Dry, Frizzy, Curly: How To Straighten Beard Hair Naturally
Heat and chemicals dry and damage the beard. If you have curly hair, the secret to getting a sexy and velvety beard is to know how to straighten beards in a natural way.
Rough and stringy hair patterns and even losing your natural curls are just some of the signs of heat damage. Using hot tools, like hair straighteners and heated combs, will only add salt to the wound, making your beard situation much worse than it already is.
But if you have naturally curly hair, do not just throw away your heated hair styling gear. You can still use it—with caution. It would be best to aid your beard straightening routine with these natural beard care tips:
- Know the Root Cause of Frizzy Beard
- Are Beard Straighteners Good or Bad for You?
- Natural Ways to Straighten Your Beard
- Beard Care Essentials for Straight Beard
Know the Root Cause of Frizzy Beard
Curly hair tends to be drier than straight hair because the oils can get stuck easily between coils.
One of the most common causes of frizzy beards is having naturally curly hair. Men with spiraling locks, especially those of Native American descent, have coarse hair that lacks much porosity.
Men with less porous hair have difficulty keeping their beards hydrated as the strands will not just absorb or keep the moisture. But, if you have naturally straight hair, having a coarse beard may reflect a problem that goes much deeper than what the eye can see.
Sun or heat damage
Hair is fickle against ultraviolet rays, and the bad news is: your beard is too.
In an interview with Coveteur, board-certified dermatologist Dr. Marnie Nussbaum explained that “excessive sun exposure can cause structural impairment to the hair shaft, thus weakening it. UV rays can trigger hair protein loss, as well as degradation of hair pigment.”
What is even worse is that UV rays make your hair brittle and dry too. Dr. Nussbaum added that UV radiation sucks out the hair lipids, which are responsible for making your hair shiny, moisturized, and more manageable.
For your beard, without the hair lipids, it becomes more prone to breakage and frizz. Do not dare to combat the mess using heat styling tools. Straightening beards with a flat iron, heated comb, or a blow dryer damage the hair’s cuticle, which gives the hair shine and protection.
Bad water
The water you use for bathing or washing your beard also affects its appearance and manageability. If you still have a dry and frizzy beard even after using every moisturizing product you can think of, check your water.
Hard water is the water that comes out of your tap but is mixed in with natural chemicals, such as calcium and magnesium. Since it cannot bind with hair products, like shampoos and conditioners, it creates a salt that forms a residue on your beard.
This layer of residue affects your beard’s health, making it more prone to damage, and clogging the strands so they cannot absorb the nourishing products you use. It can also cause itchiness on the skin under your beard and give you beard dandruff.
Chemicals
There is a plethora of natural oils and waxes that can straighten beard hair. Yet, many still choose easily accessible over-the-counter grooming products.
Although these products are giving you a straight beard, you will eventually notice how the effects do not last a long time, and the benefits wear off once you wash your beard.
The scary part is hair relaxers can have toxic and dangerous chemicals that can be carcinogenic. They can also destabilize your beard hair’s pH level, hormones and strip it of its natural oils, thus why your beard feels coarser and drier over time, primarily if you use these products every day.
Case in point, getting a straight beard and maintaining it is not easy. You have to consider every factor from the heat down to the water you use to wash it.
Are Beard Straighteners Good or Bad for You?
If any heat damages the hair, we will all be bald by today. Lucky for everyone, that is not the case. So, if you are wondering if beard straighteners are bad, the answer relies on how you use them and the health of your beard hair.
Men's most common tools to straighten beards are blow dryers, heated combs, and flat irons. These are safe to use only if you do not blast their temperatures.
Men using blow dryers to straighten beards need to keep the temperature under 140°F as anything beyond that can bake both your beard and the skin under. Those using a flat iron and a heated comb to manage frizzy beards should stay below 300°F. If not, according to hair experts at Dyson, “the heat will convert the ⍺-keratin to β-keratin, which eventually leads to weaker hair that has lost its elasticity and become more prone to damage.”
Natural Ways to Straighten Your Beard
Naked Armor's Solomon Tamanu & Noni Pre-shave Oil have natural UV protection properties and hair conditioning nutrients that can hydrate and relax curly and frizzy beards.
Those who have long been growing a beard know all about the different secrets to taming and maintaining the fuzz in their manes. But if you just recently got into the beard game and you do not have enough tools at hand, you can still remove the fluff and roughness.
If you are wondering how to straighten beard hair naturally, here are three ways you should try:
Heat protection
Unlike the hair on your crown, you cannot put a hat on your beard. You can try, but what is the point of growing a beard if you are not going to flaunt it?
There are two ways to protect your beard from the sun’s UV rays. You can apply sunscreen then top it off with beard oil to straighten the hair. The sunscreen may block the beard oil from providing full benefits to your beard, but this combination works.
Natural oils
Beard oils are great for weighing down curly strands. So, if you want the total package oils can offer, you can apply one, like tamanu oil, that has natural UV-blocking properties. However, it would be best to mix other essential oils with the tamanu oil because of its consistency, which works best as a carrier oil.
Making a homemade blend of natural essential oils for shaving also works perfectly for straightening beards. Similar to how you would stretch naturally curly locks, apply the oil on a damp beard and pull it flat.
Beard wax
Beard wax plays a vital role in styling your mane. Whether you are a pro or a neophyte in growing beards, this is an essential you must keep, especially if you want a beard worthy of compliments. For beard enthusiast Scott Barnes, beard wax and a comb make for a quick, heat-free, and natural way to straighten beard hair.
Check out how he does it in this video:
Beard Care Essentials for Straight Beard
You can not entirely give up the heat when you want to know how to straighten beards. So, when you need to use your styling tools, keep your blow dryer in its cool air setting or use your flat iron and heated comb at the ideal temperature.
Another tip is to invest in beard care essentials. Naked Armor’s beard grooming essentials are made of prime and pristine ingredients. You can find a beard oil and conditioner in our Thor and Solomon Men’s Grooming line, which uses tamanu oil and other unique, essential oils and waxes as some of its main components.
The best way to naturally straighten beard hair, protect it from damage, and keep it healthy is by using beard care products that only have natural ingredients.
Shop your essentials below:
More Naked Armor Essential Reads:
Beard Growth Stages and Hair Cycle
How to Trim a Beard with a Straight Razor
How to Make Your Beard Awesome: 7 Tips on Using a Naked Armor Beard Grooming Kit
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