If you’re trying to grow your hair or your beard out, but after a certain amount of time you always hit a plateau, the problem may be breakage.

Breakage is a problem that affects hair of all types, and it’s a relatively common issue for men with medium to long beards.

But it can be a serious obstacle to the style of beard or hair that you’re going for.

Luckily, breakage is also a problem that’s easy to solve, IF you know what causes it and how to deal with it.

What causes breakage?

Breakage is the process of hair breaking off part of the way down the shaft (as opposed to breaking from the follicle, which is a different kind of problem). 

In the most general sense, breakage is a result of brittleness in the hair.

Because it tends to be thicker and wirier than head hair, beard hair is particularly susceptible to this kind of breaking when the hairs become dry. 

And certain practices can cause already dry and brittle hair to fall out at a faster rate than they naturally would, like touching your beard too much or being too rough when you wash or dry it. 

Of course, dryness and rough treatment can result from a lot of different mistakes that you might be making in your day-to-day hair and beard care regimens. So later in this post we’ll discuss in detail the different things you can do to protect yourself from this annoying problem.

But first, let’s talk about why breakage sucks so much. Or in other words, “why should I care if I have breakage?”

Why breakage is bad for you

Breakage can be a pain in the butt for a lot of different reasons…

The first is that, as we mentioned earlier, it can cause your beard growth to plateau.

Now this doesn’t mean that your beard isn’t still growing from the base.

It just means that as your beard gets longer, the rate of growth is being matched by the rate of breakage. Even if your beard is growing quickly, it can take a long time for it to become long and full, since it is constantly being worn down by breakage. 

Constant breakage can also be a sign of other underlying problems that can damage your beard further, such as the fact that you’re not getting enough nutrients to keep your beard healthy, or that your skin is too dry and needs greater moisturization.

Ignoring breakage can lead to other problems that cause your hair to grow thinner, weaker, and drier.

How to prevent and repair breakage

So the real question is how to stop breakage.

Most breakage results from a few simple mistakes that people make in their daily grooming.

Here are a few home remedies for beard breakage to help you stop beard hair breaking and make your hair healthy.

1. Stop blow drying your beard

While a blow dryer can be a great tool to dry your hair out quickly when you get out of the shower, it can be harmful to your beard. Especially if you do it on a regular basis.

The excessive heat can cause the natural moisture in your beard to dry up, making it more brittle. So if a blow dryer is your method of choice for drying, be careful not to overdo it.

More often than not though, when you do need your beard dry, you should towel-dry it gently, making sure not to pull too much on your hair since the follicles are softest and weakest when wet.

2. Wash your beard less

It might seem counterintuitive, but washing your beard can actually hurt it. Shampoo tends to dry out your hair by stripping it of its oils.

This can be helpful if you find that your hair or beard tend to be greasy.

But if you do it every day, it’ll make the shafts of hair dry and brittle. Some of those natural oils can be very important to healthy growth and should be left on your hair as much as possible. 

3. Brush more gently

Brushing in a rougher manner can feel good, but it can cause damage to your hair if you do it constantly.

Instead, brush your hair gently until it looks the way you like it, then try your best to leave it alone!

And make sure you don’t brush more than twice a day. Anymore than that, and you’ll start doing some serious damage to your facial hair.

4. Stop touching your beard all the time

In a similar vein, always touching your beard can cause it to dry out from rubbing all of the natural oils off of it.

It can also bend and weaken your hair, making breakage more common.

If you’re the kind of person who tends to fiddle around, make sure that you’re finding ways to avoid tugging on your beard too much.

5. Get the right nutrition

Even though it may seem less obvious than the other tips, nutrition is also a critical element of healthy hair.

Eating the right amount of protein, vitamins A, B and C, and omega-3 fatty acids can help boost beard growth and prevent breakage at the same time.

We Eat, Sleep, and Breathe Beards

At Wild Willies, awesome beard growth is a little more than just a passionate hobby. It’s a way of life.

That’s why we’ve created some of the best beard products around, only using organically-sourced ingredients that grow right here on planet Earth…

Because the best thing for your natural beard growth is using real ingredients that grow naturally.

So keep learning, and keep looking awesome. Make sure to check out Wild-Willies.com for all the best beard advice, naturally-sourced products, and more.

And don’t forget to Live Free, Stay Wild.