Looking for short beard and face care tips
I struggle with trichotillomania which is a compulsion to pluck my own hair. Mine is focused primarily on my beard, resulting in unsightly bare patches. I am working through the mental health component of this condition already, but a better hair and skin care regiment could help reduce the triggers that start me plucking hairs.
I keep my beard relatively close cropped to my face. When the hairs in my bald patches start to regrow there is typically a lot of irritation which starts me touching my face, which leads me to find bumps like zits and blackheads and “weird hairs”, like kinky hairs, hairs growing in the wrong direction, particularly hard or soft hairs, anything that feels off when I run my fingers over them. This has the side effect of depositing more dirt and oils from my fingers onto my face, which creates a kind of feedback loop where the dirtier my face is the more I want to touch it, and the more I touch it the dirtier it gets. When I encounter these bumps and weird hairs I will want to pick at them and I won’t stop thinking about it until I do. It is a real struggle that I am working through and I figure if I can reduce that irritation that triggers it I’ll be less likely to touch and therefore pluck.
What I am hoping to find here are general care tips I can use for my short-cropped beard. What kind of products do you use for both the hairs themselves and your face, what methods do you use to trim, etc.? Currently I wash my face with a cleanser, followed by a toner, then a serum or lotion, but I don’t use any products specifically for my beard hairs themselves. I trim with an electric razor when my beard is between .5 and 1 inches long and I’ll trim it down to about 1/8 of an inch, or whatever setting 7, 8, or 9 is on my razor.
Hey I'm a fellow guy that pulls out his beard hair... It's a multi-decade long struggle. I'll go on bouts of "good behavior" but all it takes is one slip-up and back to patch city. I've tried the clean shaven route, but as soon as any little bit of stubble pokes it's way through, my bad habit comes back. I can relate with what you're going through.
I wish I could provide you with a cure, but here are some things that I have found helpful:
IDENTIFY YOUR TRIGGERS.
If I make it past the "bumps" phase (like you said, one of the hardest parts) I personally find if I'm sitting at a computer desk processing information, my hand idly rests on the computer chair and I will start to inadvertently and mindlessly pick. I switched to a standing desk to try to avoid this position. I also try to stand in work meetings as much as I possibly can. (Side benefit besides avoiding picking... Makes me look important and busy lol)
OWN IT.
Like I said before, I've dealt with this a long time. To the point where most people know me with a bare patch in my scruff. Yep it's there. Yep it's different. Yeah I don't want it to be there... But it's there. It's me!
All that being said, I'll be closely monitoring this thread for personal advice! 😁
Hello bud, I don't have the same condition you do but well done for addressing it as it must be a bitch when you've got a beard!
"Keep it simple" is my beard philosophy as mine is kept short as well. Decent UV protection face moisturiser (Cerave AM for men) in the morning, then Bulldog Sensitive before I hit the sack.
Daily beard brush. First thing in the morning, last thing in the evening and then generally when I go to the bathroom throughout the day (WFH ftw). Just a quick run through to keep the hairs straight and get rid of niggling ... anythings.
I give the beard a trim every few weeks with a decent buzzer to keep it from getting too long with just a Whal electric trimmer. Keep it on the long setting so I don't end up with just stubble. Then it's a every other day shave with a double edge to keep from developing a monumental neckbeard.
I'd say that's relatively simple... but that's me knowing that's been my routine for 17 years or so!
Hmm, I know the benefit of sun protection, but can you elaborate on what the nightly moisturizer is doing?
(not op, sorry)
TL;DR it prevents and treats dry skin.
The main thing a good moisturizer does is maintain adequate moisture levels in the skin's topical layers by minimizing trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL), which can be caused by external factors like air pollution, sun exposure, physical scrubbing, and even harsh surfactants in a cleanser (generally not a problem in modern formulations though).
The skin's so-called natural moisturizing factor (NMF) is its natural balance of ingredients that serves to maintain proper skin hydration (which leads to better functioning of the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin, preservation of elasticity, and protection from damage). NMF levels tend to decline with age, which leads to dry skin; we want to keep them high enough.
Moisturization generally works in 3 ways; specific classes of ingredients do different things: Occlusives trap in water and reduce TEWL that way (the better ones, think petrolatum and mineral oil, tend to feel greasy in high concentrations). Humectants (e.g. glycerin, hyaluronic acid) enhance surface water availability by drawing out water from the deeper levels of the skin (where there's enough supply, so no need to worry), getting it into the outer layers. Finally, emollients give the perception of soft, smooth skin by filling in the spaces between desquamating corneocytes (outer-layer skin cells that are currently being shed); they're very diverse, though many emollients also work by occlusivity and include oils and dimethicone.
A basic moisturizer may include a subset or all of those 3 types of moisturizing ingredients. That said, you might not like the feel of a very heavy cream and be better off with a light gel instead, or on the other side of the spectrum, you may deem it appropriate to apply moisturizer before sunscreen (which is by itself a good moisturizer) in the morning; that depends on the dryness/oiliness of your individual skin, so listen to it and choose a product that feels good. Personally, I leave out moisturizers in the summer time entirely and opt for a hydrating liquid product (toner) instead.
Thank you so much!
For me? I get dry skin as I'm outside a lot for hobbies. I ride a motorbike or pushbike through London. So It just helps not end up with my skin being angry.
I'll put it this way. I'm 35 (as of last week) and people think I'm five years younger. I don't know if it's good genes or my routine... but I'm sticking to it!
As someone who also has trich, N Acetyl Cysteine and knowing your triggers helps a lot.
The Ordinary Hylauronic Acid or Cerave products helps a lot.
You said you already have some approach to the mental health angle, but how about appointing some time of the day to touch your beard area, like one hour from eight o'clock, and at every other time, it's, nope, now is not the time.