So you'd like to know how to get rid of dandruff in your beard?
It's a pain, no doubt about it, you work hard to achieve a beard your proud of and you don't see yourself ever shaving it off. Then you are hit with an obstacle such as beardruff (beard dandruff) and you are left questioning yourself as too whether you should shave your beard off or not.
Thankfully, If your beard is flaking, we are going to give you some options which should help you get rid of beard dandruff.
For those who are not 100% sure what beard dandruff is, it is white flakes in your beard caused by dry, flaky skin under the beard.
No one likes to suffer from dandruff, it isn't exactly a confidence booster and what makes it worse is the fact it can be a pain to treat. However, one thing to note is that you are not alone, many men suffer from dandruff and have a daily battle with it.
But know that there is hope that you'll be able to beat it. We have put together this guide for your benefit and you'll find many tips on how to beat beard dandruff.
Before fighting this irritating problem, we should know exactly what we are fighting first, so we can equip ourselves with the proper knowledge we need to beat it.
What Is Beard Dandruff? What Causes It?
Firstly we need to note that beard dandruff is no different to scalp dandruff.
Some research has suggested that half of the male population on the planet suffers from dandruff, whether its head dandruff, beard dandruff and so on.
Seborrheic dermatitis is its scientific name, which makes it kind of sound worse really.
The more common way to spot beard dandruff is by flaky skin under your beard, which leads to white skin flakes in your beard. Other symptoms could be an itchy beard or a beard rash.
There are two main causes of dandruff, they would be, dry skin or a fungal infection. These two causes are the same causes for beard dandruff.
Fungal Infection
Malassezia globose is a microbe which actually feeds on your skins natural oil which is called sebum, when it feeds on sebum, it turns it into oleic acid.
Our skin can be sensitive when it comes in contact with oleic acid, which causes irritation to our skin, which causes us discomfort, like itchiness and rashes, which makes the skin cells flake off.
Dry Skin
When we use regular head shampoos to clean our beard or wash our beard in hot water or put anything with harsh chemicals on our beard, the end result is a dry beard. The chemicals strip our natural oils from the skin under our beards which causes dry and flaky skin.
So now we have looked into what the two main causes of beard dandruff are, now it is time to guide you on how to beat beard dandruff.
How To Get Rid Of Beard Dandruff
Beard Shampoo
The first step you can take in your goal of beating beard dandruff is by using a shampoo. This is the same way you'd go about beating dandruff on your scalp however, there is a slight difference of the product you'd use.
Head and Shoulders shampoo is commonly used to beat the dandruff on your head, but Head and Shoulders isn't actually beneficial to use on your man mane, so don't be running to the shops for that shampoo.
You should look for a shampoo that is actually designed for your beard. Let's dig a little deeper into the differences between a normal store-bought shampoo and a beard shampoo.
Shampoos and washes that are designed for your beard do not possess any harsh chemicals that are found in head hair shampoos. Head hair shampoos contain chemicals which are known to remove oils from your head hair as your scalp produces a lot of natural oil.
Dryness is a common problem under your man mane therefore, using a shampoo designed for your head on your beard will break down and strip your facial hair and skin of any natural oils, which are extremely important for your beards health.
This is one of most common mistakes bearded gentlemen make. Shampoos designed for your beard, wash your beard without stripping any of the natural oils and moisture, in fact many beard washes supply your beard with more nourishment.
High quality beard shampoos and washes are designed to remove dirt and dead skin cells which cause irritation, beard itch and beard dandruff. However, the bonus is that a beard wash doesn't strip any of the natural oils, leaving your beard healthy and not dry.
We would recommend any shampoo that contains Ketoconazole as this anti-fungal agent helps to kill the Malassezia fungus.
Shampooing your beard is pretty simple, just wet your beard using water, whether in the shower or over your sink, simply apply a little amount of beard wash or shampoo into your hand.
The good thing i like about a quality beard wash or shampoo is you only need a little bit of product to get a decent lather.
Simply massage the beard shampoo into your beard using your fingers, make sure to pay special attention to the skin under your beard.
Don't apply the beard shampoo in only one direction, make sure you give your beard a really good scrub in all directions as we want the product to cover every millimeter of your beard and skin.
Once you have massaged the beard shampoo into your beard properly, you can rinse the shampoo out using lukewarm water. Once rinsed thoroughly, towel dry your beard and skin properly and you are done.
Tip: You don't have to wash your beard with shampoo daily, however, if you are suffering badly from beard dandruff, I would suggest to use it daily until it starts to ease.
The reason I suggest you shouldn't wash your beard daily with a shampoo unless your beard dandruff is bad, is that you want to be careful of removing the natural oils from your beard and the skin underneath.
Shampooing or using a beard wash 2 or 3 times weekly should be enough.
We Recommend Nizoral Anti-Dandruff Shampoo For Beard Dandruff.
Condition Your Beard Using A Beard Oil
Every bearded man should have a quality beard oil in his beard grooming arsenal. Regardless of whether you suffer from beard dandruff. A quality beard oil is your and your beards best friend for many reasons, especially for hydration purposes.
A quality all-natural beard oil will help treat and prevent your beard from itchiness and helps towards preventing beardruff.
Beard oil is one of the best treatments for beard dandruff. The overall best treatment for beard dandruff remains unknown.
A beard will naturally make the skin beneath your beard dryer due to when your facial hair grows, it pulls the skins natural oil along with it, leaving not much moisture left on the skin, which is why a quality beard oil is important as they are designed to act as a natural oil for the skin, keeping it moisturised.
Many bearded men believe that a beard oil is for the beard hairs, yet that is not true...a beard oil is designed for the skin beneath your facial hairs.
Beard oils, quality ones anyway, contain only carrier and essential oils, that provide nourishment and promote softness to your skin.
Carrier oils actually help essential oils travel to the skin, while offering many benefits themselves.
Carrier oils are usually cold-pressed vegetables oils which derive from fatty parts of a plant.
The most common carrier oils which are used in beard oils are the following; jojoba oil, argan oil, avocado oil, coconut oil and tea tree oil along with many other quality oils.
Coconut oil is used because of its amazing anti-fungal properties, it contains lauric acid which aids in calming inflammation and coconut oil is used world-wide as a moisturizer.
Tea tree oil is a personally favourite carrier oil of mine due to its powerful anti-fungal and healing properties. Tea tree oil is great for the skin and hair and is used world-wide to aid in many different skin and hair conditions.
Essential oils do not provide the health benefits provided by carrier oils, but they do provide an amazing scent to your beard.
You are able to use beard oil daily, the minimum usage we would recommend is at least 3 times a week.
The best time we'd suggest that you use beard oil is straight after you have showered and towel dried your beard.
For best results and to get the best benefits of beard oil, we suggest you towel dry your beard until you beard is slightly damp and then use beard oil.
Do not apply beard oil straight onto a beard soaked with water.
You only need two or three drops per time of usage, due to the carrier oils, a little amount will go a long way.
We recommend Buck Ridge All-Natural Premium Beard Oil, it contains a great mix of healing and moisturizing properties that your beard and skin will love.
Use A Beard Brush
Brushing your facial hair makes your beard look great, but it is also great for exfoliating the skin beneath the beard.
This will help loosen them dead skin cells and bring them white flakes to the beard surface.
After you brush your beard, we suggest you wash your beard using a quality beard wash and lukewarm water in the shower or over a sink, as you will want to fully remove those white flakes from your beard.
When you brush your beard, we advise you use a brush designed for your beard and not just any brush you have lying around at home.
While brushing your beard can help exfoliate your skin under the beard to help with beard dandruff, they also have other benefits;
They help promote new hair growth. How come? Well the bristles of a beard brush will massage your skin under your beard, which naturally will increase blood flow to that area, which aids in beard growth.
They help combat beard dryness by distributing your skins natural oils across your beard evenly, which helps with dry itchiness.
They help you win the battle with knots and tangles in your beard, as well as loosening curls in your beard. After brushing your beard you also may find your beard looks fuller.
Our beards collect dirt, grime and other debris throughout our day, by brushing your beard, you will loosen and remove all these from your beard.
Please make sure if you have a brush or you are thinking of purchasing one, that you get a brush designed for your beard.
Their is a big difference between the hair on your face and hair on your head, therefore they should be treated completely different.
If you use a brush or plastic comb designed for your head on your facial hair, you could end up damaging your beard hair fibers, which will cause you discomfort.
Thankfully, you are not short of options when it comes to choosing a beard brush.
Some are made from natural bristles (our recommendation) and others made from synthetic bristles.
Why do we recommend natural bristles? Natural bristles, especially brushes made from boar's hair are far more gentle on your beard and they are better for dealing with tangles and knots.
Plastic combs and synthetic bristles can be a little more tough on your hair fibers.
A Beard brush will be helpful in the fight against beard dandruff, they will not fix the issues themselves, but they are helpful when partnered with the other tips in this guide.
Get A Quality Beard Balm
Beard balms just like beard oils are fantastic in your fight against beard dandruff and they should be two key products in your beard grooming arsenal.
In order to fight beard dandruff, we need to supply moisture to the skin, which acts like your skins natural oil sebum.
Beard balm is made from the same kind of ingredients like a beard oil therefore, beard balms contains oils that not only resemble sebum but provides great hydration qualities.
The reason we love beard balm and believe it to be a great product for your fight against beard dandruff is because they can be used as a leave in conditioner.
There is a huge amount of beard balms to choose from and many use some of the same ingredients as the foundation of the balm which are beeswax, shea butter and cocoa butter.
Beeswax is some strong stuff which is why bearded men use it to style and keep their facial hair in place.
Shea butter and cocoa butter have excellent hydration properties and supply goodness to your beard and the skin beneath. They also are what makes balm easily spreadable.
Balm is much more effective when used on longer beards. Shorter beards can benefit from it also, but the longer the beard, the more benefits you will reap from the product, especially in taming those stray hairs.
Both short beards and long beards can reap the hydration benefits that beard balm offers though, which is what you want when you are fighting beard dandruff.
We recommend Buck Ridge Premium Beard Balm as it contains a good amount of shea butter which will help add plenty of hydration to your beard and skin.
Beard Beasts hope this article on how to get rid of beard dandruff was helpful for you. Let us know in the comments what method helped you get rid of dandruff dandruff.
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