🧔 Beard Care Basics: A Simple Weekly Routine

Your beard has grown in nicely, but it itches, drops flakes on your collar and looks like a hedge days after a trim. Nobody tells lads what a beard needs.

Here's a simple weekly routine to wash, condition, comb and trim it so it stays soft and tidy.

The letter

"Six months into my first proper beard and it still itches. White flakes on my work shirt by lunch. I trimmed it once with kitchen scissors straight after a shower and took way too much off one side. Do I need oil, balm, both? And how often should I trim it?" — Darragh, early shifts, Navan

Reading between the lines

Darragh, two bits of your letter give the game away. Itch and flakes point at the skin under the beard. And "straight after a shower" explains the short side. Wet hair hangs longer than dry hair.

Short version: look after the skin under the beard and trim it dry once a week. Oil every day, balm only if you want hold.

Wash gently, every day

Dermatologists at the American Academy of Dermatology say to wash your face and facial hair daily. Massage in a gentle, fragrance-free, non-comedogenic cleanser. Rinse, then pat dry. It's a beard, not a frying pan!

Oil goes on the skin, not just the hair

Oil is light and soaks in fast. Rub a few drops between your palms after the shower and push it down to the skin. The AAD says the same for moisturiser: damp skin, worked right through.

Hidden tip: flakes are dead skin, not hair. Stroke oil over the surface and the skin stays dry. Fingertips down to the roots, every time.

Balm is for shape

Balm is thicker, made with butters and wax. It holds down flyaways. On a short beard, oil alone is usually plenty. Long beards often get both, oil first.

Comb it, then hands off

Comb it while damp to untangle it. The AAD warns that stroking your beard moves dirt and germs onto your face. Yes, that habit too.

Trim once a week, dry

1. Clean and fully dry beard.
2. Comb it out.
3. Start with a longer guard and step down slowly. You can't stick it back on!
4. Neckline: two fingers above your Adam's apple. Everything below goes, curving up toward the ears.
5. A few drops of oil, because fresh-cut ends dry out.

Gillette says every five to seven days for short and medium beards. Weekly is grand.

Hidden tip: don't set the neckline on your jaw. I see it in the chair every week. It leaves the beard looking like it's floating.

In your shoes

• Oil every morning after the shower, into the skin.
• Kitchen scissors back in the drawer. Trim dry, guard on.
• Flakes still there after a few weeks? Ask a dermatologist.

For everyone else

Itchy or flaky beard? Start with the skin under it. And keep the letters coming.

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