The Hipster Beard – What It Is and How to Properly Style Your Beard

October 27, 2020
Steve
Beard Styles

Hipster beards are a big trend right now. These long, full beards are showing up everywhere, from celebrities to the catwalk. If you want to join in and grow a hipster beard of your own, follow our guide on how to properly grow and style it.

The 7 Steps to Growing A Hipster Beard

There are nine steps to growing, styling, and maintaining a hipster beard, and we have outlined them below:

Step 1. Close Shave

It might seem counterintuitive, but the first thing you’ll need to do if you want to grow a hipster beard is to go clean-shaven. This will help the new growth to come in evenly. Start by using an electric clipper to take off most of the hair and then clean shave using a razor and shaving gel. Starting with a clean shave will actually encourage growth by stimulating the hair follicles. It will also square off the ends of the hair, which will make the new growth appear thicker.

Step 2. Let It Grow

The next step is to simply let your beard grow. Be patient as this takes time. You’ll probably need to wait around 4-6 weeks for full coverage. You might find the first few weeks itchy and uncomfortable. This is because shaving slices the hair into a sharp point, meaning that the ends of your new growth will be spiky.

As your beard grows, the hair curls around, and the sharp ends poke into your skin, which is prickly and painful. To alleviate this, try using beard oil. This softens the hairs so that they’re not so spiky and may also encourage growth by moisturizing your skin and providing a healthy growth environment for the hair. As your hair grows, it will need more oil to stay healthy. And supplementing the oil that your skin produces with beard oil will help to ensure that your beard hair gets enough oil.

Step 3. Trim It

As the aim here is to grow out your beard, you obviously don’t want to trim it too often. That said, you will need to do some maintenance to keep it looking neat and tidy while it grows. Use scissors, or have your barber show you how to clip your beard free-handed (that is, without a guard on the clipper). You’ll want to get rid of any stray hairs on your cheek and along your neckline. We recommend shaving your neck until your beard is long enough to cover it up.

Step 4. Shape It

To make sure that your beard suits you, shape it to suit your face’s natural contours. For example, if you have a longer head shape, trim the chin short and leave the beard hair longer on the cheeks to give the appearance of a wider face. If you have a square jawline, add length by trimming the sides and leaving more growth on your chin. You are aiming to get your face shape to look as symmetrical as possible.

Step 5. Cleanse It

It’s important to regularly cleanse your beard to keep it soft and manageable. You can use regular shampoo and conditioner to do this, but it is better to use a good beard shampoo and beard conditioner. Some tips for this: be careful not to over wash your beard or take showers that are too hot. Once you have washed your beard, gently pat it dry. Taking these steps will prevent your beard from drying out.

Step 6. Comb It

Using a beard comb will make your beard look fuller and well kept. Simply comb in the direction where you want the beard to fall. Even better, you could use a beard brush, but make sure you buy a quality one made from boar or horsehair bristles. Be sure not to over comb or brush it, though. You just need to do it once or twice a day when applying your product.

Step 7. Apply Product

Which leads us on to the next step. There is a whole world of beard care products out there, and it’s fun to try them out and find your favorites. We recommend investing in a good beard oil. As mentioned before, applying beard oil will help to minimize itch and may even encourage your beard to grow.

Additionally, it can act as a natural cologne if you choose a product that contains fragrant essential oils, such as cedarwood and sandalwood. Apply a few drops of beard oil after washing, drying, and combing your beard, working the oil from the roots out to the ends of the hair. This will also help to keep your beard in the style that you’ve combed it into.

Step 8. Add Some Flair

While styling your beard, why not add some extra personality by jazzing up your mustache? A popular addition to a hipster beard is a handlebar mustache – one that curves downwards and then back up again. Or try simply curling up your mustache at the ends. All you need to do is apply some wax and shape your mustache into the desired shape. Or for another alternative style, how about adding some braids to your beard for a fun weekend look?

Step 9. Stay Healthy

To grow a healthy beard, you must keep yourself healthy too. Maintain a well-balanced diet to give yourself all of the necessary nutrients that your beard needs to grow. These include Vitamin A and Beta A Carotene, Vitamins C and E, Vitamins B6, B12 and Biotin, Omega-3 fatty acid and, of course, protein.

The ability to grow a beard is also linked to your testosterone levels. You can increase the levels of testosterone in your body both by working out and by relaxing – it doesn’t help to be stressed.