What Are the Benefits of Using Beard Oils?
5 minute read
Beard oils are a fantastic up-and-coming facial hair care product. Because they are relatively new to the larger bearded consumer base, their usefulness isn’t yet widely understood. We’d like to help you understand what it is that beard oils do and why it is they’ve exploded in popularity over the last several years.
Did you know the beard isn’t the only part of your face that benefits from beard oils?
The benefits of using beard oils
Beard oils are more than just a way to add a scent and shine to your beard temporarily - they’re a way to promote the health of your beard and the skin under it in the long run. Beard oils accomplish this through a variety of individual benefits which work together to make your beard easier to manage and see healthier growth, including:
Moisturizing
Beard oils contain carrier oils like jojoba oil, argan oil, coconut oil, or almond oil, which have excellent moisturizing properties. These oils penetrate the hair shaft and follicles, providing hydration to both the hair and the underlying skin. This helps to prevent dryness, itchiness, and flakiness, especially if you live in a dry or cold climate.
Softening
Beard oils can make your facial hair softer and more manageable. They coat each hair strand, providing a protective layer that reduces frizz and prevents hair from becoming coarse or brittle. Softening your beard also makes it easier to groom and style.
Conditioning
The carrier oils in beard oils are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids that nourish the hair follicles. These nutrients help to condition the beard hair, promoting healthier growth and reducing the risk of breakage or split ends. Well-conditioned hair tends to look fuller, healthier, and more lustrous.
Promoting Growth
Some essential oils, such as cedarwood oil, rosemary oil, or tea tree oil, are believed to have stimulating properties that can promote hair growth. While scientific evidence is limited in this regard, many men have reported improved beard growth and thickness with regular use of beard oils containing these essential oils. The founder of Braveheart Beard Oil created a beard oil for himself when he had to shave his beard for medical purposes which assisted in growing back a full, healthy beard.
Benefiting Your Skin
Beard oils not only benefit the hair but also the skin beneath. The moisturizing properties of the oils can soothe dry or irritated skin, preventing itchiness and dandruff. By keeping the skin healthy, beard oils can create a more conducive environment for beard growth.
The scent of a beard oil is from natural sources in a concentrated form!
What in a beard oil provides the benefits?
To help break down what the benefits of beard oils are, let’s take a look at what goes into a beard oil in the first place. Beard oils are comprised of two main ingredient types: carrier and essential oils. Both of these serve different roles which we combine to help give you the complete beard oil experience.
Carrier Oils
Carrier oils, as the name implies, serves the role of diluting (carrying) the essential oils which are often sought after in beard oils. Because essential oils in their concentrated form are far too potent for your hair, nose and skin, about 95% of a beard oil bottle is comprised of the carrier oils. Additionally, these oils provide easily absorbed nutrients to your hair and the underlying skin which helps moisturize and condition them. Overall, carrier oils are what help give your hair a softer and smoother beard with a reduced frizz. There are many types of carrier oils and they provide a variety of benefits, so if you’re curious you can take a little time to review what the carrier oils in a bottle of beard oil uniquely provide.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts which give beard oils their signature fragrances. With dozens of essential oils to choose from, beard oil creators test a large amount of combinations of these oils with a variety of scent and minor therapeutic goals in mind. For example, using bay rum essential oil can provide an oil with a bold and spicy scent while helping combat dry skin, while using lavender oil offers a soothing aroma and can leave a pleasant sensation on the skin. Similar to the carrier oils, various essential oils are known to help with moisturizing the beard and skin underneath and even reduce inflammation.
There is a large amount of anecdotal evidence about essential oils providing additional therapeutic properties, although scientific corroboration is limited at the time of writing this article. Properties include essential oils which can be antifungal, providing assistance in stress relief, muscle ache relief and more.
About the author:
Bill Crawford is a professional Santa who has been handcrafting beard oils for others since 2017. What began as a necessity for himself has turned into a passion for researching the best ingredients and practices for beard care products, which he shares in blogs to the world.