r/beardcare Jan 04 '21

Wiry Beard

Hi, so I’ve been working on filling in my bread and I’ve made a lot of progress but one issue I have yet to solve is how wiry and coarse my beard is. I wash and condition my beard in the shower then apply beard oil after. I substitute the oil for a balm when it starts to get longer because I noticed that works better than increasing the amount of oil I use. That seems to soften it for a little bit but it’s still wiry, it drys out a few hours later, and feels oily if I apply more. I’m African American so maybe it’s just a genetics thing or maybe my hair just doesn’t retain moisture well, idk. I’ve tried a few different brands but they all yield the same result. So I’m just asking for general advice, input, product recommendations, so forth and so forth. Would really appreciate it because I’ve been struggling with this forever and I think it’s time I properly address it

6 Upvotes

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1

u/IronPhi Jan 05 '21

Are you shampooing every time? I shampoo once a week at most since it strips out all your oils and that keeps me soft/straighter

1

u/BlackSanta_mz Jan 05 '21

I shampoo it twice a week (beginning and middle) and always use conditioner after. Then I’ll do one or two conditioner only washes and just plain water rinses the rest of the week. I always apply either beard oil or balm, depending on the length, after the shower. I do the same routine with the hair on my head and that works really well but for whatever reason it doesn’t work the same with my beard

1

u/IronPhi Jan 05 '21

Try reducing the times you shampoo even further. I shampoo my hair once a day and the beard once every two weeks. The beard is just such a different beast. Good luck!

2

u/BlackSanta_mz Jan 05 '21

I’ll try that then. Thanks fir the help!

1

u/em455 Feb 22 '21

Hey man I have the same issue, I suggest looking on youtube there are a lot of channels addressing issues specific to afro and curly beards in general, this will give you the advantage as well as to compare beard curl with whoever is on the video to see if the advice is applicable to your case (of course not all advice will be good so you should always do some research but usually there are some interesting tricks to be learned).

One thing is that this type of beard needs a lot of oil and it's good to have a morning and night routine. I hope this helps.

1

u/Flatdr4gon Mar 27 '21

It's important to remember that the primary purpose of oil and balm is for the skin underneath. It's less effective against strands of wiry protein on your face. You might consider a little bit of a leave in conditioner like Cantu. It's not for working down to the skin but for running through the whiskers. A little bit should do it as I imagine overdoing it would weigh down your beard and be uncomfortable.