How to Get Your Beard to Lay Flat and Not Stick Out

Author:

A beard-grooming enthusiast who writes about beard products, styling and other related facial hair trivia who also sports a beardstache.

Stop Your Beard Hairs Sticking Out and Get Them to Lay Flat

When you first start growing out a beard, everything is reasonably organised. Sure you might go through a slight itchy phase and a bit of a patchy beard, but on the whole, everything is neat and organised — besides there is not that much there to actually look after. However, when you start getting around the two month mark, you will find your beard starts to get a bit of out of control.

If your beard is particularly unruly, you’re going to have bits of your facial scruff stick out in every direction but the way you want it to go. That’s what this guide is going to be about — how to get your beard to lay flat and prevent it from sticking out everywhere (and give an overall darker beard look that looks fuller and neater).

Beard Grooming Products You Need

Firstly, we are going to cover your beard grooming arsenal and potentially what you might actually need to combat this. If you haven’t already got the following, I recommend you look into potentially purchasing them from a top-quality beard brand.

These are products are specifically designed to help keep your beard in top condition. In the same way that you might use argan oil for your hair or a conditioner, there are products out there that help to tame your beard and keep it healthy and strong (not to mention smelling great as well):

Beard Oil

Beard oil is pretty much your staple go-to product, it’s a concoction of carrier oils (that do the most good for your beard) such as coconut oil and argan oil as well as essential oils (that provide the scent). This is what you should be using day-in-day-out regardless of the state of your beard, whether you are 1 day in our 1001 days into growing your beard. It keeps the skin fresh, the beard hairs healthy, not to mention they offer come in a variety of gorgeous scents.

Beard Balm

This is also a conditioning product, very much like beard oil, however, is the ‘solid version’ — it’s basically a mixture of butters and waxes in addition to the essential and carrier oils. So it is great for your beard hairs as well as the foundation of your beard (your skin) but it also provides a bit of hold to the beard. This gives you somewhat of a styling capability.

Note: Using beard balm itself might well be the answer to help you to stop your beard sticking out and getting it to lay flat. This will only really work for those who have got quite a tame beard though and is only slightly unruly — where just a bit of help is needed.

Beard Styling Products

Now if we take the analogy of your hair again, like you get hair clays and hair pastes to style your hair. You also get beard products that are meant specifically to help how they look as well. The key with these products is that they often a high wax content along with a range of butter, this is what’s going to help give you the hold to help your beard lay flat.

Beard Styling Balms

Like we mentioned before, however, these beard styling balms usually have a much higher content of wax and butter content and can be used somewhat as a paste. This ensures that it is not only good for your beard but also helps you to style up your beard.

If your bead is quite unruly, this is the one you want to be going for. This where most beards will fall into.

Beard Wax

The clue is in the name, but a beard wax is majorly made up of wax and has a very high level of hold. They should be only really used for the most serious beards that are struggling to stay down. The reason being is that they tend to be quite discomforting for the beard and can feel somewhat greasy, so usually, try to avoid this.

Steps to Get Your Beard to Lay Flat

Follow these five steps to keep beard hairs from sticking out:

Wash your beard
Apply beard oil
Comb your beard
Apply beard styling balm
Shape with a beard brush

How to Get Your Beard to Lay Flat

1. Wash Your Beard

Ok now you have you got everything you need. It is firstly time to hop in the shower and give your beard a wash. Make sure the water isn’t too hot (as this can potentially damage the beard by drying it) but at a luke warm temperature and that you wash the beard with a ‘beard friendly’ conditioner (usually not the same stuff that you used for your head) and certianly not a standard shampoo.

Still Got Beard Hairs Sticking Out?

Ok, you can take it a step further. However, this poses potential risk and damage to your beard, so you have to be incredibly careful as to how you go about straightening your beard.

You will need to invest in a beard straightener (basically a short hair straightener). The reason why this isn’t mentioned in the tools above is that in the long run they can be potentially harmful to your beard. You are applying a lot of heat to it, which can in turn, sap out the natural oil that resides in your beard, causing the hairs to go brittle and in turn weak and scraggly.

However, using it the correct way can help to achieve your flat beard (and is particularly useful for those wanting to get dressed up or might even have a beard competition coming up). Invest in some heat protection spray as well as getting a straightener that has heat insulation pads too.

The way you want to approach is much like before but the final step before adding any products is using the straightener. As soon as you are done with the straighteners, your beard will be crying out for some moisture — so be sure to add some beard oil with a comb straight after.

Please see the instructional video guide above to get more of an idea of what you can do to keep your beard laying flat and prevent hairs from sticking out.

Does Your Beard Need a Trim?

Failing this, it could simply be the case that your beard is due a trim. Head down to your local beard barber (who you trust with your beard) and get it a proper trim down. Then this will then give you the framework to maintain yourself for a while. Then use the beard styling balm to help you keep it under control.

If you are looking for a beard styling balm to try out, I would certainly recommend the range that Beardbrand offers in their white, silver and gold line (old money, certainly goes down as a personal favorite).

Then once that it is no longer working after a while, it will be time for you to revisit the barber (unless you are confident enough for yourself to sort out). Let us know how you are getting on with your beard and if you have any questions on how to keep your beard hairs from sticking out, please make them below.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.