Beard split ends are one of the most common problems that men often face, especially when your beard crosses a certain length. One way to recognize if you have beard split ends is to check whether your beard hair is getting rougher by the day, no matter how much oil you apply. 

So, if that’s your case, then you have come to the right place. This article contains a detailed overview of beard split ends including their causes and steps to prevention and cure. 

What are the Causes of Beard Split Ends?

Here are the major causes of beard split ends

1. Poor diet

Your hair is made up of the fundamental proteins, called keratin. Without them, you will face almost all types of hair problems. So, if you are facing split ends in your beard, it’s probably because your diet does not contain a sufficient amount of protein. 

To cure most beard hair-related problems, you need to add protein to your diet. Consume yogurt, eggs, milk, seafood, quinoa, edamame, and lentils. In addition to increased consumption of protein, make sure that you also increase the consumption of biotin, which is a B complex vitamin that stimulates hair growth. 

2. Blow drying your beard

More often than not, the major reason behind dry beard split ends is blow drying your beard. You should never try this, no matter what. When you blow-dry your hair, the entire shaft of your follicle is dried off. Consequently, you will experience split ends within no time. Blow drying can cause damage to your beard follicles. 

3. Dyeing the beard to cover the greys

More often than not, some men do face the problem of premature aging which makes them conscious about how they might look to others. Consequently, it becomes insurmountable to feel comfortable with silver hair, which leads one to explore different ways of covering them up. Hence, dyeing. 

However, when you dye your hair, you are damaging them more as your cuticles are opened which allows the color to penetrate the shaft. This makes your cuticles weak and damaged as the hair dye contains certain harmful chemicals called ammonia and peroxide. 

The only way to deal with this situation is that you need to accept the greys as they are and pamper your beard, no matter what. Dyeing your beard can sometimes cause irreparable damage and therefore, you will have to put extra effort to keep it healthy.

One way to pamper your beard hair properly, you can shampoo and condition them with a proper beard shampoo and not forget to use beard oil. Beard oil helps in nourishing and moisturizing your hair by supplying natural sebum which will prevent split ends to occur.

Sometimes, beard oil also consists of carrier oil, which is a relatively mild oil that helps in carrying the fragrance and other essential oils. After following this process, you can then apply a beard balm which acts as a nourishing layer to protect your beard hair from dirt and pollution. Not only that, but it will help in moisturizing them by smoothening your cuticles. 

A detailed account of beard oils is given at the end of this article. 

4. Using your hair shampoo as the beard shampoo

The hair shampoos are different from beard shampoos when it comes to the number of chemicals in both of them. The former has a relatively higher amount of bad chemicals than the latter which creates more damage than cure. 

In addition, shampoos contain a higher amount of sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), which has the potential of completely stripping off any amount of sebum oil and moisture from your beard. Therefore, it is advised to use beard shampoo and condition it afterward. Once you are done, apply the beard balm.

How to Prevent Beard Split Ends?

1. Use shears to trim your beard

Using shears to trim beard split ends is extremely helpful as it trims them out perfectly without any sort of hassle.

2. Combing your beard

It is essential to comb your beard every day, at least for 3 to 4 times as it ensures smoothness and keeps them healthy. If you have a longer beard, make sure you use a comb that has wider teeth as it won’t cause any breakage or pain while pulling out the knots. 

A saw cut comb type is preferable to a plastic comb as it has micro-fissures that will break your entire beard follicle shaft whenever you comb. On the other hand, saw-cut wooden combs are hand-polished which helps in smoothing your hair.

3. Beard oils and beard balms

Beard oils and beard balms are two effective beard products that help in moisturizing your hair and prevent split ends. Your natural glands produce only a small amount of sebum that ensures moisturizing to only a certain extent. When you apply harsh chemicals to your beard through dyeing or washing your hair with harsh beard shampoos, you are stripping off the natural oils of your beard and also the small amount of sebum oil. Blow drying your hair can also strip off the natural chemicals as mentioned earlier.

Beard oils and balms help in restoring the moisture of your beard hair by supplying natural sebum oil. This is extremely true when you grow a beard a certain length and the sebum oil produced naturally by your glands is not enough for your entire beard. This is when you need beard oils and balms. As mentioned earlier, beard oils are made up of carrier oils and essential oils. The former is used to treat split ends, beardruff (dandruff in beard hair), and moisturize your hair. The latter is used to deliver fragrance.  

However, whenever you go out to purchase beard oils, make sure that you buy the ones with good carrier oils as they are the main things. They help in nourishing your hair and prevent beard split ends. Not only that, but they also keep it hydrated for hours, therefore, you don’t have to complain about dryness or itchiness.

Also Read: 5 Beard Mistakes Men Should Stop Doing