Some bearded brothers find it hard to get into the groove of maintaining their beard.  This can come down to the lack of care factor, or time, but more often than not it's because guys just don't really know where to start when it comes to caring for their beard.  

A fundamental part of good beard grooming is brushing / combing your beard.  Brushing regularly stimulates the hair follicles, promoting a healthier beard (and sometimes even faster growth!). 

So then the question arises, beard brush vs beard comb - does it even matter?

In short... yes, yes it does. 

Just like with head hair, brushing / combing should be done on a regular basis.  In addition to the visual benefit, it also helps to spread the natural oils through the hair, in turn providing much needed oil to the skin beneath the hair.  So if you're struggling with dry, course beard hair or dry skin beneath your beard, it's essential that you start brushing and/or combing your beard.  It will also help with any itchiness if your beard hair is less tangled on your face.  Sounds funny - but it's true.

So then, brush vs comb - what one's for you?

Firstly, it's important you understand the benefits of both.  There are a huge range of brushes and combs on the market, with a big price difference.  So we've set out some of our our key recommendations below.

For brushes, we recommended using a good quality boar's hair brush with bristles cut at different lengths - this will help to reach all hairs with every brushstroke. 

Boar's hair is better than synthetic as it has a natural ability to trap any oils into the brush hairs, allowing a more even distribution around your beard.  In addition, a good brush will help to train your hair follicles to grow in the same direction.  

Surely you've seen that an ungroomed beard and result in the beard hairs growing in all directions... if you want your mo and beard hairs to grow in uniform, you'll need to help them out a little.

We stock Beardbrand's Boar's Hair Brush and truly believe it's one of the best on the market.  Baerdbrand think it's pretty awesome too - here's what they have to say about their boar's hair brush:

"What makes boar's hair better than synthetic brushes? The surface of each bristle is scaly and draws dust and excess product from the hair as you use it. The bristles also stimulates the natural oils (sebum) present in the scalp, and draws them along the hair shafts, essential for keeping hair clean, healthy, shiny, and protected."

- Beardbrand

Now - let's turn to combs.  Just Googling "beard combs" returns thousands of results of different brands, sizes and prices. 

Beard combs are more suited for longer beard hair. They help to detangle the longer beard hair and also assist in the styling of it too! 

Like with a brush, you'll want a good quality comb for your beard.  If you opt for a cheap $2 shop comb, you'll end up with a frizzy beard and split ends.

A good quality comb will have evenly spread teeth across the comb to allow your beard hair to glide through.  The teeth will also be rounded and cut in such a way to ensure they don't give your beard hair split ends!  

So we've had the 101 lesson on brushes and combs, now what about brushes vs combs?! 

In short, it's up to you! It really comes down to what you're wanting to get out of your beard.  If you're going for a fuller, more natural looking beard then a brush would probably work best for you.  Same goes if you want to tame your growth and retain stray hairs.  But if you're wanting more detailed maintenance on a longer beard ( e.g. for styling), then a comb would be your best pick.  A comb will also help you with any regular trimming that might be required (for example to your mo).  

If you're a beard and comb virgin, we would recommend you buy one of each and give both a try.  Overall they're both relatively inexpensive and will last for a good few years!

Need more convincing? Just ask our friends over at Beardbrand

Beard on!