You’re already familiar with bed head, that unsightly mess atop your head after a good night’s sleep. It often makes your hair look windswept even though you’ve just woken up. Thus, your morning male grooming routine probably involves combs and a heaping helping of product. But for guys with beards, there’s one other thing you need to worry about—bed beard. Just like the rest of your hair, your beard gets squished, tangled, and drained of moisture while you sleep. Morning is the perfect opportunity to fix your bed beard and ensure it looks good all day long.

Grab your beard shampoo

Showering is perhaps the most important part of any morning male grooming routine. It wakes you up, and helps you feel refreshed before you head to the office. But don’t just wash your hair and body. Give your beard some love too.

Take some time to use a beard shampoo. It’ll help keep your follicles squeaky clean, and it’ll help you detangle. Detangling is crucial because knots and tangles can stop moisture from reaching all of your beard hair. Knots and tangles also make your beard look unkempt. 

Comb it out

Once you’ve finished your shower, pat your beard dry. Avoid aggressively rubbing your beard with a towel. While it’s wet, your hair is more prone to breakage and long-term damage. Plus, you don’t want your hair to be completely dry at this stage.

Grab your beard comb and gently pull it through to straighten out any tangles. Combing your beard also helps you remove loose hairs hiding underneath there, and it helps you exfoliate the skin that your cleanser can’t reach. 

Shape and Trim

Now that you’re untangled, it’s time to clean things up. Of course, if you prefer a natural beard style, you can skip this step and keep that full Gandalf going. But if you need to make some adjustments, you’ll want to take care of them here. Trim your cheek and necklines to your liking. Keep in mind, you probably won’t need to do this every day. Only as needed.

Moisturizing Your Beard

After your initial shower, this is probably the most important part of your morning male grooming routine. Moisturizing your beard serves a few different purposes. First, it ensures healthy growth. It also keeps the skin underneath your beard moisturized, and it helps you avoid issues like irritation, redness, itching, and beard dandruff.

Simply dab a dime-sized amount of The Alchemist Tea Tree & Peppermint Beard Oil in your palm, rub it between your palms to warm it up, and apply it to your beard. You might need an extra drop or two if you have a full beard. This should be enough moisture to last through your entire day.

However, if you’re an active guy who will shower a second time after a workout, toss some beard oil in your gym bag. You’ll likely need another application.

Combing Your Beard—Again

Combing your beard is important—so important that you need to do it twice. But this go-round, you’re combing to ensure the beard oil spreads evenly throughout your hair. You want every follicle to glisten and absorb the moisture. You’ll also use your comb to style your beard in the fashion you want.

If your growth is newer, and you fall somewhere between heavy stubble and a short beard, a beard brush may be a better alternative for you. At this stage, you’re more concerned with controlling the direction of growth to ensure you end up with a beard that you love.

Your morning male grooming routine is the perfect time to tackle bed beard once and for all…until tomorrow morning.