How to keep your body healthy

How to Conquer Beard Dandruff Once and for All Patrick Allan 6/29/17 5:00pmFiled to: HYGIENE 50.4K 48 3 Photo by David Goehring. No one can get away with white, flaky beard dandruff—not even Santa Claus. It’s itchy, unsightly, and can turn a dark-colored shirt into a warning sign for those who might otherwise be attracted to you. Causes of Beard Dandruff There are a two major causes of beard dandruff: dry skin and fungal infections. Dry skin occurs under your beard when you wash your face with harsh cleansers or regular soap. They keep your face and beard clean, but they also remove any oils on your skin or beard hair that keep them from drying out. Dry skin can also occur when it’s very cold out. ADVERTISEMENT Fungal infections occur because the yeast that lives on your skin can hide away from sunlight—which normally kills it and slows its growth—under your glorious beard and mustache. The longer your beard hair gets, the more places malassezia fungus can hide. If you were to shave your face completely, the issue would likely resolve, but then you don’t have your awesome facial hair anymore. Wash and Exfoliate Your Beard For starters, you need to make sure you wash your face and exfoliate your skin under your beard regularly. Natural soaps and facial cleansers are best for this since they are not as harsh and less likely to dry out your skin. Otherwise, opt for a high-end facial cleanser designed to moisturize your face in addition to cleaning it. That classic Dial bar you’ve been using isn’t going to cut it. ADVERTISEMENT Next, get an exfoliator of some kind. It can be a brush or loofah-type thing, or better yet, an exfoliating glove. You can then use your fingers to get in under your beard and remove all that old dead and dry skin, as well as any yeast or other fungi, before it flakes off like a blizzard in July. While you wash, use cold water instead of warm water, as it will help keep your skin from drying out. When you’re finished, gently towel dry your beard without pulling on the hair follicles. Use a Dandruff Shampoo, Occasionally While dandruff shampoos designed for your scalp aren’t ideal for your face, they can help you get control over your beard dandruff when it’s getting bad. If your dandruff is light, Head & Shoulders may help — its active ingredient pyrithione zinc fights off fungi and bacteria, and treats mild seborrhoeic dermatitis (another possible cause of dandruff). If your dandruff is pretty bad, another good option is Nizoral. It’s another type of over-the-counter dandruff shampoo with the active ingredient ketoconazole, which is used in prescription-strength dandruff and dermatitis treatments. Selsun Blue, however, another dandruff shampoo option, is not ideal: its active ingredient, selenium disulfide, is known to stop working as soon as you stop applying it regularly. Outstream Video Keep in mind that these shampoos can also dry out the skin under your beard, however. At most, you should only use dandruff shampoos a couple times per month, and when you do, make sure you follow up with some moisturizers or oils. Article preview thumbnail Pick the Right Shampoo for Your Scalp, Not Your Hair All shampoos and conditioners are not the same. If you've been buying volumizing, hydrating,… Read more Use Oils, Balms, and Other Beard-Specific Products Natural oils, like the ones your skin produces, keep your skin from getting dry and act as antimicrobial barriers. But when you wash your natural oils away in an effort to scrape off dead skin or use anti-dandruff chemicals, you need to replace them. ADVERTISEMENT Studies show that oils like tea tree oil do a great job of fighting off the fungus that causes flaky skin. You can usually find a bottle of it for about $10 online. According to dermatologist Dr. Cheryl Lee, other oils that are safe to use on your skin include coconut oil, jojoba oil, safflower oil, evening primrose, perilla, and hemp oil. If you scour beard forums and message boards, many people swear by jojoba and coconut oil specifically. Dr. Lee does note, however, that some oils should be avoided. Don’t use olive, avocado, peanut, or almond oil if possible. They are detrimental to the skin barrier, and may even cause you to develop an allergy. When applying oil to your beard, make sure your beard and skin under your beard is dry. Then apply a small amount of oil to your hands and massage it into your beards roots. If your beard is longer, use a boar hair beard brush (about $12) to help spread out the oil and groom your beard hair. Repeat daily. You can also find products that are specifically designed for washing, moisturizing, and grooming beards. There’s beard wash, which is shampoo that is specifically designed to clean and hydrate beards and the skin underneath. There’s also beard balms that you massage into your beards after washing. These balms usually contain a combination of the oils mentioned above, in addition to other natural ingredients that make it smell nice and clean. If There’s No Change, See a Dermatologist If you’ve tried all of the above and still have visible beard dandruff, it’s time to seek help from a professional. You may have an abnormal skin condition causing the dandruff, and you may need a prescription medicine to eradicate the problem. Article preview thumbnail Learn How to Properly Trim Your Beard with This Video If you're the bearded type, keeping those suburbs of the chin in check is more difficult than… Read more ABOUT THE AUTHOR Patrick Allan Staff Writer, Lifehacker.com EmailTwitterPosts Discussion Staff (3) Community (37) Pending Reply AndrosZ Patrick Allan 6/29/17 5:43pm Also, don’t forget to feed the birds currently living in your beard. 21 Reply2 replies Patrick Allan AndrosZ 6/29/17 5:52pm Yes, please do. It’s a symbiotic relationship people. They keep the bugs at bay, you sprinkle bird feed into your beard. The way nature intended. 13 Reply3 replies Gerry-OBrien Patrick Allan 6/29/17 5:47pm Drying the beard completely is a must. 5 Reply2 replies View all 48 replies Show more comments MID-WEEK MEDITATIONS Wisdom Is Just Thinking Before You Act Patrick Allan Today 5:00pmFiled to: MID-WEEK MEDITATIONS 33.0K 9 3 Continue reading Image via Wikimedia Commons. Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and a guide to using its waters to reflect on and improve your life. Article preview thumbnail Deal With the Real World, Not the Ideal World Welcome back to Mid-Week Meditations, Lifehacker’s weekly dip into the pool of stoic wisdom, and… Read more This week’s selection comes from Heraclitus of Ephesus, a Greek philosopher sometimes known as “The Obscure” or the “Weeping Philosopher” who lived from around 535 BC to 475 BC. He suggests that wisdom is easier to achieve than you may think: “For to be wise is only one thing—to fix our attention on our intelligence, which guides all things everywhere.” HERACLITUS OF EPHESUS, LIVES OF THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS, 9.1 What It Means What Heraclitus is saying here is quite simple: if you want to be wise, listen to the reasonable and intelligent parts of your mind, not the emotional, animal parts. For it is intelligence and reason that governs our universe and guides us along the best path, not our impulses. What to Take From It “Oh, how did you get to be so wise?” one might ask a wise man, and they’d say wisdom isn’t a superpower bestowed upon the fortunate. Again, the takeaway here is simple: avoid doing things or saying things until you’ve taken some time to think about them. Will your action benefit you or others in some way? Are your words worth being heard, or are they empty syllables drowning out other voices of reason? What will the repercussions be? Are you willing to take on the consequences? Article preview thumbnail If You Feel Compelled to Act, Hesitate First Generally things are fine and we make good enough choices from day to day, but all have those few… Read more Wisdom often comes with experience, yes, but most of said experience teaches you to avoid things you may have been able to avoid in the first place. You don’t have to make mistakes in order to learn how to avoid them. If you want to be wise, stop, listen to your thoughts, and deliberate before carrying on. Not every minutia of daily life may require such deliberation—there’s no need to draft a pros and cons list for everything—but thinking and listening to reason before acting will rarely harm you in the long run. Wisdom is there for the taking, friends. Choose to take it. RECOMMENDED STORIES Traveling All the Time Won't Fulfill You Just Being "Good" Isn't Enough Stop Spending Time With People Who Drag You Down Discussion Community (3) Pending Reply MorimotoK Patrick Allan 11/01/17 5:41pm I’ve known plenty of people who have taken time to think and contemplate before acting. In many of those cases I would definitely not consider their choices to be “wise”. 1 Reply MemeWeaver MorimotoK 11/01/17 6:05pm Boy, there’s a fine line here, isn’t there? Because over-analyzing — to the point of not ever acting — is no more of a virtue. So part of wisdom is knowing at some point that you are obligated to act? 2 Reply Soniku Patrick Allan 11/01/17 8:31pm Wisdom is not simply thinking before you act. No amount of thinking or self-reflection will ever be enough to accomplish something good or well without sufficient knowledge and/or experience. Wisdom is a great many things and those who know wisdom know this. It is wise to heed the warnings of those that came before you. It is wise to understand the world for yourself. Those who see the benefits of and seek wisdom are immediately transported to its door. Wisdom is preparation, practice, peace, purpose and pizza. I’m about to finish this entire pizza from Little Caesars on my own because I lack wisdom. I was not prepared for this day. Reply Show more comments ShareTweet Want Lifeh