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How Often Should You Wash Your Beard?

One of the first and most important questions when it comes to beard care and keeping your shit tight is: How often should you wash your beard? So, let’s get into it because it’s super important to know how to take care of your beard so it looks its best.

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How Often Should You Wash Your Beard?

There are a boatload of factors that go into how often you should wash your beard to keep it looking clean, looking fresh, and staying healthy. If you talk to your homeboys, I’m sure you’ll get several different answers on how often they wash their beards.

But it’s not that simple a question to answer. And while most experts will tell you that washing your beard two to three times per week is ideal, there are a lot of things to consider. Now, I personally wash my beard three times per week but that’s because I have oily skin.

Now don’t get me wrong, there are certain reasons to wash your beard more than twice a week.

Reason 1. The Environment Where You Live

The environment you live in can affect more than just your health. It can affect your skin and your beard.

Things like the amount of pollution in your city or living in an extremely hot, dry climate are factors to keep in mind when you think of the way in which the environment affects how often you wash your beard.

Reason 2. Skin Type

If you’re one of the guys with oily skin, you’ll need to wash your beard more often.

Your skin’s natural oils can build up and cling to the hair follicles in your beard, which causes breakouts, acne, and other skin problems.

So, to avoid those issues, wash your beard more often. Just be sure you’re keeping an eye on your beard’s moisture.

Just remember, washing your beard too much will dry it out.

Reason 3. How Often You Use Products

Another reason to wash your beard more often is if you have facial hair that’s overly dry and you use products like moisturizer a lot.

The products you use can build up on your bead and clog your pores. And this is especially true of products that aren’t high-quality.

My own personal go-to is three times a week. I like to be sure that I’m not allowing too much oil, dirt, or debris to build up on my beard. Those things cause acne and breakouts, and they can make your beard itch and flake up.

And that’s why it’s important to keep your beard clean.

But washing your beard everyday isn’t the answer.

When you wash your beard every day you are stripping your facial hair of the natural oils it needs to stay moist and healthy. Now if you’re living in an environment that’s heavily polluted (Hello LA!) you may want to wash your beard every other two days.

Just be sure you’re not doing it every single day.

And if expert opinions matter a lot to you, then you should wash your beard once or twice per week. That’s their recommendation.

How Often Should a Black Man Wash His Beard?

For Black men, we tend to have drier facial hair so it’s very important that we are not washing our beards too often. Like I mentioned earlier, washing your beard too often strips away the natural sebum oils that you need for your beard to stay healthy.

With that being said, I would suggest a twice a week regimen for how often a Black man should wash his beard. Twice a week is enough to clean your beard of any and all of the impurities you pick up.

Twice a week also won’t dry your beard out.

Pro Tip: If you have a drier skin and hair type, you’ll want to make sure you’re moisturizing your beard after each wash.

It’s super important to keep your facial hair (and the skin underneath) moisturized and hydrated so it stays healthy.

Does Washing Your Beard Help It Grow?

Absolutely. Washing your beard does indeed help it grow. A clean beard is the best way to allow the hair follicles to grow. And that’s the key to growing a healthy, even beard.

Washing your beard helps it to grow, too, because it keeps your facial hair from being too dry. A dry beard is an unhealthy beard, and an unhealthy beard won’t grow properly.

As long as you’re not overdoing it with washing your beard, you’ll see it grow and look healthy as long as you wash and moisturize it.

Does Not Washing Your Beard Help It Grow?

How often should you wash your beard is a question that guys are always asking, but no one really asks if not washing your beard helps it grow. And the short answer is no.

Not washing your beard will not help it grow. In fact, it will do the exact opposite and cause you a world of headache trying to reverse the effects.

Not washing your beard leaves dirt, oil, pollution, and all kinds of other debris latched onto your hair. Then those things build up and, along with your own natural skin oil, starts to give you spots and cause you to itch.

Not washing your beard can also inflame the skin under your beard and that will in turn inflame the hair follicles which will then be damaged and not grow. It’s a trickle-down effect when you don’t wash your beard.  

Not only will your beard not grow, but it’ll also get damaged and quickly become unhealthy if you don’t wash it and keep it clean.

Should I Wash My Beard Everyday If I Workout?

For all the fellas who are gym rats and athletes, you should not wash your beard every single day. Now if you’re working out daily and sweating non-stop, I’d say it’s good to wash your beard every other day.

Washing your beard thoroughly every other day is enough to eliminate the sweat, oil, and other debris from building up and causing irritation or inflammation.

But even if you are living an active lifestyle and working out daily, I still do not suggest washing your beard every day. It’s super important that you’re not stripping the oils from your beard and the skin underneath because that’s what causes dry skin, acne, and breakouts.

Wash your beard every other day and make sure you’re moisturizing it, too.

Is It Good to Wash Your Beard Everyday?

Absolutely not. Washing your beard every day will do a lot of harm to your facial hair and the skin underneath your beard. 

You will strip away all the natural sebum oils that your skin produces, and your beard relies on to stay healthy.

You’ll end up drying your skin out.

I definitely 100% do not recommend washing your beard every day, even if you have an active lifestyle and are out and about in polluted air.

What Happens If You Overwash Your Beard?

Over washing your beard is not good at all. I get that some guys want to be sure they’re clean and fresh, but when it comes to your facial hair, less is more.

Over washing your beard leads to dry skin, irritation, inflammation, and damage. The skin underneath your facial hair is delicate and needs the moisture and oils it produces to stay as healthy as possible.

When you over wash your beard, you are stripping away those essential oils and drying your skin and beard out. 

This can stunt its growth, cause acne, give you extremely dry and irritated skin, and can end up damaging your facial hair and the skin underneath in the long run.

Trust me, you can avoid all of that by just not over washing your beard. 

How Often Should You Wash Your Beard: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How Often Should You Oil Your Beard?

You should oil your beard twice per day. Keeping your beard oiled and hydrated is vital to having a healthy and great-looking beard.

I’d suggest oiling your beard in the mornings before leaving for the day and then again at night before bed.

Adding this to your daily routine will heal any damages your facial hair and the skin underneath may have. It’ll also keep everything moisturized. And that’s the key to a healthy and fly ass beard.

What Happens If You Don’t Wash Your Beard?

If you don’t wash your beard and you want it to be full, thick, and awesome, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Not washing your beard allows for buildup of things like dirt, oil, debris.

Buildup in your beard causes all kinds of skin problems. It clogs your pores and causes issues like acne, breakouts and can even cause patches in your beard.

That’s why it’s super important to wash your beard. 

You want to be sure you’re getting all the things that can harm your beard and the skin underneath cleansed off regularly, so you avoid any of those skin issues developing.

Is It Better To Not Wash Your Beard?

Never. Just think about the issues I described above. Of course, you don’t want to over wash your beard because it’ll dry it out and cause damage, but not washing it at all is just as bad.

You allow dirt, oil, and grime to build up on your beard and seep into your pores which will clog them and cause skin problems.

It’s never better to not wash your beard.

Andrew Phillip Kennedy is a men's style & grooming specialist who has spent years testing his knowledge in the real world on himself to land jobs, get girls, and improve his life overall. Andrew's advice is regarded as the some of the most well-researched and well-grounded in the game. For the perfect combination of men's grooming theory and real world results, you'll want to follow Andrew.