Noticing white flakes in your beard or dropping on your shirt? Beard dandruff, often called beardruff, can make beard grooming frustrating. But before reaching for the beard oil, it helps to understand what’s happening beneath your facial hair.
Flaking can come from the build-up of skin cells that clump in your beard, commonly an after effect of having red, dry or irritated skin. Gentle cleansing, consistent moisturising and frequent exfoliation can support healthy beard growth and are natural cures for solving beardruff.
What Causes Beard Dandruff?
Everyone’s skin contains a microbe called Malassezia globosa. It’s a type of fungus that grows in oily areas of your skin and it breaks down sebum the oil produced on your face.
The process leaves behind oleic acid, this is what irritates people and causes the itchiness to occur. From there the body aims to replace these skin cells with new ones.
This process leaves behind clumps of old skin cells and what is referred to as beardruff. The average cycle of skin cell regeneration is 30 days, for those that have a faster skin turnover cycle are more likely to suffer from beardurff.
1. Clean Your Beard Gently
Wash your beard and the skin beneath it using a dedicated and gentle beard wash. Using a beard wash ensures that you are treating your beard naturally and using a product that is tailor made to relieve beard dandruff symptoms.
To use liquid beard wash, apply a drop to your hands and rub the product throughout your wet beard, ensuring you get the deepest parts of the beard. Use lukewarm water rather than very hot water to avoid adding further irritation to the skin.
After rinsing, pat your beard dry with a towel. If you’re after a step by step guide on the process, visit our guide how often you should wash your beard which covers a typical beard washing routine.
2. Moisturise the Skin Beneath Your Beard
Caring for your beard means looking after more than the hair. The skin underneath also needs attention. If you have beardruff, we recommend beginning with a beard butter instead of beard oil, as beard butter has the highest level of moisturisation delivery to your beard, plus the moisturisation lasts a lot longer than beard oil.
If you are experiencing subtle signs of beardruff, then you can opt for beard oil which has similar benefits and antifungal properties to maintain a healthy environment and promote the growth of healthy beard. If you’re unsure on which product is right for you, read our guide on beard oil vs beard butter vs beard balm.
3. Exfoliation
Regular brushing with a boar bristle brush helps in removing those dead skin cells that build up over time. The great thing about boar bristle brushes, is that they have soft hairlike bristles, which are gentle on your beard, but, also can penetrate to the skin layer of your beard, which most conventional brushes cannot do. Regular brushing prevents the build up of flakes and it also trains your beard so that it sits in a certain way.
What To Do, If Dandruff Persists
If your still having signs of beardruff after 2-3weeks or your symptoms get increasingly worse, then it might be Seborrhoeic dermatitis, which will need a more clinical approach. Seek your dermatologist to find out more about treatment options that are right for your beard.
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