#quarantinebeard and your face mask
By Sagar Panchal, Edited by Paola Jerez | June 22, 2020
Washing Your Beard
Wash your hands! The motto that will serve as the zeitgeist of 2020. The severity of coronavirus is paramount and we need to be taking extreme precautions to not only protect ourselves but also the people around us. While staying quarantined in the house for months is near impossible, it is the best measure of prevention we can take and should strive for it. How can we do this though, when we have to run to the grocery store for basic necessities? Moreover, what about the germs that potentially transfer onto your beard? How can we stay safe, and more importantly stylish?
Face Masks
Face masks though seemingly simple, are highly effective in preventing the spread of the virus. Wearing one will help from you potentially passing it onto someone and vice versa.
As people go on about their daily routine without a face mask their exposure to the virus is higher. Even with a mask on, there is a chance that the virus could attach to the exposed areas of your face. An NPR report mentions how although having a beard isn’t putting you at a higher risk for a virus, it is a great place to host germs and bacteria. So what should you do?
Just as you wash your hands, you need to wash your beard. According to several studies, soap physically inactivates the virus, so it can’t bind to nor enter human cells anymore. This is why it is imperative to wash your hands, so adding this step to your beard grooming regimen will make sure your beard is safe!
Can’t I Just Use Shampoo?
Find yourself a solid beard wash that will help cleanse the hair of those nasty germs. Now I know what you’re asking yourself “can’t I just use shampoo?” The short answer is a big fat NO.
Contrary to popular belief, hair shampoo is not for all types of hair. The hair on our face, though course, needs to be treated with different care due to the composition of our facial skin. Therefore, use beard washes – they carry milder ingredients that will preserve your face and its natural oils.
Your beard needs just as much attention as the hair on your head. You wash your hair to maintain a healthy clean scalp, right? Facial hair needs to be specially cared for while considering its specific needs. Facial hair is androgenic-hair which is reliant on the natural sebum oils. Washing your beard daily will strip away too much of the natural oils, which will leave you with terrible results. One being dry skin underneath your facial hair and another much worse result is having an itchy beard that is prone to beard dandruff and split-ends!
How Often Should I Wash My Beard?
Give your beard a thorough wash roughly 2-3 times per week to ensure that it’s one of the most sanitary spots on your body. Don’t forget to throw some conditioner on it to have it as silky as Doja Cat’s voice.
You should be cleansing and exfoliating the skin under your beard throughout the year, but as the temperature increases during the summer, the heat and humidity of summer demand extra care for your beard so washing it is a must. These conditions can mix unpleasantly with any sweat, dirt, or dead skin cells, which can irritate the skin underneath or even cause breakouts. During these times when we are all wearing face masks, it becomes that much more critical to keep your beard clean because face masks trap in all that sweat, dirt, and skin cells.
Regardless of coronavirus, ensuring a clean grooming regimen with a beard wash and beard conditioner will leave you feeling better both with respect to health and style! Make sure you keep those face masks on and that beard washed!
Photo Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum, Christine Sandu on Unsplash
