Style depends on everyone’s personal preference. Some people like straight beards and some like curly. As an African American, most probably your beard is curly. It is ok if your beard matches your choice. What if, it does not match.
Here the only solution is straightening the beard. But straightening an African American beard is a little tricky because of its nature.
Today, in this post, I will tell you how to straighten African American Beard effectively. Here I listed three effective but easy ways to straighten the beard. Hope this will help you to get an attractive-looking straight beard.
Let’s see.
Characteristics of African American Beard
As an African American man, you need to know your beard well either you want to care it properly or do some styling. I know every beard owner knows his beard, but you should have deep knowledge about your beard if you want to straighten it by yourself at home.
Here I will tell you the nature of African American beard in a short brief. Some of them might be familiar to you some are not. You should know them all.
Let’s see.
Curly
It is obvious that African American beard must be curly. Though it is less curly than native African men, you need to go through some hassle to manage it. The intensity of curly beard may vary from man to man. It depends on which ethnicity dominates you, African or American. So, it is genetics that decides your hair and beard type. It is almost impossible to find an African American man with straight hair.
Coarse and Hard
African American beard is coarse in size compared to the native American beard. That’s why it feels hard when you touch your beard with your hands. A coarse and hard beard is not only hard to manage but also it creates some hassles while straightening.
Black in Color
You can find different colors of beard and hair in American people. But, in African American beard, there is only one color, black. Some beards may have a slightly grayish look, but it is not that common. Though there is no function of color on beard straightening.
Dense
African American beard is familiar for its density. You can check it by combing with fingers. Even you need a wide gapped comb to comb African American beard. This density also creates obstacles while straightening.
Looks Fuller
Because of the curliness of African American beard, it looks fuller if you have a long beard (2 inches plus length). The positive side of the fuller beard is it is great for styling. You will get a nice shape with proper trimming. It will give the manly look you deserve.
Slow Growth Rate
Curly hair and beard has slow growth rate because of its coil structure. For this, you need to wait little more than native Americans to get a full-grown beard. This slow growth rate has a positive side. Your artificial straight beard lasts longer than the fast-growing beard.
Brittle
It is one of the major downsides of curly or African American beard. Because of its structure, it has a higher tendency to breakage and split edge compared to straight hair. And using overheat while straightening may worsen that condition.
Things Need to be Checked Before Straightening
Beard Health
You should not go for beard straightening if your beard isn’t ready yet. Your beard should remain healthy before you are going to straightening it.
Make sure your beard is free of breakage and split edge. If you have those problems, treat them first. If you try to straighten a problematic beard, it would be a disaster for the beard.
Necessary Tools and Products
You should gather all necessary beard straightening tools according to the method you are going to use. It could be either a natural or an artificial method.
It is so important that if you miss one thing, it could mess the entire session. The best way to avoid this mess is creating a checklist.
Is Your Beard Suitable for Home Straightening
You can do home straightening to save some bucks. But, is your beard ready for it. Some beards are so curly that home straightening isn’t enough for it. Even it can destroy the natural look of your beard.
In this situation, you should go to the professional hair and beard stylist. There you will get the better beard care.
Why You Need to Straighten Beard
Personal Preference
Personal preference always gets priority when we do any type of styling. We have to decide how we look attractive. So, if you look good on the curly beard, keep it. Or, if you are not comfortable with it, go for straightening.
Easy Manageable
A curly beard lover also agrees with that curly beard and hair is really hard to manage. You need to put extra effort to wash, comb, and moisturize your beard.
Whereas managing straight beard is completely opposite to it. You will manage and style it very easily. Moreover, some people really look pretty with a straight beard. A straight beard takes less time to manage.
Gives Your Beard a Longer Look
Curly beard look sorter because of its coil nature. When you straighten that curl it will give you a longer beard. Definitely it gives you a different look.
Common Tasks for Every Methods
Wash Your Beard
You should not do any beard treatment without washing it. Because a washed beard is free of dust and impurites. But don’t use hair shampoo or body wash to wash beard.
Hair shampoo or body wash will harm beard health because their formulation isn’t suitable for the beard. Here a specialized beard wash will be the right solution for you.
You can use your favorite beard wash for this purpose. You don’t have any favorites! Then you may check my review list of best beard kits for African Americans.
Now stand in front of a mirror and apply the beard wash on the wet beard. Create lather and use your fingers to comb the beard. After a few minutes wash it off with water.
Now gently pat your beard with a towel or washcloth to soak the excess water. Apply a beard conditioner to manage it easily. Finally, your washing process is done.
Make Your Beard Dry
Wet beard isn’t suitable for straightening, you should dry it completely. But, if you dry it naturally, it may regain its curly form again which hampers the straightening process.
That’s why you need to use a blow drier to dry the beard. A blow drier with comb attached is good for it. But, if your drier doesn’t have it, you can use a beard comb for this purpose.
Don’t use hot air to dry your beard. It will damage your beard with split ends. Set the lower temperature option and keep the blower at least two inches away from your beard if you using a separated comb.
Now move the dier up and down or in a circular motion to avoid intense heating in a certain spot. Stop the beard drier when your beard is completely dry.
Method #1: Using Flat Iron
This is the simplest way to straighten your beard. If you are in a rush, this is the best method. You just need a flat iron for this task. Let’s see the procedure step by step.
Step 1: Apply a Heat Protecting Serum
Using a flat iron is very easy, but it increases the chances of beard damage because of overheating. That’s why you need to very careful while doing this job. Otherwise, it not only destroys your beard but also the look.
To avoid this, you should use a heat protecting serum. It protects your beard and hair from the heat generated by the flat iron. Besides, this serum also nourishes your beard to stand against the damage.
You will get various heat protecting serum out in the market. Among them, my favorite one is RUSK Designer Collection Thermal Serum. This serum nourishes your beard with shea butter and protects against damage with breakage proof ceramide technology.
Put some serum on your hand and massage on the beard. Use a comb to reach the serum in every portion of your beard. After applying the serum, your beard is ready for straightening with flat iron.
Step 2: Use the Flat Iron
This is the main task of straightening African American beard. Plug in the iron and wait for a couple of minutes and let it warm.
Now Separate a portion of your beard to iron it. Are you confused about the amount of the beard you should pick for ironing? Don’t worry, I will tell you.
The amount of beard you would take should be less than the size of your index finger. This amount of beard is good for perfect ironing and the heat can transmit evenly on every beard strands.
Hold the iron ½ inch away from the facial skin and start ironing to the tip of your beard. Never hold the iron more than 5 seconds in one spot, otherwise, it will burn your beard. I think 3-5 seconds of ironing is enough for straightening a single spot.
After ironing one portion, hold it with a clip and then pick another bunch of beards and do the previous task again. Repeat this process until your entire beard gets covered.
Step 3: Final Touch
You have already done the beard straightening process. In this situation, I do a simple task to give my beard a healthier look along with the straight. It is very simple, I just moisturize my beard.
For this I use beard oil. It gives my beard a nice shiner look. If your beard is super strong, you can use beard balm as well.
Method #2: Using Silicone Cream
Silicone is used in various products to use on our skin and hair. It includes shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, hair serum, etc. And silicone cream is one of them. It is used as a straightening agent of beard and hair.
Silicone works great on curly, frizzy, and dry hair. It makes your hair shaft smooth, seals the cuticle, and creates a thin protective layer to avoid moisture absorption. As an African American, you may get day-long straightness with silicone cream beard treatment.
Let’s see the procedure.
Step 1: Apply the Silicone Cream on Beard
Hope you washed and dried your beard properly before applying the silicone cream. Now apply the silicone cream on your beard with a brush. You should use the exact amount that needs to cover the entire beard. If you use too much cream, it’s just a waste.
Now you need to reach the cream on every piece of the beard. Here a narrow teethed comb can help you a lot. If your beard is too dense, you can use a little wider comb.
Just comb your beard carefully so that all portion of your beard get the same amount of cream. Then wait for a while to make your beard dry. Now get ready for the next step.
Step 2: Iron Your Beard
When the silicone cream set onto your beard, you should use a flat iron to straighten your beard. The cream takes approximately 10-15 minutes to set. After that start ironing carefully. Take a small bunch of beard and hold the straightener ½ inch from the skin and start ironing by gliding to the tip.
For detail ironing with beard straightener you can see the method #1.
The beard straightening with silicone cream is done. But, I do an extra task for the health of the beard. Let’s see.
Step 3: Use Beard Balm
After using flat iron you should apply something that gives strength to your beard against heat damage. In this situation, beard balm is a great solution. Besides nourishment, it also helps to keep your beard straight for a little longer.
Now apply the beard balm on your beard and use a narrow teeth comb to spread the balm in every part of the beard. After doing all these, I hope your beard will remain straight for the entire day.
This is an effective method to make your beard straight for a day long occasion or party.
Method #3: Straightening Beard with Keratin
Keratin is widely known for its hair treatment properties. You can get it as a form of keratin shampoo, keratin conditioner, keratin cream and in lots more products. Though keratin is a kind of protein remains naturally in our hair, skin, and nails.
It is literary the building block of our hair that makes it smoother, stronger, easily manageable, and healthy. But, it decreases with age and by the impact of some factors like styling and pollution.
That’s why people use keratin products for hair care and styling. In this section, I will tell you the beard straightening process by using Brazilian keratin. Let’s see the process step by step.
Step 1: Washing Beard with Keratin Shampoo
Washing beard before any kind of styling is a must. For others you can use your regular beard shampoo, but it is better to use a keratin shampoo before straightening with keratin.
But the washing process isn’t so special. You can wash the beard as the way you washed it regularly. After wash, make your beard dry by using a blow-drier. Now your beard is ready for the main process.
Step 2: Apply Brazilian Keratin
After drying your beard completely apply the Brazilian keratin on your beard. Brazilian keratin is quite famous among all hair straightening agents.
Apply it on your entire beard and use a comb to spread it on every beard strands. After finishing the application, you need to wait to set the keratin on your beard. It takes almost 15-20 minutes depending on the size of your beard and the amount of keratin you applied to it.
After 20 minutes blow dry it carefully. Always remember, you should set the lowest temperature option while drying your beard and hair. Otherwise, it will result in beard damage.
Step 3: Start Ironing
Just after drying your beard, start ironing with a beard straightener. Take small portion of your beard and iron from bottom to tip. In this stage, if you want you can take help from others.
After ironing, take a small amount of keratin cream and apply it on your beard and wait for 15 minutes. Now wash it off with water and you are done.
This straightening option last longer than previous two. Hope you enjoyed this.
After Straightening Beard Care
Any type of beard straightening process either by using chemicals or not causes damage. That’s why it is very important to maintain an after straightening beard care routine. Let’s see what you should do.
Use Sulfate Free Shampoo
Washing beard is a good habit and great for beard health. But, it is good only when you use a beard friendly shampoo to wash. There are lots of awesome brands out in the market, pick any of them. Only make sure your beard shampoo is sulfate-free and contains zero harsh chemicals.
Limit the Washing Frequency
Did you mark this point contradictory to the previous one? It is not what you think. It just limiting the frequency little bit. If you wash your beard thrice a week with shampoo, limit it to twice or once a week. It’s that easy.
Condition Regularly
Conditioning beard is very important. It makes your beard easily manageable and acts as an anti-frizz. So, after straightening use a conditioner regularly to care your beard. It also helps to increase the longevity of the straightness.
Use Beard Oil and Beard Balm
There is no alternative to beard oil and beard balm to moisturize and nourish beard from outside. They also give your beard a shinier and healthier look. Beard balm also helps to hold the beard in the right place.
Eat Healthy Diet
Everything will fail if you don’t care about your beard from inside. Yes, it is the nutrition that you get from a healthy diet. Eat vegetables, minerals, and grainy foods. And stop eating junk foods and avoid drinking alcohol. Vitamin A and E are great for skin, hair, and eyes. So, add vitamin A and E rich foods in your diet plan.
The Last Words
Hope you get the basic idea of beard straightening. But, I must say, this text won’t give you the clear idea. To get it go to a professional beard stylist for straightening your beard and see how he do that. Then try it at your home.
Thanks.