What's the best way to maintain stubble? As in, keep it so it feels rough, when I trim down and stroke with the grain it feels incredibly soft. This isn't all too bad but I do like it to feel more textured.
Secondly, what is the best way to remove dry and dead skin from your beard? When I trim it usually comes out in bulk and is quite disgusting.
The 'rough' texture you're feeling is actually the result of shaving with a razor. Trimming with scissors leaves a flat, blunt cut that feels softer to the touch. A razor leaves a sharper diagonal cut that matches the shape of your face, making lots of little edges in the hair. I'm afraid I don't know of any way to reproduce this effect without shaving and letting it regrow. There are some products out there that allow you to trim facial hair down to a specified length (i-Stubble or some horrible marketing name like that) which may be worth a try.
The dry and dead skin may be the result of the coarseness of the hair. I recommend going back to scratch. Shave yourself clean, moisturise the skin beneath, then as the hair grows back out, keep the hair conditioned and the skin oiled with something face-friendly. Regularly brush through your beard with something that reaches the skin to remove any excess.
I suppose you could try running a razor comb over your face (you can get them for about four quid on ebay), though given that I'm not sure I've ever actually seen a razor comb and have certainly never used one this is very much a 'theroretically possible' rather than 'personally recommended' thought. Oh, and try washing your stubble with shampoo when you're in the bath or shower as well as soap and water.
I'm not the OP, but I purchase an i-Stubble and promptly returned it when I saw it wasn't really touching the hair on my face. It seems to be made for people with thinner/softer/less dense face hair than my own.
So now I'm in the market for a good electric razor that'll chop my mediterranean beard down to a stubble. Any takers?
It's not a fancy-pants trimmer sort of thing, it's a simple clipper with big enough teeth to cut through a beard with ease. Battery life is pretty good for the price too.