Beard Wash Guide: Benefits, Essentials & Steps

Fact: your face can be home to bacteria, dead skin cells, and other unwanted debris. Washing your beard—especially with the help of a beard and face wash—helps remove all that bad stuff, as well as oils that build up after time. What that means for your face is that a simple habit can help prevent the occurrence of ingrown hairs and irritated skin following your shave, and a smelly beard.

If that first reason wasn’t enough for you, washing your beard will also help with the overall look. With the right process and products, you can help protect your face against dry, flaky skin, razor bumps, and redness. A cleaner beard is also generally easier to shape and style.

A good beard wash should help your natural oils hydrate your beard without looking greasy. This keeps your beard growing strong while looking fuller and healthier and keeping the skin underneath hydrated too.

Bottom line: keeping your beard clean is an all-around good idea. However, the method, product, and frequency matters. Let’s dive into that.

A beard wash is a mix of a cleanser and a conditioner. It should help your skin feel clean, light, and refreshed, while also helping the facial hair feel soft and smooth. That means the best beard care products usually contain nourishing ingredients like shea butter and aloe, as well as healthy oils like argan and jojoba oil. Harsh chemicals commonly found in regular hair shampoos can actually dry out your beard and irritate your skin.

Beard wash is great at preventing your beard from smelling bad, but you’ll also want to make sure you like the new way it smells. Consider different scents and your preferences. Our King C. Gillette Beard and Face Wash blends coconut water with our signature scent: citrus, ginger, pepper, mint, geranium bourbon, lavender, and Tonka bean. Alternatively, if you have sensitive skin, you might want a beard wash that’s fragrance-free instead.

It’s hard to keep a habit going if it’s tough to keep up. As beard washes have increased in popularity, so have the diversity of products. It’s important to find the right one for you and your routine. An easy pump bottle you can keep beside your other toiletries is usually a solid option.

Dryness is often caused by washing your beard too frequently or using harsh shampoos. Use a mild beard shampoo and massage in beard oil regularly. Products containing jojoba or argan oil help retain moisture.

Yes! If you wash your beard with shampoo too often, you strip it of valuable oils that keep it soft and manageable. The best solution: Wash it with shampoo 2-3 times a week but rinse it with water daily.

After washing, gently pat your beard dry, then massage in a small amount of beard oil or balm. Style with a brush or comb – and your well-groomed look is complete!