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How To Detangle Your Beard Without It Hurting

Split ends on the hairs on your head might lose you a few style points. But when you start getting split ends on your beard, it can be downright painful. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on how to detangle your beard, with solid strategies for preventing the split ends that will make your beard tangled and uncomfortable.

Table of Contents

Why Does My Beard Get Knots?

Beards start getting knots for one of three main reasons:

  1. You’re starting to get split ends.
  2. You’re combing or brushing your beard wrong.
  3. You’re not using the right products to keep your beard in good shape.

Really, all three of these problems are related. The longer and thicker your beard is, the more chance you have to get a lot of split ends. If you then comb or brush your beard when it’s dry instead of damp, you’ll create even more split ends. And if you’re not using the right balms and oils for your type of beard, those split ends will happen even faster.

Take note also that shorter beards are less prone to knots than longer ones. So if your beard hair is prone to knotting, you could consider wearing a shorter style of beard instead.

What Can I Use To Detangle My Beard?

There are two main tools that will help you detangle your beard: A beard brush and a beard comb.

The beard brush is best used by guys with shorter beards. It helps to spread natural oils and beard products through all of your beard hairs, leading to healthier skin and hair with a nice luster. But because it doesn’t have fixed tines, a beard brush isn’t as good at removing lots of knots.

For how to detangle your beard when it’s longer than about three inches, you’ll want to primarily use a beard comb. These hard tined combs are usually made of wood, with larger spaces between tines than a standard comb for head hair. This makes them excellent for separating the individual hairs of your beard, and removing knots and tangles.

You will also want to use beard care products to prevent tangles in your beard, which we’ll cover in the next section.

How To Keep Your Beard From Tangling

The best thing you can do to keep your beard healthy, comfortable, and good looking is to apply beard care products regularly. This is especially helpful for keeping your beard from tangling in the first place, because it will help prevent split ends.

Beard balm is the first product you should look at for how to detangle your beard. It’s a thicker product that can also be used to lightly style your beard. Oils and shea butter form the majority of most beard balms, both of which help to keep your face and hair moisturized and healthy.

Beard oil is another essential for how to keep your beard from tangling. It’s quickly absorbed by your skin and hair, and acts as a sort of leave-in conditioner for your beard. If you use this as the first step of a beard care product regimen, it will lay a foundation for any other products you use to work more effectively.

The end result of both products is the same: Preventing split ends. You should also take care to trim your beard as it grows, as this will also prevent any split ends from starting to tangle.

How To Detangle Your Beard

If your facial hair is getting unkempt, here’s a five-step routine for how to detangle your beard:

  1. Wash your beard, preferably with hot water and a beard shampoo and conditioner.
  2. Apply beard oil using your fingertips, massaging it into your face and beard.
  3. Add a little bit of beard balm to your face and beard as well, to really help repair any dryness and damage.
  4. Starting from the ends of your beard hairs, gently comb through your entire beard. Slowly move up to the base of your hairs’ follicles, next to your face.
  5. Trim any split ends that you can see while you’re combing.

Do that routine regularly, and you’ll have a tangle-free beard in no time.

How Do You Detangle A Black Man’s Beard?

Many black men’s beards are more prone to knots because of curling hairs getting tangled with one another. Thankfully there’s an additional technique and another tool that will help keep your beard tangle-free.

In addition to the steps listed in the section above, make sure to apply extra beard balm and work your fingers from root to tip of your hairs.

If you combine that with a beard pick as well as your beard comb, you should be able to retrain your hairs to lay in a way where they won’t get tangled.

Is It Better To Brush Your Beard Or Comb Your Beard?

Both brushing and combing can help you to detangle your beard. Here’s the quick rule of thumb for which one to use:

If your beard is less than 3 inches long, use a beard brush. If it’s more than 3 inches long, use a beard comb.

There are exceptions to this rule if you’re using a particularly stiff beard brush, or if your hair is very coarse, but it works well for 90% of guys.

No matter which tool you use, be sure to only brush or comb your beard when it’s at least a little bit damp. If you brush or comb when it’s dry, you can damage your skin and/or hairs and possibly create more split ends.

How To Brush Your Beard Properly

There’s one simple trick for how to brush your beard properly: Always brush towards your chin. That means brushing down your cheeks and chin, and up your neck towards the point of your chin.

Why? Because this will help to train your beard hairs to lay smoothly and provide volume for your beard. Of course, beards won’t always cooperate perfectly with this at first — so expect to do some trimming of errant beard hairs when you first start brushing your beard.

You’ll occasionally see people recommend to brush your beard in the opposite direction to make it very “full” and voluminous. This can work, but it runs more of a risk for causing split ends because it’s pulling in the opposite direction of how your beard hairs are growing.

Follow those directions with the beard care routine mentioned above, and you’ll be well on your way to keeping tangles out of your beard.

Brian has been fascinated with fragrances since his 8th birthday, when his Dad gifted him a bottle of Acqua di Gio. Since then, he has become a men's grooming & style aficionado who teaches men how to look sharp. Backed by personal experience, Brian's articles are known for his no-holds-barred style where he holds nothing back. You will get his real opinions on the latest men's grooming products and best practices where he reveals the best (and worst) style advice every man should know.