step into the future burlier and bolder than ever.
Zeus Beard is here to help snip away scraggly ends and teach you how to best improve your beard health. With tips on cleanliness and tricks on style, your beard will soon be the envy of the decade.
New Year's resolutions to break bad beard habits in 2020
Check out these five New Year's resolutions to leave your bad beard habits in 2019 and step into the new decade with your best beard forward.
1. Look but don't touch.
While running your fingers through your beard may feel nice, in reality you're massaging your sensitive facial hairs with every stairwell and dirty surface you touched throughout the day. In addition to just being flat out gross, this bad habit can also make you sick.
As the CDC explains, human hands can carry germs like E. coli and cause an array of diarrhea and respiratory infections when they come into contact with a person's eyes, nose or mouth. The CDC emphasizes the importance of hand-washing before touching your face to prevent germs from spreading.
However, even clean hands can damage a healthy beard. Constantly pulling at your beard can lead to fallout and thinning ends. It's best to limit the time you touch your beard by saving it for the shower and when applying gentle beard products.
2. Ditch the damaging products.
One of the quickest ways to dry out your beard is to make the mistake of using shampoo intended for the hair on your head on your beard instead. The purpose of hair shampoo is to clean your hair by washing away excess sebum oil that makes it look greasy.
On the other hand, your beard doesn't have all that excess oil and can't afford to have its moisture stripped away. Beard shampoo focuses on cleaning your beard without leaving it dehydrated.
However, not all beard shampoos are treated equal. It's best to seek beard shampoos that use gentle ingredients and avoid harmful chemicals and parabens, which can harm hormone function and cause cancer. Zeus Beard shampoo uses natural ingredients like green tea and chamomile to avoid irritation.
3. Avoid heat.
Heat is often used to style hair because it helps mold unruly strands into a desired shape. However, heat on your beard can lead to damage and discoloration over time.
Instead of reaching for a blow dryer or heated styling tool, focus on maintaining your beard's moisture by shaping it with a beard balm or oil. Beard balm is useful if you are looking for a waxier substance to keep your beard in its place, while oil is helpful at taming scraggly strands and adding a silkiness to your beard.
Unfortunately, styling tools aren't the only time your beard comes in contact with harmful heat. This also means one of your New Year's resolutions should be to cut down the hot showers. Steamy water may feel great on cold, sore muscles during winter but your beard will soon feel as brittle as the bare trees outside.
4. Care about your collection of tools.
Above, you already learned how simply using your hands as a styling tool isn't going to cut it and will likely just make you sick. Also similar to the shampoo situation, combs and brushes designed for your hair will likely harm your beard or prove ineffective.
When attempting to put your best beard forward, it is important to care about your collection of tools. With budding beards that are still new, sensitive skin and hair is a concern. It is best to use a boar bristle brush with soft bristles on short or thin beards.
On the other hand, long or thick beards often need a brush that can penetrate the beard more deeply. In this case, a firm bristle brush is the better option to work through tangled tresses. Check out this guide to learn more about which beard brush is right for you.
5. Remember the details.
Sometimes, beard growth isn't the issue in your bad beard habits. Forgetting the small details can take your beard from looking powerful to messy and unkempt.
When you consider your beard's appearance, don't just think about the hair on your face. Both the skin underneath your beard and your neckline are also important to delivering your intended look.
Beard conditioners that include ingredients like green tea, Pro-vitamin B5 and avocado oil help to fight off acne and flaky patches and leave the skin underneath your beard looking supple. When it comes to your neckline, shaping tools are useful at keeping the edges looking sharp and defined instead of forgotten.
Final tips for beard success in 2020
Following the New Year's resolutions above will help you battle bad beard habits you had in the past. However, it's also important to remember that good beard health comes with good overall health. All the tips, tricks and tools in your arsenal rely on you applying these lessons to the rest of your routine.As we step into the new year, remember a healthy diet and exercise routine can elevate you from barely-there hair to luscious locks and a healthy facial glow. Stepping into 2020 with the right mindset and structure will help you achieve your beard goals.
