Do You Have an Itchy Beard?

If you have an itchy beard with dry skin, flaking and redness under your beard or mustache, it’s time to take action. With a few simple steps, you can stop the itch to look and feel your best.

What causes an itchy beard?

Seborrheic dermatitis, also known as facial dandruff, may be causing your “beardruff.” More than likely, a yeast organism is involved, but no one really knows what causes this condition.

Another possibility may be allergic contact dermatitis where your shave gel, beard oil, mustache-grooming ointment, shampoo, or other facial products are causing an allergic reaction.

Itchy beard may be caused by seborrheic dermatitis or an allergy to beard care products! - Dermatologist Dr. Cynthia Bailey

How do you get rid of beard itch?

To start, you need to try to tell if your beard itch is seborrhea (dandruff) or an allergic reaction - or both.

How do you tell why your beard skin is itching?

Seborrheic dermatitis can cause beard itch.

This is facial dandruff. Do you have itching, scale or “dry scalp” too? Is there dryness, flaking and even a little redness in your eyebrows, along the sides of your nose or around your ears?

Allergic reactions (called allergic contact dermatitis) can cause beard itch.

An allergic skin reaction will typically happen only where the allergen is applied. In this case, either a shaving product, beard oil, beard or mustache grooming product, or aftershave might be the cause. Fragrances are notorious for causing skin allergic reactions and these products are often heavily fragranced. Even natural fragrance can cause an allergy.

Harsh skin care cleansers can also cause allergic or irritation reactions that will itch. Some men use shampoos to wash their facial hair. That may be fine, but know that the foaming agents, preservative systems and fragrance ingredients in some shampoo products may be too harsh for facial skin.

Review the products that you use on the skin where the itch happens. Pay special attention to shampoos, oils, beard care grooming products. Did the rash start where you used a particular beard care product? Once the rash starts getting bad it may spread out onto surrounding skin, but it usually starts where the allergen is placed on the skin

If you get a rash that continues to spread, or have another negative reaction to a product, stop using it immediately and switch to hypoallergenic products specifically for facial skin and beard-care to help eliminate the risk of allergic reactions.

A good hypoallergenic and fragrance-free skin cleanser for your beard and facial skin is my Naturally Best Bar Soap.

It lathers enough to shave. It's a great natural face soap. It's also a great total body bar soap. Keep a bar in the shower and another at the sink so that you never use heavily fragranced products on your sensitive skin. 

How do you treat beard itch from beardruff (aka dandruff)?

Use a pyrithione zinc skin cleanser or medicated dandruff shampoo to treat itchy beard from beardruff.

Seborrheic dermatitis of the beard is common and it responds really well to medicated pyrithione zinc cleansers and shampoos.  Look for products containing this powerful seborrhea remedy made with the highest 2% level of medicated pyrithione zinc to fight dandruff and beardruff. Using a pyrithione zinc skin care product will help you get rid of dandruff in your beard, mustache, scalp and even on your body skin. (Is the skin of your upper back or chest always flaky and 'dry'?? If so, it may be seborrheic dermatitis!)

My top choice is Calming Zinc Bar Soap.   I created this naturally formulated soap base with a blend of olive oil, shea butter, oats and calendula plus a robust 2% concentration of pyrithione zinc. 

Calming Zinc is an efficient way to tackle beardruff, facial dandruff, trunk seborrhea and armpit body odor all in one step. 

Use Calming Zinc in the shower to wash your beard, face, back and chest to fight seborrhea. Use it to wash your armpits to reduce armpit germs that lead to body odor. It works because pyrithione zinc has broad antimicrobial benefits for skin cleansing. 

Can you use a shampoo to wash your itchy beard?

Yes. If you have a really thick beard, another option is to use a professional 2% medicated pyrithione zinc shampoo. The robust foaming agents in a shampoo allow the medicated ingredient to pass through thick hairs to reach skin. Again, use this medicated product in the shower to cleanse your thick beard and hairy scalp. Know that the foaming agents in shampoos, especially ones that are medicated for dandruff, can be drying so you may want to shampoo and rinse twice, the first lather with a non-medicated shampoo to remove sebum, dirt, debris and product residue from hair shafts. The second lather is with the medicated shampoo and focus the application to mainly target the skin surface. Allow the shampoo lather to rest on the skin for a few minutes then rinse well.

A layer of pyrithione zinc will remain on skin after rinsing to fight seborrhea with both Calming Zinc or a medicated shampoo.

After washing, apply a hypoallergenic but healing beard oil to your itchy beard skin and facial hair.

Use a beard oil made with botanical oils that mimic your skin’s natural oils and that replenish key skin lipids. You want oils that work as good conditioning agents for your beard and mustache hairs so that your facial hair is soft and healthy. Avoid beard oils with musky ingredients such as sandalwood, which can be an allergen that causes itchy beard skin.

My Omega Enriched Face Booster Oil is an ideal beard oil. It is free of artificial fragrance and skin allergens and is made with the best organic botanical oils for facial skin.

I formulated my Omega Enriched Oil with blend of kukui nut oil, argan oil, pomegranate seed oil, rosehip seed oil, jojoba oil, sunflower seed oil, castor seed oil. I enriched it with,

• organic sea buckthorn oil to improve skin’s water-holding capacity to resist dehydration that can lead to irritation,
• organic borage oil which is one of the best sources of the essential fatty acid gamma-linoleic acid (GLA) proven to have strong anti-inflammatory benefits. (Essential fatty acids are oils that your skin can’t make but needs and must be supplied by you for optimal skin health!), and
• organic cypress essential oil which creates a subtle - and natural - woodland aroma from an organic botanical oil that is antiseptic and rich in anti-oxidant containing flavonoids, phenolic compounds.

How to correctly apply a beard oil to treat beard itch in 3 steps

1. Apply a few drops of oil to your fingertips.
2. Start from the bottom of your beard or facial hair and snake your fingertips up your facial skin in between your facial hair.
3. Once you’ve covered all your facial skin then stroke your beard or mustache hair in a downward fashion to coat the outer surface of your hair and lay the hair down in a well-groomed fashion.

One final tip… apply sunscreen under your beard!

You may not think you need to apply sunscreen to the skin under your beard, but it can protect your skin and prevent your sun-exposed facial hair from sun damage, which causes hair to turn yellow.

Yes, yellow discoloration of your natural facial hair color is an indication of sun damaged hair. - Dr. Bailey

Do you need to wear sunscreen on your beard and facial hair?

Your facial hair may look great but it never 100% prevents sun exposure to the skin underneath. Plus, sun exposed hair takes on a yellow look that is never as attractive as your natural beard or mustache color.

You need a mineral/physical sunscreen with a very lightweight consistency to protect your beard and mustache skin and hair. My Sheer Strength Pure Physical Invisible SPF 50 Sunscreen is a popular product with my male patients because it provides dermatologist recommended sun protection in an ultralight product that will not mess-up your well-groomed beard or mustache. Apply it the same way you do your beard oil and wear it daily to fight the appearance of premature aging and hair yellowing.

The bottom line with how to get rid of an itchy beard:

• Use hypoallergenic and artificial fragrance-free products to care for you beard.
• Treat beardruff caused by dandruff by cleansing with a pyrithione zinc product such as medicated shampoo or Calming Zinc Bar Soap.
• Hydrate your skin using a healing and conditioning beard oil such as Omega Enriched Booster Face Oil.
• Always protect your skin and facial hair from sun damage by wearing an invisible zinc oxide sunscreen when your are in the sun. 

The products I've listed in this article are ideal beard care products to fight an itchy beard.