Should You Buy A Beard Straightener? What You Need To Know…

 

You’ve been growing a beard out for some time now - it’s long, unruly, and starting to get slightly out of control.

Maybe it’s getting too curly or it has a weird wave that streaks down the middle of it making your beard look slightly off.

Regardless, you’ve identified a few flaws that you would ideally like to take care of.

While researching possible solutions you’ve come across a series of ads and now your entire Facebook news feed is covered with beard products that claim to be a beard's best friend.

Amidst the chaos, you find what appears to be a needle in the haystack… a heated beard straightener!

Curious, you embark on an in-depth research effort - sweeping the web and tearing apart every review on Amazon and every video on Youtube.

Every ad you’ve come across has claimed the same thing: “instantly take your beard from unruly to truly a masterpiece in minutes!” However, to your disappointment, the reviews you’ve read suggest otherwise.

Truth be told, hair straighteners are not new, they have, however, more or less exclusively been marketed to the hair on your head.

Only recently has the concept of using something similar to a girl's hair straightener been marketed to bearded men - and with this marketing has come a tidal wave of interest from the bearded community.

But before you jump in and start throwing around your hard-earned cash on the brush that claims to solve all your beard related problems - check out this analysis we’ve put together for you.

 

First Things First - How Does Heat Affect Your Beard?

Before you get too excited about the “miracle brush” you found online - it’s probably a good idea to know how heat actually affects your beard.

The answer to the question “how does heat affect your beard” does not have one straightforward answer. Instead, most of the information surrounding the topic comes from short blog posts and Reddit threads that serve more as advertisements than useful information.

Most of the reputable information out there deals with the impact heat has on the hair on your head, but it is our understanding that heat affects all hair relatively the same.

Perhaps the most significant point we found was that 350º Fahrenheit (or 185º Celsius) is, for a lack of better words, the sweet spot for applying heat to your hair. Remember to keep this number in your mind when browsing beard straighteners - because every temperature above 350º could begin to damage your beard.

The main point here is that using a beard straightener CAN damage your beard if used incorrectly. However, for a beard straightener to cause some serious damage it has to be real damn hot (over 350º Fahrenheit).

 

The Types Of Beard Straighteners

There are essentially two different types of straighteners to consider when looking for the right tool for your beard - namely heated thermal brushes and hair drying brushes.

Similar to a blow dryer, hair drying brushes release hot air through the brushes bristles allowing you to comb while drying. The hot air combined with the combing motion allows you to style your beard and essentially straighten it (if that is the look you’re going for).

Heated brushes - the tool commonly associated with your traditional beard straightener - uses an internal heating element that heats up the brush and its bristles.

If you looked up either of these options you are more than likely going to come across a few terms that, if I’m being honest, I had no idea what meant they until I did some research.

Here’s what they mean:

Ionic: In theory, Ionic dryers are meant to dry your beard faster to prevent less “frizz”.

Tourmaline: Ionic, but supercharged.

Ceramic, Porcelain: Both mean roughly the same thing and more or less represent even, consistent heating.

 

What You Should Look Out For

There are, and I’m not exaggerating, a lot of beard straighteners being marketed on the internet today. It’s gotten to the point where you can’t even browse a beard related website without being bombarded with straightener ads across social media afterward.

A large amount of these ads use video footage from YouTubers and Instagram influencers and show before and after sequences without even showing a product being used.

Even worse, some ads use different straightening devices throughout a video. SMH!

The point I’m trying to make is a lot of the ads you will see are ran by the dark side of e-commerce - those who are just trying to make a quick buck.

So here are a few takeaways… If an ad doesn’t use a beard straightener at all in the video and just shows you before and after pictures and/or videos - do not purchase from them. Additionally, if the ad uses different straightening devices throughout the ad - stay away from them.

 

3 Beard Straighteners To Consider

A lot of the ads we’ve seen online show beard straighteners that appear to be cheap ripoffs of actual brands. Be wary of these.

However, there are a few beard straighteners out there made by actual beard/men's grooming companies that appear to be well known and well-reviewed amongst the bearded community.

The 3 most notable we’ve found are the Aberlite GO, the Newmenpro, and the Kuschelbar.

Here’s a quick rundown of each:

Aberlite GO:

• Cordless
• 3 heat settings (310, 360, 400)
• Relatively compact
• Retails for $90

Kuschelbar:

• Not cordless
• 1 heat setting (temperature unknown)
• Compact
• Retails for $100

 While researching each of these brands we found that the Aberlite GO had the most positive reviews, followed by the Newmen Pro and Kuschelbar that had more mixed reviews (mostly positive though).

Additionally, we tried each of these devices and if we are being honest, they all work about the same. But we do have to shout out the Aberlite GO for being cordless - it really is a nice perk.

 

Final Thoughts On Beard Straighteners

We were pretty impressed with the results we saw from each of the beard straighteners.

We should say, however, that all the straighteners mentioned above worked far better on longer, less curly beards than beards that were shorter and more curly.

If you have money to throw around, we would recommend giving the Aberlite GO a shot. If you're more on a budget, or you don’t know if a beard straightener is for you, the Newmen Pro will give you relatively the same results for nearly half the price.

Lastly, we highly recommend using a heat spray or a heat protectant while using a beard straightener.

Heat sprays and heat protectants are designed to help prevent your hair from experiencing heat damage and do a pretty decent job.

**Disclaimer  Using a heat spray does not mean that super high temperatures will not damage your beard.

 

The Best Way To Straightener Your Beard With A Beard Straightener

Here is a step by step guide to getting the best results from a beard straightener:

1. Remove any excess water from the beard if you will be straightening it after showering. You want the beard to be as dry as possible.

2. Apply Beard Oil or Balm like normal - but don’t overdo it.

3. Apply a heat protectant to your beard. Our heat protectant spray is specifically designed to help prevent your hair from being damaged by heat.

4. Turn the brush on and select the desired temperature (red hot, green medium)

5. Allow the brush to reach the temperature setting.

6. Begin brushing the cheeks, moving the brush downward in smooth, short motions. Always keep the brush moving and don’t let it rest in one spot. One or two passes through the hair should be enough, but experiment to find what works best for your beard—just be cautious of over straightening.

7. Brush the chin hair straight down, or if your beard is longer, you can brush the chin hair to the side using your jaw and cheek as a flat surface to straighten against.

8. Work the brush down through the neck. For longer beards, you may need to get underneath the beard and brush the hair outwards.

Optional:

1. Once the hair has been straightened, use a Beard Comb to shape the beard hairs into place.

2. Use a Boar’s Hair Brush to further shape the beard.

3. If you want to add more hold, apply some Styling Balm.

Reminder: When using heat to style your beard try and use the least amount as possible.

One to two passes by any of the brushes mentioned above should give you a natural, straightened look. The more passes of the brush, the more straight your beard will look. However, over straightening your beard can some times make it look unnatural and even fake.

 

Final Thoughts

Having the ability to style and groom your beard in a quick and efficient matter is a great tool to have. However, there is no one size fits all when it comes to styling and grooming your beard - every beard is different.

With that said, just remember, If you can’t achieve the really straight beard you desire because of excessive curls, there’s will always be someone out there who has a really straight beard who envies your curls.

Just as a reminder here’s a recap of our favorite beard straighteners:

Most Expensive: Kuschelbar ($100)

Best Reviewed: Aberlite GO ($90)

Best Bang For Your Buck: Newmen Pro ($39.99)

 

Can a Beard Straightener Replace Your Other Tools?

While a beard straightener can dramatically speed up the time it takes to style your beard, we wouldn’t suggest forgetting about the other products in your arsenal.

If anything other beard products will only make a beard straightener work better!

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