Autumn hates your face. It hates your skin and your beard. Autumn is Winter’s hype man, intent on wreaking havoc so that all Winter has to do is come in and finish you off. 

It’s a shame really because Autumn as a season is cool, with all its greens and browns and musky smells. But there’s no reasoning with it. All you can do is protect your skin and facial hair and show it that you’re not phased. 

We’ve got six of the finest Autumn Beard Care tips to help you do just that. 

1.Wash your face regularly

We talk about washing your beard a lot on this blog. It’s the number one step in our five-step process. What we don’t talk much about is washing your face. Partly because by washing your beard you are washing your face and, well, washing your face in the morning and evening is as natural as brushing your teeth. 

But we’re mentioning washing your face now. Because the skin that’s not covered by hair deserves the same five-star treatment as your mane — i.e. more than a splash of water. 

When Autumn comes for your face, depending on how much sebum oil your body produces, it’s either going to make your skin more oily or dry it out. Which means you’re either going to have to replenish and cleanse or just cleanse. Whichever it is, you need to give your face and beard a good scrub. 

We’ll start with the cleansing. 

Rather than using beard wash, which is what we normally recommend for cleaning your beard, opt for a natural soap — as in a good old fashioned bar of soap — that can be lathered in your hands and used to attack your face as one. Natural soap is designed to gently rid your face and skin of excess oil and clean away any grime and dirt without drying out of your face.     

When using soap, it’s important that you get the water temperature spot on. As tempting as it is on a cold day, avoid splashing hot water on your face. It’ll only strip the skin of the natural oils the soap is trying to protect, causing brittle hair and irritated skin. Instead, get the water running lukewarm. Not too cold to shock you, but not warm enough to upset your face or beard. 

Once you’ve washed your face, it’s time to replenish and get some always needed hydration to your face. 

2. Moisturise 

The combination of cold weather and spending time indoors around heaters will dry out your skin and beard. To prevent that from happening, you need to go all-in on the moisturiser. 

Have separate natural moisturisers — one for your skin and one for your beard — and apply them daily before you leave the house, throughout the day whenever your skin or beard starts to feel dry, itchy or irritable, and before you go to bed in the evening.  

For your skin, most reputable moisturisers will do the job.

For your beard, you have a few options:

• Beard balm, formulated to tame and control unruly hair as well as hydrating it
• Beard butter, formulated to protect, soften and condition facial hair
• Beard oil, formulated to protect, hydrate and condition facial hair

You don’t have to choose just one of these options. An Autumn beard Care routine will benefit from all three. Each will also work to get moisture to the skin beneath your mane. 

That said, if you’re going to have one as a sidekick when you’re out and about, make beard oil your go-to. 

3. Oil up

To keep your beard healthy and maintain strong growth, keep a natural beard oil with your keys and phone. 

Beard oil can be applied after washing, eating, going to the toilet, whenever. Your beard can never have enough of the stuff. It provides a barrier against the bite of the Autumn wind and gives your facial hair the nutrients it needs to thrive. 

A 50ml bottle will easily see you through Autumn. A 100ml bottle will get you through winter too.

4. Change up the scents

While we’re talking about beard products, we should mention scents. You don’t have to pick scented beard oil, balm or butter. If you prefer to go au naturel, that’s cool. But if you’re a fan of a fragrant beard, you might want to choose an Autumn-y scent — something that fits in with the musky, woody smells of the season. 

We recommend classic cedarwood and sandalwood.

5. Keep your beard in check

If you’re exposing your beard to the elements every day it’s going to get somewhat unruly. As mentioned, beard balm will help keep hair under control, but you’ll still need to keep the length tidy. This requires some trimming. 

By ‘trimming’, we don’t mean taking a pair of clippers to your beard. You can leave the heavy-duty stuff to your barber. All you need to do is keep it in check between visits to the cutting chair. 

Here’s how to keep your beard neat:

• Shave any rogue hairs above your natural beard line. Don’t touch your beard line, just the hairs on your cheeks and around your sideburns. 
• Trim away hairs below the natural line of your beard as it curves from ear to ear. Don’t touch anything above that natural line and don’t clean shave your neck, it won’t do your beard or jawline any favours. 
• Trim away any stray hairs you find after washing and brushing. Focus only on the hairs that don’t fall in line. Anything else and you might find yourself in a full landscaping job, trying to match one side with the other. 

For an in-depth guide on trimming and the tools you need, check out our post on how to trim your beard like a boss.

6. Keep a comb handy

There’s nothing like wind and cold weather for getting your beard in a tangled mess. If you’re going to be oiling your mane regularly, you need to be combing it too. So add a comb to the list of things you don’t leave home without. 

Comb your beard after washing and applying beard oil, and whenever the hair looks or feels tangled. If your beard is close to your face, you might want to opt for a bristle brush rather than a comb. But whichever you go for, make sure it’s always close to hand. 

Follow these autumn beard care steps and your beard will survive anything that Autumn can throw at you and then some. But if you do run into trouble or have any questions along the way, give your fellow Mo Bros a shout. There’s a community of over 2,000 brothers and sisters over on Facebook who’ve got your back.

Check out some of our other blog posts for keeping your beard healthy below:

1. My Beard Journey: How I Solved My Beard Itch
2. 5 Benefits of Brushing Your Beard
3. What Can I Do To Make My Beard Softer?
4. A Beard is for Life, Not Just Winter
5. What Else Can Beard Oil Do Or Can’t Do?