The most common questions we get here at JC Grooming surround the use of beard oils. As a company, we aim to inform the people we interact with to help them make the best decisions on caring for their beard. My goal with this article is to help you understand exactly what to look for in a beard oil, how to use it, and what makes each one different.
Let’s get into it!
What is Beard Oil? Everything About Beard Oil
Beard oil is a staple in every beardsman’s grooming kit. Its primary use is to maintain the health of the beard and the skin beneath it. Beard oils are comprised of a single carrier oil or any combination of carrier oils. Each oil provides a slightly different benefit to the beard, so combinations can be a great way to make sure you’re getting everything you need out of it in one application. That said, there are plenty of oils out there that use one carrier oil and are an excellent beard conditioner.
Carrier Oils
Carrier oils are the oils that make up 99.5% of your beard oil. They’re what deliver such amazing benefits as softening hair, moisturizing skin, and keeping your beard healthy. A quality beard oil will have some of the higher quality oils, such as Argan and jojoba oil. These oils will definitely cost a bit more than pumpkin, olive and grapeseed oils, but the difference in efficacy is night and day.
To make things a little more confusing, there are several factors that affect the quality of a carrier oil. Even if an oil claims to have these pricier oils in it, they could be of lower quality and may not work as well for your goals. For example, there are cold-pressed carrier oils, and those that are extracted via heating the base (nut or seed, depending on the oil). When an oil is cold-pressed, it retains all of its wonderful natural benefits. When an oil is extracted via heat treating, it loses a very large amount of those benefits. Sure, you can still put it on your ingredients list, but it’s not really going to work as well compared to the cold-pressed version.
Always look for an oil that is cold-pressed, pure, unrefined, and has no additives or fillers. An unrefined oil is one that retains all of its richness and strength.
At JC Grooming, we’re committed to quality over cost, which means that we’ll invest in those quality, unrefined, pure, filler-free, cold-pressed oils in order to ensure that your beard is getting exactly what it needs.
Fragrance Oils vs. Essential Oils
Most beard oils come with a fragrance so that you can smell good while treating your beard. That said, there are unscented oils for those who want something that won’t clash with their cologne or that don’t want a scent under their nose all day. As many of you reading this may know, at JC Grooming, we pride ourselves on crafting beard oils that contain only the highest quality natural ingredients, and the fragrance is where you’ll typically see a beard oil company veer away from that. When it comes to fragrances, we use therapeutic grade essential oils in lieu of fragrance oils. That said, fragrance oils aren’t inherently bad for you. Let’s break down the differences.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are derived from natural, plant-based ingredients. They each offer their own unique scent and set of benefits. For example, Tea Tree Oil is a natural antiseptic and has a nice, soothing medicinal scent. So while it smells great, it also is helping keep your beard clean and free of germs. Such is the case with many essential oils out there, so you should do your research to find out which ones are right for you. When blending our scents, we not only think of the final smell, but also the effects that are coming from the essential oils.
One thing that you get when using a beard oil with essential oils is that they tend to evaporate over time, gradually lessening the scent throughout the day, but for the health and safety of your beard that is a small price to pay. If you use beard oil primarily for the scent this may mean you have to reapply mid-day or before a night out.
Fragrance Oils
Fragrance oils are compounds of a number of different ingredients that create synthetic versions of the desired scent. A vanilla fragrance oil may have no actual vanilla in it at all, but still smells just like it. This will typically help keep costs lower which means you’ll pay less for your beard oil. You can also find a much wider range of scents available, so you can easily find a beard oil that smells just like your lady’s favorite Pumpkin Spiced beverage. They also don’t evaporate quickly so you’ll be able to keep that scent in all day without having to reapply, though you run the risk of over-applying and smelling too strongly all day.
The down-side to fragrance oils is you never really know exactly what is in them. They tend to irritate the skin and can even severely dry it out. If you’re purchasing a beard oil with fragrance oils in it, make sure it’s from a reputable brand with a tried-and-true recipe.
Benefits of Beard Oils
Beard oils carry all kinds of benefits for your beard. Most beardsmen will be using beard oil to keep the hair and skin moisturized, but there are plenty of other benefits you’ll see that you may not be looking for.
Here’s a list of the top benefits of beard oils:
- Moisturizes hair and skin
- Softens hair and skin
- Promotes healthier, fuller strands for a fuller looking beard
- Prevents “beard-ruff”
- Promotes healthier hair follicles to urge new growth
- Makes beard more manageable and easier to style
- Smells awesome
- Can help prevent acne
- Builds confidence
Okay that last one is obviously kind of a joke, but it’s still pretty true. As we always say here at The Gentlemen’s Lounge, when you look good, you feel good.
If you’re not using beard oil yet, you’re missing out on tons of great benefits.
How and When to Use Beard Oil
Beard oil is actually really simple to use. We get questions all the time about how much to use, how often, what times of day, etc. and the answer is always this:
Use it however you want! Just listen to your body is telling you and adjust as necessary. If your beard feels greasy, use a little less. If your beard is dry and flaky, start using a bit more.
The beautiful thing about beards is that no two are the same. Some beards will literally never need an oil in their entire existence due to great genetics and naturally healthy skin and hair. Others will wither up to nothing if they skip a day of conditioning. Test it out and figure out what works best for you and your beard.
As a reference point, I’m pretty middle-of-the-road genetically speaking, where my beard can go a couple days without oil but still needs it on a regular basis. I use beard oil twice a day. Once in the morning after my shower, when my hair and skin is steamed up and ready to accept the oils into my pores. The second time is usually right before bed, when I load it up to let it soak in overnight (don’t confuse this with using too much, as I still use a conservative amount but I’m a little less careful when pouring).
What you’ll come to realize if you’re new to beard-growing is that the entire beard growth process is really just about trial and error. I had to shave my beard off 3 times before I learned how to properly trim it. And you know what? It grew back every time. Did you use too much oil today and now it’s on your clothes? Use less tomorrow. Did you forget to apply for a week and now your beard is drier than the Sahara? Go home and put some beard oil in. It’s that simple! Just keep learning from your mistakes and adjust accordingly.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see our collection of organic beard oils to help rid your beard of irritating problems and make you feel great. As always, if you have any questions or concerns, or just feel like saying hi, you can reach us at any of the following ways:
1 thought on “Everything You Need to Know About Beard Oil”
Beard oil is a staple in every beardsman’s grooming kit. Its primary use is to maintain the health of the beard and the skin beneath it. Thank you for the tips!