How to Blow-dry and Straighten your Beard Fast & Easy

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A good hairdryer is a must to keep your beard and mustache well-trimmed and groomed. Here’s how to do it easily!

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This is What you Need

Hair Dryer

Choose a powerful hairdryer with a cold shot button and a narrow nozzle. You can use your girlfriend/spouse’s hairdryer or go for our recommended choice Conair 1875 Watt Full Size Pro Hair Dryer with Ionic Conditioning.

Beard Comb

The best choice is a large comb with coarse teeth. Choose a beard comb made of acetate or wood, so you avoid static electricity.

Beard Brush

A beard brush with coarse bristles. The best beard brushes have boar bristles, the cheaper ones use nylon. It’s a matter of taste whether you want one with a handle or not.

Why use a Hair Dryer?

Beard that is longer than 1-2 inches (3-4cm) retains a lot of moisture and quickly begins to tangle. A tangled beard looks shaggy. The more curly beard growth you have, the bigger the problem, and on the mustache, it appears almost immediately.

Drying a beard works in the same way as ironing a damp shirt. The beard is softened by water and beard shampoo in the shower stretched with a beard comb and dried into the shape of warm air from the hairdryer. The result is a beard that stays straight and voluminous all day long.

Drying is a must before you trim your beard, otherwise, you have no idea how far each hair in reality is and you’ll risk cutting it crooked. A blow-dried beard is also the perfect starting point for styling with beard oil or a beard balm and beard brush.

This is how you do it

Wash your beard in the shower with a beard shampoo
Add moisture with a little beard oil (if you use beard wax or beard balm you can skip this step).
Quickly comb through the beard with a beard comb.
Set the dryer to medium heat and medium airflow. Use a flat nozzle.
Gently stretch the beard lengthwise, from the inside out with the comb trailed by the hairdryer. Repeat until you have the shape you want.
Leave about 20% moisture in the beard (equivalent to “towel dry”). The beard is dry by nature and becomes stiff if you dry it too much. The whole blow-drying usually takes only 2-3 minutes.
Massage in any styling with your fingers. Men with shorter beards like to use light beard oil, while those with long beards use beard balm. Particularly bushy beards can be held in place with beard balms that have a really strong hold like Honest Amish Heavy Duty Beard Balm which has a very strong hold. Do not use hair styling products on the beard as it will be too sticky and/or stiff.
Give the shape a final finish with a beard brush. Thus, you get loose hair removed and can collect the beard as you wish.

Tips and Tricks

Avoid drying your beard with a towel. If you rub the beard with a towel, it will be messy and harder to blow-dry.
Styling. If your beard is extra unruly with lots of curls and grows in various directions you can blow-dry the beard balm or wax. By doing so you’ll warm up the wax and thus get a better hold.
Dry the mustache as the very first. Mustaches are dried and combed out to each side from the nose, and may require a finer-meshed mustache comb to look nice. Lots of people use mustache wax to get the last finish.