So, you've decided to grow out your beard. Perhaps you've succumbed to the trend or desire a reinvention of your look. Or, maybe you've noticed the way a bit of facial hair shapes the face, creating a strong and masculine frame. Take note - there's a considerable amount of grooming to be done before any beard can reach its potential, and behind every great and healthy-looking beard is a great beard oil.
What is a Beard Oil?
Or more accurately, what makes a good beard oil? It's about what's packed inside that counts. Good beard oils contain an effective combination of hydrating base fats such as jojoba oil, marula oil, or argan oil, to name a few common ingredients. The fats found inside good beard oil are anything but common, and are processed in a manner that retains their nutritious components. This is why canola oil from the supermarket won't do - highly refined products strip away and denature beneficial fatty acids, vitamins, and antioxidant contents. The best beard oils employ a combination of these antioxidant-rich and vitamin-laden fatty acids that have been carefully extracted, ensuring that the oil absorbs into the hair and skin as opposed to leaving a shiny and greasy residue.
Elevating this, premium beard oils employ a blend of pleasing aromatic essential oils. Whilst not essential, the addition of these oils are of fairly standard practice, with scented mixtures that please even the most discerning of tastes, whilst providing worthwhile antiseptic properties. And there's no need to fear - often the aromas of a beard oil are subtle, designed not to clash with one's other scented preparations.
It doesn't get much better than Shear Revival's Progress All Purpose Oil - its blend of apricot kernel, avocado seed, and meadowfoam seed oils can be used through the hair, beard, and on the face. This is a deeply hydrating, protecting, and softening formulation, relieving any itchiness with dedicated use. Lightly scented with unobtrusive notes of bergamot, rosemary, and amber - it has a warm and invigorating scent.
If your central concern is a matter of style as opposed to nourishment, a beard balm is the way to go. A beard balm is a soft wax substance, designed to be worked through the hair, taming the flyaways and the strays, creating a tight and moulded look for when it matters most: always. Captain Fawcett's range of beard balms, resplendent with five nourishing base waxes and unique blends of essential oils are suited for the task at hand, and is perfectly paired with a moustache wax, the ultimate upper lip stiffener, if moustache maintenance is so required.
While both oils and balms condition and care for the beard, oils are a go to when it comes to caring for the skin and hair, but for style, soft balms and firm waxes are unrivalled.
Beard Oil Benefits
A good beard oil is a product designed for both the hair and the skin underneath, adding a supple and healthy-looking shine to the hair, keeping scratch attacks and dreaded instances of flaky skin at bay by moisturising the skin underneath.
Many of the oils used in these products, such as jojoba oil, are much like the natural oils produced by the skin. With continued use the skin is restored to a balanced and hydrated state. Similarly, many of these oils including marula, argan, jojoba, and olive oils contain antioxidant-rich oleic and linoleic acid, which condition and reduce flaking.
These hydrophobic oils create an effective barrier on the top of the skin without clogging pores, locking in moisture by trapping water in the skin, conditioning it. With continued use, the elasticity of both the hair and the skin is improved. Antioxidants reverse damaging stress from free-radicals and oxidizing factors such as pollution and smoke.
How to Use and Apply Beard Oil
A few drops - a small coin’s worth - warmed on the tips of one’s fingers and massaged onto the cheeks and chin is a good way to go, moderating dosage according to personal needs and as required and for longer beards. Your beard oil of choice can be used with a pure boar bristle brush to evenly disperse the oil from root to tip, smoothing out the hair and removing flaky dead skin while stimulating blood circulation for a healthy-looking beard with a well-groomed appearance. Natural boar bristles are recommended as they are the right balance between coarseness and softness, effectively working at the hair and skin whilst avoiding damage to the hair follicle.
How To Choose The 'Right' Beard Oil
There are a lot of claims to be found on the internet when it comes to beard oils. At its simplest, if there isn't an excellent foundation of good base oils, then there's no hope of an effective beard oil. This is crucial, and a glance at the ingredient list separates the snake oil from the good stuff.
Once you are confident with your selection, choosing the right beard oil is all a matter of how you'd like your preparation to smell, or not to smell, and your preference of viscosity and texture.
Similarly, we recommend Shear Revival's All Purpose Oil for a no fuss option, which easily pumps into the hands and fingers. Every ingredient has a purpose, softening the hair and skin while offering a comprehensive daily oil beyond the beard alone. Meadowfoam oil is something of a wonder ingredient for the beard, penetrating deeply and turning even the coarsest of beards into silk. It's good for all types of growth and length, and is particularly perfect for medium to long length beards.
Geo F. Trumper's Limes Beard Oil is a well-loved classic - scented with the steady and confident freshness of West Indian lime extract. A functional mix of jojoba and sunflower oil ensures deep hydration, softening and conditioning the beard while nourishing the skin beneath. Its lightweight formula absorbs quickly, leaving a subtle, invigorating citrus scent that enhances both grooming and style without feeling greasy.
If richness is what you seek, and/or coarseness is your concern, Firsthand Supply Hair Oil can be used through the beard for ultimate care and control. Its bounteous yet lightweight formula contains many plant-based conditioning oils including grape seed, jojoba, argan, sweet almond, and marula. Botanical extracts include tea leaf, aloe vera, elderberry, rosemary, and lavender. and finally, hydrolysed wheat and soy proteins offer naturally derived keratin. Altogether, these ingredients provide a healthy shine, smoothing the hair and skin. It has a bright, spice-forward botanical aroma.