How to Deal with a Forked Beard

If you are trying to grow a long beard, you sometimes can’t control how the hairs of the beard grow. There may be instances where one side may not grow as fast as the other, or some hairs would grow in opposite directions. If the hairs do split once they grow past your collarbone, this may result in a forked beard.

A forked beard is a style of facial hair wherein two sides of the beard are growing in opposite directions. So, you can imagine that you have two beards that are positioned diagonally away from each other if you have a forked beard. This style of beard can usually grow naturally, but there are some men that intentionally fork their beard for cosmetic reasons. However, if you have a natural forked beard and you don’t want it, you may have a bit of a problem trying to fix it. What causes your beard to fork? And how do we fix a forked beard? We will provide the answers to these questions here in this article on how to deal with a forked beard.

What Causes a Forked Beard?

Unfortunately, no one exactly knows why some men naturally grow forked beards. But there have been many theories formulated by both researchers and veteran barbers on why forked beards suddenly appear for some people. Here are the most popular theories.

Brushing the Hairs Unevenly

The common mistake made by people that groom their beards is that they don’t brush them evenly. There will be a side that will be brushed more than the other side, and this would eventually lead to uneven growth since the side that is not brushed well will have unkempt, curved, and shorter hairs. To prevent this from happening, it would be great if you can use a timer so that you can look out for how many seconds you are spending on brushing one side of your beard. You can spend 30 seconds on each side so that you will brush them evenly.

The Chin Grows Hair Slower

There are some men that have a chin that grows hair slower compared to the other parts of your face. Because of this problem, the hairs on the middle of your beard are shorter, and if the hairs on the sides of your face grow longer, you will be left with a forked beard. There is no solution on how to repair the problem, but what you can do is fix the beard itself if your chin produces hair slower. You can brush the hairs on the sides of your face inwards so that you can hide the shorter hairs on your chin, and this is quite an easy and fast fix since it would only take you about one minute to do. Don’t forget to apply beard balm or wax to retain the shape of your beard.

Genetic Reasons

Men that grow a natural forked beard may have inherited them from their parents or grandfathers. Studies show that some men that naturally grow forked beards have parents, grandparents, or ancestors that have also sported forked beards before. So, if you have a natural forked beard, there is no way for you to actually change, but much like with the second cause mentioned in this article, you can always fix it through brushing and applying beard balm.

How to Fix a Forked Beard

shaving the beard

We have already provided some solutions to the causes stated previously, but there are actually a few more you can do to effectively fix your beard. These are some ways for you to fix a forked beard.

Getting a Beard Ponytail

To explore a new and peculiar beard style while also fixing your forked beard, then you can go for a beard ponytail, and this is achieved by braiding the hairs of your beard in a ponytail that looks similar to a regular hair ponytail. You can braid your beard into a ponytail and let it be for a few hours, and if you want to get rid of the ponytail, you can just remove the braids. Because the hairs have been forced in the braided position for a long time, there is a possibility that they will remain in place and hide your forked beard. Be sure to apply beard balm to the hairs if you wish to remove the ponytail but want to hide your forked beard, and also brush it using a beard brush to straighten some of the hairs poking out of the beard.

Apply a Small Braid in the Middle-End of the Beard

If you don’t want the rather overpowering look of a beard ponytail, then you may opt to apply just a small braid in the middle-end of the beard to keep the hairs bunched together and hide your forked beard. The braid will help keep your beard hairs together so that they won’t return to their original shape while you are wearing the braid. You can keep the braid for about one day and then just remove it when you feel like the current shape of the beard will hold without the braid. Apply the braid in your beard every morning, and then just remove it in the afternoon and apply beard balm to keep the shape in place for much longer.

Apply a Stronger Beard Wax

There may be situations where a regular beard balm may not hold the hairs of your beard together for longer periods of time, so the best solution to this problem is to apply beard wax instead. Beard wax is a beard grooming product that functions as a hair gel or pomade, as it will be able to keep your beard hairs shaped to your desired style for hours or even days if you don’t rinse it out. The beard wax may be the best way for you to hide your forked beard without altering the style that you want, mainly because you don’t have to braid your hair anymore. You can apply beard wax using clean hands and by gently massaging the hairs of your beard to make the wax stick evenly on the beard. Then, you can just use a beard brush to straighten the hairs of the beard.

A forked beard may be one of the most terrible enemies that you will encounter in growing, maintaining, and grooming your beard. But, with the help of easy fixes or solutions, you will be able to defeat the dreaded forked beard in no time.