I purchased my first beard balm the other day. I was looking for something with a little more hold so I went with the heavy duty beard balm from honest Amish. There isn't much of a scent to it which is fine but it didn't give me the hold I was looking for. My facial hair seems to be pretty curly and I am having a tough time trying to tame it and make it lay a little more flat to my face. I'm guessing I should've went with a beard wax rather than a balm. Is a mustache wax the same product as beard wax or are there different properties that make them separate entities? Do any of you have any go to waxes that you would recommend?
perhaps a wax?
- Thread starter ruffian
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Not sure on a beard wax, but a good boar beard brush helps a lot for getting the hair to lay better. 
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- #3
Worst case, some drugstores and such carry boar bristle hair brushes for cheap that will work as well.
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- #5
I took your advice and did a little local searching. I found the wav enforcer at Walmart for 3$ in the ethnic hair care section. It's a little palm brush much like the ones I was looking at on amazon. The package claimed 100% boar bristle but I am highly suspect. It is a very firm brush but if I take it through the beard very gently then it seems to work just fine, much better distribution of oils and balms than my plastic comb was doing. It looks and feels very different to my van Der hagen boar hair shaving brush. How could I be sure that there are not synthetic materials in this brush or any brush I am looking at on amazon, especially with not being able to personally see or feel the item.Worst case, some drugstores and such carry boar bristle hair brushes for cheap that will work as well.
Boar bristle beard and hair brushes are typically very coarse. Like your shaving brush, they do soften over time, but they can be pretty stiff and harsh at first.
I recommend brushing after applying an oil or balm so you are offering the hair some prktection. The brush will also help to train the hair to lay down a specific way. Just brush in the direction you want it to go.
I recommend brushing after applying an oil or balm so you are offering the hair some prktection. The brush will also help to train the hair to lay down a specific way. Just brush in the direction you want it to go.
Regarding the bristles feeling very different between a shaving and a hair brush, "boar bristle" is a very generic term. Just like silvertip badger has different properties than brush knots made from other sections of the badger, boar is the same. They just don't label it differently. The bristles are likely taken from a different section, as well as they are most likely cut for the firmest/stiffest part of the hair, compared to shaving brushes where they will look for the longest and softest hairs they can get.
While some packaging terms can be misleading, "100% boar bristle" doesn't seem to leave any wiggle room on the subject, and as far as I know, US law requires accuracy in packaging claims like that.
While some packaging terms can be misleading, "100% boar bristle" doesn't seem to leave any wiggle room on the subject, and as far as I know, US law requires accuracy in packaging claims like that.
I use honest amish balm for my goatee followed by a little bit of firehouse wax. It makes it stay remarkably well, but not too stiff. I wouldn't recommend this for those with full beards as it might end up costing a lot in product.
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- #10
I figured that the brushes would made differently since they were made for different purposes I just wasn't sure what properties would be different. I also wasn't sure if the label meant something along the lines of "50% of the bristles are 100% boar hair"
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- #11
I am very pleased after only a couple uses. It is already helping tame my curlies and make the hair lay flatter to my face like I have been wanting.
Is there a way to speed up the softening process?
Using it. You can wash it under warm water to soften the bristles a bit, but when it dries out they will stiffen back up until they soften up with time and use.
It will never be soft like a shave brush. It will always be more coarse then that due to the length of the bristles. They are also supposed to be an aggressive brush...
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- #13
Ive never used nor read anything about a hoarse hair brudh for the beard. I suppose any natural hair bristle would perform the same basic functions of training the hair and distributing both natural and introduced oils, though...
I got the same wav enforcer brush and questioned the boar hair authenticity as well. I also got a boar brush from the Dollar Beard Club, and ironically the wav enforcer feels softer than the DBC one. And that is that I use the DBC one more (daily at home). I keep the wav enforcer at work.
