Whether you're growing your first beard or you've been bearded for decades, we have ALL made beard grooming mistakes, and boy are they painful!

So in an attempt to help you avoid making them, we put together the 10 most common mistakes made by Beardsmen all over the world.

1. Do NOT Apply Beard Oil to Your Beard

This is the #1 beard grooming mistake we see every day and we totally understand why.

Most other beard companies advise to simply rub beard oil through your beard, probably because they want to sell you more of it...

But applying beard oil to your beard only is not the right way to use it!

I know it sounds a little misleading...The name “Beard Oil” itself seems like it would imply you put the oil on your beard, right?

Unfortunately, not. Well not entirely anyway. The real benefits of beard oil come when you apply beard oil to the SKIN underneath your beard.

But Why Do I Need Beard Oil?

Your body produces “sebum” oil naturally to keep your skin moisturized and healthy. As you grow your beard out, it draws away the sebum oil and your body can’t produce enough to keep your skin moisturized. 

Beard dandruff, itchy irritated skin and unhealthy growth are all usually caused by dry skin. Applying beard oil to the beard hairs alone will NOT correct any of these issues. It will simply make your beard shiny (and smell good).

We recommend daily application of an all-natural beard oil under the beard, and directly onto the skin. This will keep your skin healthy and moisturized, which leads to healthier, better beard growth! 

Any excess oil can then be worked through the beard hairs, head hairs, or used on your body similar to a lotion.

2. Don’t Expect to Grow New Follicles

I hate to break it to you, but no beard growth pill, oil, wash, serum or whatever else will allow you to go to sleep with peach fuzz and wake up a wizard. It’s just not possible. 

The cold-hard-truth no one wants you to know is, NO products will help you grow new hair follicles.

That means if you have a spot on your cheek with no hairs at all, nothing will suddenly allow you to grow hairs there. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s just not gonna happen. 

However, a good beard growth vitamin can help you grow thicker, fuller, healthier hair in the follicles you do have, giving your beard a fuller appearance and a much faster growth rate.

If you are struggling with a patchy beard or thin spots, we recommend to let your beard grow out for a few months and see how it fills in. The added length will help cover some of those trouble areas and most men are surprised with how much fuller it looks as it grows out. 

Grow longer in areas to cover thin spots or gaps in your beard.

3. Don’t Trim Your Beard When it’s Wet 

Beard trimming may be the most difficult aspects of having a beard, and one of the most common trimming mistakes we see is trimming your beard when it’s wet. 

When your beard is wet, or even damp, the water straightens out your beard hairs causing it to be longer than normal. As it fully dries, your beard will shorten slightly and settle into place where it will look on a daily basis.

It is critical you wait until it fully dries before you start trimming. Once it’s dry, we recommend you style your beard with whatever products you use, and comb it into place as you normally would. 

4. Proper Neck Line

Since we’re talking beard trimming, let’s cover where a proper neckline should and should not be shaved in. 

Defining your neckline is a great way to add shape to your beard and give your beard a much more groomed appearance. When you go to shave your neckline, you do NOT want it to be directly on your jawline. This is a very common mistake and it will make your beard appear extremely small and not proportionate to your face. 

With the jawline too high it gives the appearance of a much thinner beard.

We recommend you shave your beard in where your head connects to your neck. This line is typically just above the adams apple and shaving it here will give your beard a much fuller appearance at all lengths. As you grow your beard out, the additional neck hairs will help add fullness.  

A proper neckline gives your beard a much fuller appearance.

5. Proper Top Line 

Equally as important, and as often gone wrong, is the shaving of your top or cheek line. While some opt for an all-natural top line, many Beardsmen shave a top line to better define their beard. 

Unfortunately, we see too many men taking this line lower and lower every time they shave in an attempt to make sure they are perfectly matched. In doing so, your beard will quickly shrink and you could have a beard that resembles a chin strap.

We recommend keeping the top line as natural as possible. The idea here is to connect the sideburn to the mustache as high as possible. You want to shave this line in where the bulk of your beard hairs grow and shave only the few rogue hairs growing higher on the cheek. 

Here is a picture to show you a proper top line:

6. Trim Too Often

Often times, Beardsmen complain that their beards are growing too slow when the reality of it is that they are trimming too often in an attempt to cut every flyaway hair and keep it perfectly shaped at all times. 

We understand you want to keep it looking great and by no means do we think you should just put the trimmers down forever, but there is a happy medium. 

If you are trying to add length to your beard, we recommend growing without trimming for 90 days. If you have some wild hairs that sprout out of nowhere along the way (which happens) go ahead and trim those but don’t do any serious trimming. 

Once you get to 90 days it will be a good time to do a very slight shaping to even it out. If at this point you want it longer, repeat this process until you get to your desired length.

If you have any further about beard trimming, we cover everything you need to know in this article here: (link to cornerstone article) 

7. Avoid Plastic Combs

 A beard comb is an absolute necessity for your beard, but the wrong beard comb can actually do more harm than good. 

You need to avoid cheap plastic combs at all costs and here’s why. Plastic combs are made in giant molds where the plastic is poured into the mold, then dries and hardens. They are then snapped out of the mold leaving jagged imperfections in the teeth of the comb. 

Although some are hard to notice, these tiny imperfections actually can rip and cause damage to your beard hairs. In addition, the plastic actually causes static as you comb through your beard and will cause your beard to frizz out making it much more unruly than it should be.

There are many beard comb options on the market these days. We recommend going with a wood beard comb as they are anti-static and will best distribute your beard oil and beard butter. Comb your beard into place without causing damage, throw it in your pocket and keep your beard shaped and looking great all day long.

8. Avoid Bar Soaps / Body Washes

If you are washing your beard with the same soap as your body, STOP now! Those soaps were designed to wash the dirt away from a hard days work (or play), and they are much too harsh for your beard and your face.

The skin on your face is VERY different than the skin on your body. It is much thinner and can be damaged easily. Using a bar soap, body wash and even regular shampoo on your bead will dry out your skin causing itch, irritation, and unhealthy, slower beard growth.

We recommend you use an all-natural beard wash that is designed specifically for your face skin and beard hairs. A good quality beard wash will give you a deep cleanse without drying out your skin and beard which allows you to wash daily without damage.

If you don’t have a beard wash, the best alternative will be a regular shampoo but we suggest you only wash once a week to cause as little damage as possible and replenish the moisture with beard oil and beard butter.  

9. Stop Smoking

We all should know how terrible smoking is for you by now. But you may not know the serious effects it can have on your beard.  

Smoking has been proven to damage hair follicles and stunt hair growth. This means that smokers are way more likely to have patches, thin spots, and slow, unhealthy beard growth.

10. Compare Your Beard to Everyone Else

One of the worst things you can do as a Beardsman is constantly compare your beard to everyone else. Beard envy is a real thing, but it shouldn’t be something that you let affect your confidence in yourself. 

There will ALWAYS be “that guy” with a bigger, fuller beard. But even that guy has things he doesn’t like about his beard. You have a unique beard to you which is different from everyone else, and that’s one of the greatest things about having a beard!

Keep in mind that you are your own worst critic. Nobody else is staring at your beard as closely as you are. So own what you have with confidence and keep on growing! 

Final Thoughts

We really hope you found these 10 Beard Grooming Mistakes helpful, and by knowing they exist we hope you'll avoid them!

If you make an effort to avoid these common mistakes, we guarantee your beard will look, feel, and grow better than ever! 

Reach out anytime if there is any way we can help support you with your beard, or beyond.

Live Bearded, Brother!