Hello, summer! This is the perfect season for outdoor adventures and fun in the sun. It’s also the time to make a few small changes to your beard care routine.

As the temperatures rise, a few things can happen to your facial hair. You start sweating more, which can lead to itchiness or flakiness under the beard. On humid days, your beard can get frizzy and unruly.

A lot of men shave off their beards in summer, but your facial hair can actually be quite useful! It helps to protect your skin from the sun’s harsh rays and it can also help you stay cool by trapping moisture near the skin.

Keeping your beard healthy, neat, and moisturized in the summer months is an art form. We’ve worked hard to perfect it here at Better Man Beard. Today, we’ll share our best summer beard care tips, so you can rock your facial hair all summer long.

1. Keep It Clean

You should wash your beard on a daily basis all year long, but this becomes especially pressing when summer rolls around. Choose a beard cleanser or shampoo that foams up lightly but isn’t too drying.

The best time to wash is in the evening, preferably in the shower. That way you can go to bed with both your beard and body nice and clean. But every man has his own schedule, so as long as you're washing your beard once a day, that’s what matters.

Wash your beard just as you would the hair on your head. Using your fingers, massage the cleanser in and let it foam up. Make sure to cover every section of your beard, and don’t forget to massage close to the skin. Once you’re done, rinse away all of that beard wash in cool or lukewarm water.

2. Use a Beard Oil at Night

With your beard all clean, it’s time to moisturize and nourish it. The ideal time to apply your beard oil is before you go to sleep. Quality beard oil will help to strengthen the hair shaft from both the inside and the outside, for a softer, smoother, more breakage-resistant beard. Make sure to also apply your beard oil to your skin to moisturize and protect it from getting flaky and itchy.

We prefer to use our Spruce Beard Oil in the summer. It’s made with a blend of argan, jojoba, grapeseed, and castor oils, which have a light texture that moisturizes well without feeling greasy. The spruce oil is cooling and relaxing, which feels wonderful on a hot night and also has a soothing effect on the skin.

3. Layer a Balm in the Morning

In the morning, reach for your beard balm instead of (or in addition to) beard oil. In addition to moisturizing and protecting your facial hair, a beard balm will also protect your beard from getting frizzy and messy even on very humid days.

The beeswax in beard balms has an intense taming ability, and it also prevents excess water from seeping into your facial hair, which causes the cuticle to swell and could lead to breakage.

In time for summer, we’ve released our new Franky T Beard Balm. It’s the same moisturizing, beard-protecting formula as our original balm, but with a masculine citrus scent. We’ve used tangerine and frankincense essential oils, which feel extra refreshing in summer and help with any heat-induced irritation and blemishes.

If you’d like to stick to a classic, our Original Beard Balm with stimulating rosemary and soothing lavender essential oils will also work.

4. Consider a Trim

Keeping your beard neatly trimmed is a great way of feeling a little more put together even when the heat is sweltering. There’s no need to go overboard or to even go short. Just trim your beard to get rid of scraggly ends and to make sure that the silhouette itself is even and powerful.

We have one important note, though: Always trim your beard when it’s dry - never wet. When your beard is wet, the hair shaft swells so your hair ends up hanging straighter and lower. You could easily end up over-trimming your beard or creating an awkward shape.

5. Comb Gently

Combing your beard is another great way to keep it looking neat, and it also has a few other benefits! Combing helps to distribute your beard oil more evenly, and it prevents tangles that lead to breakage.

We’ve designed our Better Man Beard Comb out of aromatic sandalwood with large, evenly-spaced teeth, so it’ll never tug on your facial hair or generate static electricity.

6. Find a Beard-Friendly SPF

If you’re out in the sun, sunscreen is a must. It’s the best way to protect yourself from sunburn and skin cancer. Your facial hair offers some UV protection, but it’s not 100%. If your beard isn’t extremely dense, you’ll definitely want to apply sunscreen underneath it.

Unfortunately, it can be hard to find a sunscreen that doesn’t get patchy once it meets hair. Look for lightweight formulas advertised as being beard-friendly, without leaving a whitecast.

7. Scrub When Needed

If your beard gets very itchy or flaky in summer, the occasional scrub can do wonders. A quick exfoliation will help dislodge that flaky skin, and it’ll allow your skin to better absorb the soothing ingredients in your beard oil.

Look for a scrub that’s free from plastic microbeads, because those are terrible for the environment. You can make your own beard scrub by combining a little bit of brown sugar or finely-milled salt with your cleanser or beard oil.

Just note that sometimes flaky skin under your beard can be dandruff. In that case, don’t exfoliate - switch your beard wash to a dandruff shampoo for a few days or weeks, instead.

8. Stay Hydrated

A healthy body means a healthy beard. It’s easy to get dehydrated in summer, and chronic dehydration leads to all kinds of issues, including weaker facial hair that’s slower to grow. That’s probably the least of the side effects of dehydration, but even so - drink up! Always carry a water bottle with you and make sure to get at least 2 liters of water a day.

Bringin’ the Heat

It doesn’t take much. With just a few small changes your beard will thrive all summer long. We hope our advice will help you feel empowered to rock your beard no matter the time of year. So are you ready to bring the heat with your beard this summer?