Keeping your beard hair down and in check is all about your grooming routine. 

Regular trims might make things tidy, but what do you do in-between visits to the barber? 

From Lebron’s chin strap and Jason Momoa's unruly long beard, to the goatee frequented by Brad Pitt and the humble full beard Jake Gyllenhaal has been known to adorn – every man has their own style. 

But something a lot of men with manes share, is a desire to keep things in check. Rogue strands, upward curling and patches that grow sideways can be annoying and unsightly. However, you can make your beard behave with some basic grooming techniques.

So here are our tips to get a beard of length that grows down, not out. 

 

How to get your beard hair to grow downward

 

The average beard, when grown beyond a couple centimetres of stubble, will start to get some personality. 

It’ll go from flat and straight, to taking on some curl or outward twisting. As much as genetics will play a major role in determining the type of beard you can achieve and the level of curl, there are a few things you can do to help direct the beard hairs to grow or lie downward.

 

Tip 1: Using Heat

 

Women have been using heat to control or shape their hair for decades. Curlers, straighteners and hairdryers are weapons they’ve employed to impose their will on their follicles. For beards, when heat is applied it softens the hair, making it more pliable and easier to shape. Using a warm hairdryer, you can direct your beard hairs to lie straighter than normal.

How to keep your beard down with heat:

1. Wash your beard with a beard shampoo as usual.

2. Towel-dry your beard so that it remains slightly damp.

3. Using a beard comb, gently comb your beard in a downward direction while also applying warm air from the hairdryer. To avoid causing heat damage, hold the dryer at least 10cm away.

Note: This method is a short-term fix, as frequent heat can lead to dry and brittle hairs. It’s good as a once a week fix to tidy things up.

Tip 2: Using Products

Just like hair products for your head, there are great styling and grooming products for your chin. Applying beard butter and combing is a safe and effective daily routine to help train your beard while styling it too.

How to keep your beard down with products:

Wash and dry your beard. Use shampoo and conditioner 1 to 3 times a week and on other days rinse thoroughly with water.

1. Apply a small amount of beard butter, gently working it through your beard, making sure to cover hairs from root to tip.

2. Use a beard brush or comb to evenly distribute the butter and style your beard downwards. Always move the comb in a gentle downward direction. 

 

 

This can be done daily, ideally at night so the beard butter can deeply condition overnight. 

As a morning routine, apply some beard oil and/or balm and then gently comb downward. The oil will moisturise, promote healthy growth and reduce itchiness, while the balm will help lock the hair in place, helping to encourage that downward growth.

 

Keep Beard Edges Clean

 

Achieving a masterpiece isn’t always possible. Sometimes, no matter how much grooming, applying of product and sculpting you do, you’ll still have some hairs that can’t be tamed. 

In these cases, a little trim will not only help stimulate healthy growth and keep your beard looking neat, but it stops those fly aways from encouraging other hairs to grow outwards. This happens when the ‘trainable’ hairs become entwined with the rebels going sideways, and then those otherwise straighter follicles grow outwards too. 

Another reason for the occasional trim of the sides is that it accentuates the middle, giving emphasis to the length of the downward growing hairs.

 

When it comes to keeping beard hair down, length matters

 

With some things in life, length really does matter. In the case of getting your beard to grow down, starting when it’s short will give you a head start on keeping the hairs headed in the desired direction. Once you’re at full length, the hairs will be less tameable. That said, gravity is then in your favour. So, if you’ve been regularly combing from the early days and using butters and balms for styling, your beard will be straighter than otherwise.

 

How genetics affect how your beard hair grows

 

Everyone has different beard hair and your ability to train your facial hair to stay down will be impacted greatly by genetics. 

Some are born with genes that will see them having a thick, very curly beard that no matter how much work you do, girth takes precedence over length. While others will have naturally straighter follicles that make keeping the beard hair down a lot easier. The key is to embrace the beard hair you’ve been given and find a style that suits you.