Taming The Scruff

What shampoo and conditioners do you use on your beards. I need to find something to make my chin mitten softer.
Right now my wife says it's like a brillo pad.

Geodome - I find that using regular hair shampoo and conditioner does the trick. My 5 month old beard is nice and soft shampooing and conditioning every other day.

Hey mcpacker - fancy seeing you here. LOL

swinghammer wrote:Geodome - I find that using regular hair shampoo and conditioner does the trick. My 5 month old beard is nice and soft shampooing and conditioning every other day.

Thanks. Great advice swinghammer. I've been using regular bar soap.
It's been very coarse. I'll give it a go every other day and report my findings in about a week.

Geodome wrote:

swinghammer wrote:Geodome - I find that using regular hair shampoo and conditioner does the trick. My 5 month old beard is nice and soft shampooing and conditioning every other day.

Thanks. Great advice swinghammer. I've been using regular bar soap.
It's been very coarse. I'll give it a go every other day and report my findings in about a week.

Been using bar soap. Not a good idea.
Even an inexpensive store brand shampoo and conditioner will help soften it.

I use shaving oil on my beard. Just a drop. Work it in well. Does a good job softening it up. Baby oil also works.

I use a product called Lion's Mane: Organic Beard Foaming Wash.
This wash has a powerhouse combination of 3 oils: coconut, olive and jojoba -- all organic. That's supplemented by organic aloe vera -- and rosemary extract which has traditionally been used in folk medicine to grow hair but is better known for revitalizing hair follicles and as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Organic Aloe Vera: Softens and soothes the beard and the skin.
Saponified organic oils of coconut, olive, and jojoba: Great powerhouse combination for dandruff handling and facial hair styling.
Rosemary Extract: Revitalizes hair follicles and fights flaky scalp and itchiness.

I was given a big bottle of Crew moisturizing shampoo that I wash my beard with then to condition it I bought some Aussie conditioner. When I run out I'm going to try some of the shampoos made for beards.

American Crew Tea Tree styling cream is another good product.

Geodome wrote:What shampoo and conditioners do you use on your beards. I need to find something to make my chin mitten softer.
Right now my wife says it's like a brillo pad.

What about time? If you let the hairs get longer they act less and less like porcupine quills and more and more like real hair.


The Holy Grail of this would be a trimmer that somehow cuts hairs at an angle instead of straight across so that the freshly cut hairs would taper to a point instead of being cut off like a tree stump.

Thardus wrote:
The Holy Grail of this would be a trimmer that somehow cuts hairs at an angle instead of straight across so that the freshly cut hairs would taper to a point instead of being cut off like a tree stump.

What you say makes so much sense. With all the technology out there, why hasn't this angle-cut trimmer been invented? I'm giving you the patent on this.

Not an easy task, but you can angle cut with a scissors.

Celsius wrote:Not an easy task, but you can angle cut with a scissors.

Electrics wreck havoc on my beard. I trim mine with scissors.

Been using Mane 'n Tail Shampoo & Conditioner on my facial fuzz.
There are two formulas. I wouldn't suggest using the horse variety.

I was thinking, SJP who endorses lots of hair care products, would make the perfect spokeswoman for Mane 'n Tail.

Yes, she is horse-like. But so what? That doesn't mean she's a bad person. Or a bad actress. In fact, she's a pretty darn good actress if you asked me. Still, being cursed with that omnipresent chin mole must weigh on her mind. I once bumped into Ms. Parker at a Manhattan Starbucks in the West Village. She looked sad. I said to her, "Why the long face?"

You're getting way off track with this topic.
Any store brand shampoo & condtioner will do the job.

Herbal Essence Shampoo & Conditioner is what I've been using as of late.

Thardus wrote:What about time? If you let the hairs get longer they act less and less like porcupine quills and more and more like real hair.

Quite true. That makes a lot of sense.

And think of the money you'll be saving. Most hair care products are way to over-priced.

Skully wrote:

Thardus wrote:What about time? If you let the hairs get longer they act less and less like porcupine quills and more and more like real hair.

Quite true. That makes a lot of sense.

And think of the money you'll be saving. Most hair care products are way to over-priced.

Most guys cut their beards way too short, some are so short I don't even know why they bother with it.

Thardus wrote:
Most guys cut their beards way too short, some are so short I don't even know why they bother with it.

What's even worse than a short beard, is the guy that sports a permanent 5 0'clock shadow.

Skully wrote:

Thardus wrote:
Most guys cut their beards way too short, some are so short I don't even know why they bother with it.

What's even worse than a short beard, is the guy that sports a permanent 5 0'clock shadow.

True, and the funny thing to me is that the 5:00 shadow stage is the worst stage of a beard. It feels like sandpaper and really makes patchy places and density differences stand out. I guess if you're lucky enough to have a thick beard then it can be pulled off, but if you're got a beard that good why screw it up? And even if you do, the look is barely darker than smooth shaved skin, so unless you genetically have a crisp beard line or no visible shadow when shaved it's always going to look kinda sloppy.

The really strange thing is the popularity of the look. Women generally dislike beards yet seem to tolerate or even like this look. Why? The usual complaint woman have is that beards are scratchy, so if that's the case why would they ever tolerate the stubble? I think women, in general, have just conditioned themselves into believing males are just broken females and therefore hate beards because beards are masculine.

Thardus wrote:the 5:00 shadow stage is barely darker than smooth shaved skin, so unless you genetically have a crisp beard line or no visible shadow when shaved it's always going to look kinda sloppy.

The really strange thing is the popularity of the look. Women generally dislike beards yet seem to tolerate or even like this look. Why?

Why? 'Cause Hollywood finds stubble beards acceptable.

An example of this is Patrick Dempsey and his beard or non-beard.

BladeRunner wrote:

Thardus wrote:the 5:00 shadow stage is barely darker than smooth shaved skin, so unless you genetically have a crisp beard line or no visible shadow when shaved it's always going to look kinda sloppy.

The really strange thing is the popularity of the look. Women generally dislike beards yet seem to tolerate or even like this look. Why?

Why? 'Cause Hollywood finds stubble beards acceptable.

An example of this is Patrick Dempsey and his beard or non-beard.

It's a sad statement about our times, but the truth is when Hollywood commands most people obey. That rule is especially true for women. This might sound like a little bit of a generalization, but do they ever think for themselves? Nah... that wasn't a generalization at all!

But back to the beard, or dirty face or whatever that is. Like I said, that guy looks like he could grow a kickass beard, but his stubble still looks sloppy, patchy and messy. I know from having a shaved head that the worst part about it is when i skip a day and my scalp feels like sandpaper. It will feel that way for days until one day it suddenly becomes soft like actual hair. I couldn't imagine how annoying it would be to permanently trim my beard to stubble length because I touch my face a lot. I don't touch my scalp all that much yet I do enough that I know I hate the sandpaper effect. Either grow a beard or don't, this stubble thing just doesn't make sense to me.

My wife has been bugging me about my beard for months, so I caved in and trimmed my beard into a goatee late Tuesday night. Dudes, as soon as I woke up Wednesday morning and peered at my naked face, I was feeling remorse. So now my wife has to live with a guy with stubble and scraggle for the next three weeks.

Marco wrote:My wife has been bugging me about my beard for months, so I caved in and trimmed my beard into a goatee late Tuesday night. Dudes, as soon as I woke up Wednesday morning and peered at my naked face, I was feeling remorse. So now my wife has to live with a guy with stubble and scraggle for the next three weeks.

That's ashame because you have one damn fine looking beard growing there. One thing I found with beards and bald heads is that not only do you need to have the thick density everyone needs for a good beard, but the shape of the head is now just as important. I have so-so density, and I could pull off a passable beard but only if I wasn't bald. On me, a beard just does't look right with my bald head because it just isn't shaped for that. Yours looks great on both counts. It's a damn shame that so many women have been sucked into the popculture view that masculinity is bad and that men should look as much like females (i.e. popculture's preferred gender) as possible.

The goatee probably looked great on you as well, but I'm surprised that your wife would approve of a goatee but not a beard considering that a goatee is basically the central core of the beard.

Thardus wrote:The goatee probably looked great on you as well, but I'm surprised that your wife would approve of a goatee but not a beard considering that a goatee is basically the central core of the beard.

It did look good. I trimmed the goatee down to a #3 on my trimmer. Very MOR and more youthful, but I just didn't feel like my true self without my full beard. Once I started re-growing my beard I trimmed the goat to a #1, so it looked like a beard in the making. Right now my beard is still in the scratchy scruffy phase....and I'm still fumin' about my reckless decision.