Landscaping your mug requires some tools. Should you be a comb or a brush guy? Let's see—beard brush vs. beard comb, commence!
In this article:
- Toothy Vs. Hairy
- Portability
- When To Use a Beard Brush
- When To Use a Beard Comb
- So, Which One is Better?
- Beard Combs + Beard Brush Buying Guide
- Choosing the Best Beard Comb
- Choosing the Best Beard Brush
To Comb or To Brush? | Beard Brush vs. Brush Comb
Toothy Vs. Hairy
Difference number 1? Of course, their very form and composition. To put it simply, beard combs have teeth while beard brushes come with animal or synthetic hair bristles.
Portability
If space and transport are a concern, you're better off with a beard comb. Since they're smaller and thinner, they'll fit into your pocket or bag nicely. Upkeep-wise, you can buy a comb sleeve to protect it from damage and dirt.
When To Use a Beard Brush
- Beard Softening - Using high-quality beard brushes—specifically those with boar hair bristles—can actually soften your facial hair. We'll get more into this in a bit.
- Cleaning Jobs - Beard brushes are great for removing end-of-day dust, dirt, and grime hiding in your whiskers.
- Beard Oil/Balm Application - With a brush, you can evenly distribute oil on your beard; something you can't do by just using your hands or a beard comb.
- Beard Growth Direction Control - Keeping a beard from growing disorderly is a nuance (or annoyance) of sporting a mane. Brushing your facial hair can prevent this from happening. Consistent brushing can dictate the growth direction of your facial hair.
When To Use a Beard Comb
- Detangling - If you sport a long beard, you have detangling jobs for breakfast. Morning showers are actually the best time to deal with beard tangles and a beard comb is excellent for this job.
- Blow Drying - It's a thing, boys! After detangling, a beard comb is also a great support tool when blow drying your whiskers.
- Styling - On point beards do not just happen. More often than not, there's some styling involved behind a handsome mane. And in the styling process, there's almost always a beard comb involved.
- Cutting and Trimming - For accuracy and control, you might want to pair up your trimming scissors with a beard comb. Shaping your beard is really better and easier with the aid of one.
So, Which One is Better?
As listed above, the two have their respective uses. So, investing in both products provides the utmost flexibility. A good strategy is to rely on a beard brush during the early stages of growing a beard, 'til about the fifth month. You'll mainly use it for ensuring it grows in the desired direction and for applying beard oil/balm. After that, as your mane grows fuller and longer, a mighty beard comb is essential for styling and detangling.
Beard Combs + Beard Brush Buying Guide
With the beard brush vs. beard comb conundrum concluded above, it's time for a quick beard comb and brush buying guide.
Choosing the Best Beard Comb
A Matter of Materialism
The kind where you take a comb's material real seriously. Some of the choices available are plastic, wood, metal, cellulose acetate, and acrylic. Each material has their respective proponents along with great arguments for their benefits. This is supposed to be a quick buying guide, so we'll veer away from the tangled details. Predominantly, cellulose acetone, wooden, and fine metal combs are the best choices.
The Bite Matters
Depending on the type of beard you have, you have to choose from the following options:
- Fine Tooth Comb - Ideal for mustaches or shorter beards
- Wide Tooth Comb - Perfect for medium-length beards, its wider teeth allow for a gentler glide-through
- Very Wide Tooth Comb - Weapon of choice for wild, long beards
The Cut, Too, Matters
Your concern here is the fineness of the comb's teeth. Some (mostly mass produced ones) often have microscopic jagged edges that can mess with your beard. Your best bet are combs made from saw-cut rubber and well-polished wood and metal.
Our Recommendation
Of course, it's our very own Edge Beard Shaping Tool It's made of 6061 billet aluminum, in anodized black, and laser engraved. A tough guy for the toughest of beards, we've just upped the ante on combs with this bad boy. And it pulls double duty as a bottle opener!
Choosing the Best Beard Brush
Boar Hair Isn't a Bore
Right off the bat, we'll recommend the purchase of boar bristle beard brushes. Here's what you'll be getting:
- Better Reach - Brushes of this kind have bristle cut at different lengths. This allows you to reach most of the hair strands of your beard.
- Less Split-ends - With better reach, you won't need to brush as much. So, less strokes = less split-ends, ergo, less trimming. Pretty, sweet right?
- Beard Conditioning - Beard oil and natural oil tend to cling to boar hair, allowing them to be distributed evenly with every stroke. The result? Softer, healthier beards.
If you have a heart for animals, you can opt for synthetic ones.
Firm is Good
A lot of things are way, way better firm, including beard brush bristles. If you're all for a well-done cleaning job after a long tiring day, firm bristles will satisfy you.
Size, a Consideration But Not a Necessity
Your choices are normal and travel sizes. If you don't have a very long beard, travel size can function just as good and come pretty handy. They're generally cheaper and easier to carry and store. Travel brushes have fewer bristles so you might want to purchase a regular-sized one if you have a longer, thicker beard.
Can't Handle It?
Depending on the size and grip of your hands, you might want to go for one with a handle for better control. The trade-off? You get a longer brush so carrying one in your pocket won't be an option.
Our Recommendation
Yep, another one from our badass roster: Wild Willies Beard Brush. Made with natural boar bristles, it ain't gonna be flimsy, uneven, and weak. It comes with a beautifully engraved and ergonomic holder so you can expect a robust brush that works well with all beard types.
To know what to expect when growing a beard, check out this video by Wild Willies:
What did we learn? These two aren't rivals. They're actually more of the Batman and Robin of keeping a healthy and handsome beard. Being a comb or brush guy may be out of the picture now—we got a new guy: the smart one who covers his ass by using both.
Do you agree with our conclusion? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
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