How to train your beard: shape, direction, and control (the right way).

You can train your mind, your dog, and even your dragon. But did you know you can train your beard, too?

Training your beard means making it grow in a particular direction, style, and shape. While many men believe that beard form is set in stone, it’s actually pretty flexible. With time, tools, and the right techniques, you can change your facial hair’s entire trajectory.

Achieving the perfect full-face, goatee, chinstrap, or other style requires understanding how to train your beard properly. So, pull out your comb and whip out the wax: Today, we’re learning why training your beard is important, how to do it with the most success, and which products make the job much easier.

Why training your beard matters.

A lot of men crave a full face of hair, feeling that it makes them appear more masculine, assertive, and authoritative. But growing a full beard can be challenging for many guys. Sometimes, hairs grow unevenly, leaving longer strands in certain areas and budding stubble in others. Other times, hairs grow in patches, leaving empty skin in areas where you’d appreciate a bit more coverage.

Regardless of your personal facial hair issues, knowing how to train a beard can help yours grow thicker, fuller, and into the exact style you’re after. With the right approach, you can train your beard to:

• Grow in your preferred direction – Beard hairs can have a mind of their own. They might grow up, down, left, right, straight outward, or even backwards. This can be a major nuisance, whether it means hair growing over our lips, up instead of down, or away from the rest of the pack. With the right training techniques, however, you can alter beard growth to ensure each and every strand expands uniformly in your desired direction. 

• Style easily into your ideal shape – Growth direction defines shape. Many men prefer an angular, boxy beard that sticks out from and follows their jawline, but end up with a puffier, rounder shape as their hair grows in multiple directions. Shaping your facial hair via beard training lets you grow it into the exact style you want without worrying about errant hairs turning a sharp 90-degree angle into a gentle, round curve.

• Become fuller and more complete – Patchiness is the bane of beard growers everywhere. Nobody likes an unplanned break in their facial hair, especially when it’s in a highly visible or critical area. With proper beard training practices, you can guide your facial hair to grow over bald patches, effectively covering them up and giving your beard a fuller appearance.

Beard training not only leads to a fuller, more honed style. It can also help eliminate issues with:

• Unevenness – Unevenness doesn't just mean spots of skin: It also refers to the lengths of different beard hairs. Separate strands grow at varying rates, meaning some may stay short while others grow long. Beard training helps hair grow in a uniform direction to create a seamless, melded look. Even if the hairs are different lengths, they’ll come together to appear as one with fewer stragglers sticking out from the flock.

• Curls – As noted, many men prefer a straight, boxy look for their beards, rather than a curly, twisting appearance. Training your beard reduces the chances of errant, curly stragglers by turning them into straight, even strands. 

• Unruly beard patterns – Beards can grow in all sorts of interesting patterns. Sideways strands are common, as are upwardly growing areas that seem to defy gravity. Beard training helps you work out these uneven patterns, cover them up with straight, uniform growth, and achieve a more tamed, sophisticated look.

To put it simply: Training your beard can significantly improve its fullness and appearance. So, what happens if you skip training and let it grow naturally?

What happens if you don’t train your beard.

While some men grow naturally straight, full beards, many others need a little help to achieve their ideal look. If your beard is prone to unruliness and you don’t train it, you’ll likely deal with:

• Wild, sideways growth – Some dudes may desire the rugged, untamed look of a full mountain man beard, but most guys are after a more trimmed, uniform appearance with hairs that grow in one direction. Without training, beard strands are prone to expanding in every direction, including sideways, leading to a less polished, intentional, and put-together appearance.

• Patchy areas – Patchy areas can happen for a number of reasons. Beard alopecia and trauma are two main culprits, but even more common are bald spots due to misdirected hairs. When multiple hairs root in the same area but grow outward from each other, they leave an uncovered patch of skin in the middle, and, without training, they stay that way.

• Straggly ends – When hairs grow to uneven lengths, singular, straggly strands tend to stick out from the rest. These strands are much more difficult to trim into a uniform length in line with the others and, without training, may be destined to continue standing out.

All of these issues can lead to a less sculpted look. The good news? Training your beard is fairly simple with the right knowledge and know-how.

How to train a beard (step-by-step).

“How do I train my beard?” It’s the question of the hour, and we’re here to answer it.

• Step 1 – Start by brushing your beard daily in your preferred direction. Use a beard brush or fine-tooth comb designed for facial hair. Then, brush in long, even strokes to set your strands’ growth trajectory. 

• Step 2 – After brushing, apply a bit of beard oil or beard balm to help your facial hair retain its shape. Work the product into your strands from root to tip. If using beard oil, make sure to get the skin under your hairs as well.

• Step 3 – If brushing and adding products don't get every hair into its ideal position, try heat styling. Using a low-temperature blow-dryer, shoot air onto your beard in a downward motion. Gently brush it into place and add oil or balm to seal your style. 

• Step 4 – When it comes time to groom your beard, don’t cut it off from the root and start anew. Instead, trim the edges to reinforce the existing shape. Quality electric razors, precision scissors, and similar products can help you trim and train your beard into your desired style.

Tools and products that help train your beard.

The best products for training and shaping beards include:

• Beard oils – Beard oils help your facial hair keep its shape while also hydrating your strands and soothing the skin underneath.

• Beard balms – Balms, like styling pomades, offer a strong hold for complex styles. Higher quality beard balms also contain moisturizing ingredients, like sweet almond oil and shea butter, to keep your hair feeling fresh and rejuvenated.

• Beard trimmers with precision guards – Durable, reliable trimmers let you shave off the ends while keeping your beard’s body. Precision guards let you set your exact length, ensuring every hair receives a uniform cut.

This equipment makes training your beard into your preferred style much easier—but many men still make common mistakes as they try to achieve their ideal look.

Common beard training mistakes to avoid.

To properly train your beard, eliminate loose strands and curls, and sculpt your desired shape, avoid the following:

• Trimming too early into the growth phase – Your beard needs time to grow into its final form. If you trim it too early, the hairs won’t hold their direction. Instead, they’ll revert back to disorderliness and force you to restart the whole process. Let your beard grow past your ideal length before the initial cut, then trim the edges while keeping the center intact.

• Overusing heat tools without protection – Low heat can help you train strands and lock in your ideal shape—but too much heat actually damages your hair. Because moisture can protect delicate strands from heat, use heat training after a shower or scrub to avoid potential hair harm. Other methods, such as warm water soaks, offer a safer means of heat training with lower risks for damage.

Using low-quality products that dry out and damage your hair is another major beard training no-no. For top-of-the-line, trustworthy beard products, shaving equipment, and men's care accessories, train with MANSCAPED®.

Meet your beard’s personal trainer: MANSCAPED®.

Learning how to train your beard is an essential skill for achieving the perfect length, shape, and style—but so is getting the right training products. 

For those just getting started in the beard training game, The Beard Hedger Pro Kit offers all the essentials you need to begin your journey. Let’s start with The Beard Hedger electric trimmer: It features a waterproof design, 20 different guard sizes (from 0.5 millimeters (mm) to 10 mm), and a handy zoom wheel to change guard lengths on the fly.

The kit also features a classy wooden comb and brush set with multiple tooth sizes for dudes with thin, average, and thick beard hairs. To set your strands in place, the kit offers both beard oil and beard balm, allowing you to try out both and decide which best fits your style. Beard shampoo, beard conditioner, and precision scissors top off the pack, ensuring your beard is clean, hydrated, and polished at all times.

Professional athletes have personal trainers, impeccable beards have MANSCAPED®. Train your way to perfect facial hair today. 

Sources: 

National Library of Medicine. Men’s Facial Hair Preferences Reflect Facial Hair Impression Management Functions Across Contexts and Men Know It. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10501953/. 

National Library of Medicine. Beard Alopecia: An Updated and Comprehensive Review of Etiologies, Presentation and Treatment. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10381635/. 

National Library of Medicine. Establishment of Heat‐Damaged Model for Hair. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12308778/.