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I imagine, like many men, I had to change my shaving habits.
Before I was married, I didn’t give much thought about how my beard looked. In all honesty, it was unkempt, uneven, and rather thick in spots. Along with that, it itched considerably at times.
That all changed when I got married. My wife was rather insistent that I cleaned up my look. To be sure, I wanted to look nice for her, so I was happy to oblige. On top of that, I needed to have a cleaner and nicer look when interviewing for prospective job opportunities.
Quite frankly, my beard needed some work.
The first thing I needed to do was give it a good trim. I had let it go for some time, that a trim was necessary at this point. The next thing I needed to do was clean up the neck area, as well. By this point, there was no real neck line, and this only furthered the itching I felt at times. I really had to shape up my beard!
As I had never really given my beard much thought, I certainly had never considered using a special shampoo for it. In fact, many times, I simply used a bar of soap, as I cleaned up face. My wife was quick to point out to me early in our marriage that there are special shampoos and conditioners for beards. These, I found out, are designed to not only keep the beard, and skin underneath, from drying out, but also to help to prevent the beard hair from becoming brittle. I even found out that there are special beard oils on the market.
After the trimming, after the shaping, after the shampooing and conditioning, I took a look in the mirror. I had to admit, I looked a whole lot better. My face felt fresher, my beard did not feel dry or itch, and my appearance was so very different, and so much nicer. More importantly, my wife thought I looked a lot better, as well. Now, that was the key difference there!
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Photo Credit: Getty Images