You decided to grow a beard after scrolling through #beardgoals on Instagram. You saw the vision of the perfectly groomed, full beard that you wanted. Now, after growing a beard for a few weeks, you see something you never expected. You’ve got patches all over your chin instead of a wondrous spectacle like the one of Ballers’ John David Washington. The sad truth is that a great beard isn’t an overnight success. The good news is that there are ways to fix a patchy beard.

Step 1 To Fix A Patchy Beard: Just Grow With It

Patience is a virtue when it comes to growing a beard. With time comes a fuller, more aesthetically pleasing beard. As the stubble comes in, you’ll feel inclined to shave it down or off completely in hopes that something different will happen next time. It won’t change. So don’t waste your time. Instead, just allow it to grow and take care of it.

When your newly grown facial hair starts to itch or get hard, there’s a wide range of beard products that can help you keep it tame, irritation-free, and healthy. Beard oil for men is your secret weapon. It’ll soften your beard hair and it’ll keep your hair moisturized as well as the skin underneath. Beard oil leaves your face feeling nourished and refreshed. It encourages healthy growth, which is a necessary step for a full mane to grow when trying to fix a patchy beard.

A Little Trim Here and There

We’ve already established that you don’t want to shave everything off and start over every time you don’t see the growth pattern you want. But as your beard hair starts to grow in, it’s okay to trim.

This doesn’t mean daily. If you’re taking a little off the top every morning, you’ll be stuck in a perpetual state of limited growth forever. Each day will be like Groundhog Day for you, and nobody wants that. Instead, touch it up every few days or once a week. Try out a light trim that resembles five o’clock shadow. These beard grooming tips help you maintain a well kempt beard throughout the process while minimizing the appearance of patches.

Yes, You Should Brush Your Beard

As your beard hair grows in, you’ll notice the growth. But you’ll probably feel like isn’t long enough to care for. You’re so wrong. Once you’re a few weeks in, how well you care for your beard really matters. Brushing your beard in the earlier stages helps control the direction of growth. Plus, you can manipulate the patchy appearance a little bit. You can fill in some of those sparse areas with hair from surrounding areas.

Accept It

Whether it’s the hair on your head or your face, growth can be awkward. It’s a necessary stage that you have to go through to unleash the amazing beard that lies underneath. Sometimes, simply caring for your beard as it grows is all you can do. It’ll be the envy of the beard community before you know it.

If you’re not too keen on brushing, trimming, or manipulating your beard to hide the patches, just be sure to keep it nice and healthy. As mentioned before, beard oil gets the job done when it comes to encouraging healthy growth. It also erases the pesky feeling of itchy beard and prevents common issues like beard dandruff and irritation. The more your beard grows in, the more you’ll realize you need to do something. Beard oil products are the answer to these problems.

Fixing a patchy beard is a matter of either accepting it for what it is or enacting some simple hacks to fake it till you make it.