There are just about two things that every guy with a beard has in their grooming arsenal: Some kind of hydrating product like beard oil or beard balm. And some kind of styling product like a beard comb or beard brush. Beard brushes are becoming more and more popular for a variety of reasons, and today, we want to give you our top tips on how to clean your beard brush to make it look and feel like new!
If you have a beard brush already then you’;re ready to go! If you don’t, I encourage you to consider Volt’s Octo Brush, sustainably made with natural boar bristles and a pearwood handle!
Real quick, click the video below if you’d rather see a demonstration! Otherwise, feel free to keep on reading, and be sure to subscribe to Volt’s YouTube Channel!
What Is A Beard Brush?
A Beard brush is typically a smaller brush which is usually made with natural boar bristles. The handles of these brushes can be any shape or material from plastic to wood and beyond (we prefer wood for the environmental sustainability). Ultimately, beard brushes are designed to dig into the beard, exfoliate the skin underneath, get rid of unwanted dirt/debris, and spread oils and hydration evenly throughout the beard.
Natural Boar bristles tend to be the material of choice because they behave very similar to hair. They are also the perfect blend of stiff and soft. Stiff enough to dig into a thick beard and reach the skin underneath, but not so stiff and rigid that they scratch or harm the skin. This is why boar bristles tend to be the most common material for beard brushes.
How To Clean A Beard Brush
When you use a beard brush, the brush helps you clean and exfoliate your beard and skin, but all that debris has to go somewhere. Over time, that debris can become deposited and built up in your brush, and we’re going to tell you the best way to get rid of it without harming the bristles on your brush!
Step 1: Shampoo Your Beard Brush
You may be surprised to hear that you have to shampoo a beard brush, but just hear us out for a second. Boar bristles, as the name suggests, come from the hairs of boars, meaning they behave exactly the same way natural hair does. After all, what do you do to clean your hair? You shampoo it.
Start by running some warm water under the tap, put the brush underneath and gently massage the warm water into the boar bristles themselves. Then, grab your normal hair shampoo of choice, and apply a small amount to the bristles and massage it in well.
Once you feel the bristles are well coated with shampoo, rinse the brush under the water again to wash it out.
[Pro Tip: It may benefit you to have two beard brushes. not only can you use one for travel and leave one at home etc., but you can use them to brush the debris out of each other much more easily.]
Step 2: Oil Your Beard Brush
Now it’s time to add some moisture back to the hairs. More specifically, the moisture that the shampoo stripped away. After all, only shampooing your hair can actually be damaging, because then there is no excess oils or moisture to keep the hair flexible and resilient towards cracking and split ends. Your beard brush is the same way! So, now it’s time to condition the hairs on the brush.
Unlike the shampoo, you won’t need hair conditioner this time. We like to use beard oil, because it can stay in the bristles longer than conditioner which has to be washed out, and we want it in our beards as well anyways. Be sure to pat the bristles dry on a clean towel to reduce the excess moisture and water. Then pour two to three drops of beard oil directly onto the brush and, again, massage it into the bristles by hand.
Step 3: Detail Your Beard Brush
To some, shampooing and conditioning your brush is the bulk of all that is needed. However, if you want your brush like new, then you’ll have to do some simple detailing. Just take one or two Q-tips and swab around the base of the brush where the bristles extend from the handle, that tends to be where the most built-up debris is.
Once you’re done detailing, it’s time to let the brush sit out to air dry! Don’t try and scrub the brush dry with a towel or blow-dry it, as these methods tend to damage the bristles or dry them out to severely. Letting the brush air dry with the beard oil left in will allow the brush time to soak in the beard oil and keep the bristles at their healthiest and most resilient!
Now you can enjoy your beard brush for years to come by keeping it looking and feeling like new with a simple wash!
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