6 Easy Ways To Fix A Stringy Beard

Life gets in the way of man’s grooming sometimes. If you’ve found yourself with a beard that you haven’t touched in weeks, no one’s going to blame you. However, if you can’t stand the look anymore there are plenty of ways you can clean up and get your facial hair looking suave once again.  So, how exactly do you fix a stringy beard? 

A stringy beard can be fixed by some simple grooming methods; brushing and oiling daily, moisturizing with a little beard balm, and carefully snipping stray hairs are a few. 

It’s not so much a step-by-step process as it is a “groom as you go” process. 

It’s honestly easier than it seems, and with just a few good habits you won’t even have to consider going babyface, even for a job interview. 

Before we talk through 6 easy ways to fix this commonly-faced problem, it’s important to talk about what the problem is in the first place. 

Let’s get to it. 

What Exactly Is A “Stringy Beard”?

If your beard hair is wispy, feathery, and light, you have a stringy beard. 

These kinds of beards tend to look thinner than they actually are and have longer hairs protruding out in whichever direction they feel like, mostly depending on where the wind is blowing that day. 

In general, if you simply let your beard grow out for more than a few weeks you will know what a stringy beard looks like. It happens to everyone after a while and this is why you should always keep up on your beard maintenance. 

You may think: “I can’t really grow thick facial hair – there’s no point in tending to it”. 

But you couldn’t be more wrong. Stringy beards can be made to look less stringy using some simple grooming methods, no matter how naturally thin your beard hair distribution may be. 

Read on to find out more. 

6 Ways To Easily Fix A Stringy Beard

You’ll probably notice how a lot of these “fixes” are just good grooming habits to adopt. 

They may not all make your beard look less stringy, but they’ll almost certainly help you with other bearded issues you’ll face as it grows longer. 

Try them out and find out what works for you. 

1. Use Beard Oil And Beard Balm

I could go through all kinds of different beard products but really they all offer different things and it’s best to see what works best for your beard specifically. There’s a reason there are so many options and that’s because everyone’s hair is different, including yours.

But two that come to mind immediately are beard oils and beard balms. 

Moisturizing and nourishing the beard and the underlying skin is crucial when it comes to fixing a stringy beard. 

Beard oil is light and comfortable to apply. A nice, even coating of beard oil across the beard is subtle and gives off a gentle shine. 

Beard balm is a little heavier to apply but not overbearing. It’s also moisturizing but has the additional benefit of having some hold. In other words, it can keep hair in place. 

It can flatten those wispy, stray hairs and keep them that way throughout the course of the day. 

In terms of what order you do things, beard oil is best applied before you brush the beard – this helps to distribute the stuff evenly. 

Beard balm is usually applied at the end, after you’ve washed, trimmed, oiled, brushed, and combed (if it’s long enough to benefit from combing). 

Using the right products will help a stringy beard look fuller and give it just the right amount of shine. 

Although this doesn’t directly impact how thick a beard truly is, it can certainly give off the illusion of a thicker beard. 

They will keep your whiskers soft and smooth. This is key for itch prevention because it also moisturizes the skin underneath your beard.

Itchiness is another thing that makes for a stringy beard because, unless you have some incredible self-discipline, you’re going to itch your beard if the skin gets too dry underneath. Then, all of a sudden, hairs are frayed everywhere and you’re back to square one.

This article won’t go too far into how bettering your health can also fix a stringy beard, but getting some product and keeping your skin healthy is a great way of doing this. 

With this in mind don’t use too much product as this can irritate your skin. Irritated skin and beards do not go well together. It’s uncomfortable and does ruin the look. 

2. A Boar Bristle Beard Brush

The benefits of beard brushing should never be underestimated. Start doing it early. 

The reason for this is that it trains the beard to grow it the way you want it to. With beard hair having a tendency to grow in all sorts of directions, starting this habit early will do you the world of good. 

Over time, you’ll find that you’ll need to brush less to produce the same result. 

But get into the habit of doing it daily once you’ve got enough length to benefit from it. Once you’ve grown it out for 3-4 weeks, you’ve got enough to start. 

It’s also great for re-distributing natural oils. This prevents it from accumulating and causing greasiness. 

The combination of straighter and flatter hairs all generally growing downward, together with a reduction in greasiness makes brushing a beard a perfect remedy for a stringy beard. 

It’s important to go for a boar bristle beard brush instead of a synthetic nylon one. Boar hair is very similar to beard hair and glides effortlessly through it. 

Synthetic bristles will do more harm than good. They’ll cause split ends and may even cause an even stringier appearance. 

3. Comb Your Beard Daily

You would be surprised how many people neglect this simple morning routine and how much it shows. 

Having said that, start combing once you’ve got around 8 weeks’ worth of growth. Before that point, it’s probably not long enough to benefit from combing. 

It isn’t as “essential” a pillar of beard grooming as brushing, but it has the additional benefits of detangling and styling. 

Once again, avoid synthetic combs. Go for a nice pearwood or sandalwood one as these are generally anti-static and don’t frizz up the beard hairs. Plus they’re gentler on the hairs themselves. 

Unless you’re going for one of the more uncommon styles, you’ll generally want to comb downward and toward the chin. 

A tidy and well-styled beard without many tangles is unlikely to look stringy. That’s what a beard comb can do for you. 

4. Snip the Strays

When you go to tidy up your beard it doesn’t always mean you need to break out the buzzers. Sometimes, all you need is a small pair of beard scissors and you can tame those beard bristles in just a few snips. 

You can get pretty intricate with it. 

As your beard grows longer, you may start to notice it getting wispier and stringier, with stray hairs sprouting and sticking out. 

You can deal with them as you grow by snipping them when you see them. 

Over time, you’ll notice how your beard looks more even in length. This, in itself, can make a beard look fuller, happier, and less stringy. 

5. Go See the Barber

Believe it or not, your barber isn’t just for the hair on your head, and they can often help make a wispy and feather beard look fuller. 

They may do this by recommending a specific style. For example, trimming a goatee could remove those wispy and stringy cheek hairs. 

Seeing a professional couldn’t do any harm. As long as they’re a trusted source, the advice (and potentially the trim) they provide could be very eye-opening. 

Even if you just have questions about what products would suit your beard best, they may well be able to shed some light. 

6. Try Growing It Out

This one isn’t going to be for everyone. 

For some, it may not even help. In fact, they might even find that the beard becomes stringier as it grows longer. 

But it’s worth a shot. 

Try growing it out a little longer than you’re used to. This may well give the patchier, thinner parts of the beard more time to “catch up”, so to speak. 

Plus, as a beard grows longer, the weight of the hair gently pulls it downward. This often leads to a more uniform looking beard, with most of the hairs generally growing in the right direction (downward and toward the chin). 

It’s very important to keep up with the grooming habits outlined earlier, however. Growing the beard longer without brushing, oiling, and combing is pretty pointless. 

It’ll look wispy and stringy no matter how long you choose to grow it. 

But if you find that growing your beard out longer than you have before does make it look thicker and fuller, you’ve won. 

It’s probably the “easiest” fix, despite the additional grooming requirements a longer beard does bring. 

Conclusion

It may be a daunting task at first but, with a little can-do attitude, you’ll be back to looking crisp in no time. 

Finally, when in doubt, pay a visit to your barber if these suggestions didn’t help. They can provide a much more personalized plan for your beard, with suggestions for the right style and products to use. 

Whatever you do, have fun with it. Try not to get too stressed. With beard grooming, many problems do sort themselves out over time. It’s just a case of keeping up with the grooming requirements to make sure things don’t get out of control. 

Enjoy.