DIY beard oil?

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up and I want to make him some beard oil, because the beard oil in stores is ridiculously expensive.

I've found a few online resources, but I am just curious to hear if anyone here has a recipe they use and like.

Here's a picture of my boyfriend:




hahahahaha jk, that's hagrid from harry potter.. But he does have a snazzy beard that my boyfriends is going to look like soon.

Until reading this, I had no idea that beard oil existed. Has he considered a razor?

Hahah no, his beard is beautiful and I just thought it would be a fun thing to make him.

He doesn't use beard oil now, but he said he'd be into trying it. It's good for skin and facial hair to be moisturized.  

This article gives some suggestions, but I was curious if other permie guys had a special recipe.  

DIY beard oil

No recipe, but I would use jojoba oil as a base.  It absorbs quickly and doesn't block pores for most people, which is important since you don't want him getting pimples under his beard.  Then just add a few drops of essential oil for scent and/or function.  You don't want something that will be overpowering since it's under his nose all the time, but I think something woody, like maybe vetiver or frankincense or sandalwood would be nice, with a little something floral or green to brighten it up, maybe some citrus or mint or something.  The ideal blend depends a lot on what scents he likes.  Maybe make him a bunch of little bottles of different blends so he can have different versions to suit his mood.

I know a guy who uses a mixture of porridge and coffee cream. I think that's what it is.

Other guy, Bob uses whatever oil is in cigarettes. It makes a handy dye as well.

Not a beard fan, as you may have guessed so I'll drop out now.

Roberta Wilkinson wrote:No recipe, but I would use jojoba oil as a base.  It absorbs quickly and doesn't block pores for most people, which is important since you don't want him getting pimples under his beard.  Then just add a few drops of essential oil for scent and/or function.  You don't want something that will be overpowering since it's under his nose all the time, but I think something woody, like maybe vetiver or frankincense or sandalwood would be nice, with a little something floral or green to brighten it up, maybe some citrus or mint or something.  The ideal blend depends a lot on what scents he likes.  Maybe make him a bunch of little bottles of different blends so he can have different versions to suit his mood.

Thanks Roberta! This is probably what I will end up doing.

I love coco butter and apricot kernel oil, mixed together for a salve that melts in the hand,but stays solid till then.
Neither go rancid, which is plus for anything that goes on the body.

Never heard of beard oil, but as I'm an old fan of Hagrid and have some very fond memories of beards, I rummaged in my books to see what I could find.

The closest was Jackie French's pre-shave moisturiser, from her Natural Solutions book

2 tablespoons beeswax
3 tablespoons lanolin
4 tablespoons almond oil
1/2 cup orange flower water, or 1 cup dried orange or lemon rind and 12 cup vodka (combine and store in a dark place for a month, then strain, discarding the rind)

Melt the beeswax and lanolin in a double boiler (OK, well personally I'd use a solar oven...) and add the almond oil.  Remove from heat.  Mix well, then beat in the orange flower water.

Store in a small wide-mouthed jar in a cool dark place.

Apply moisturiser to warm damp skin; that is, straight after the shower.  Massage in well before shaving to soften bristles and moisturise the face.  

And here's a photo of Norbert, my baby house dragon.  Hagrid would understand...

--- Basically , I have lived a found living a 'Poo-less' life style to be 'no big thing' However - in order to tame my wild bushy beard - (see picture above)

That a hair conditioner , Specifically a leave-in hair conditioner for curly kinky hair is absolutely necessary to allow me to have a groom able beard!


It also greatly reduces the bits of food stuffs that I carry around with me through the day !  For the Craft ! Big AL

While I enjoyed the long beard I grew last year, it really did start to get frizzy, unwieldly, and my face itched horribly. I refused to trim it, as I knew that it only temporarily manages the frizz, while obviously slowing down overall growth.

I broke down and bought some beard oil, despite the cost.
Thank goodness! It made ALL the difference. Not only did my face-itch go away, but the entire beard just softened up within two days. My kids quit complaining how it tickled them, and my wife went from complaining about how my beard was constantly scratching her face & neck when kissing or nuzzling to down-right curling her fingers through it. The marriage bed was saved, halleluia.

I would also suggest buying a wooden or Kent beard comb for him as a gift. While not necessary, it is a one time purchase that will last a life-time, and it brings a lot of pride to the beard grower every time they comb it after putting in the oil.

I like this article for making beard oil.
It explains the usefulness of all the different oils. I would make sure that Jojoba, Hazelnut, and Eucalyptus were in my future home made beard oils.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/09/09/diy-beard-oil/

Also, a useful oil chart/description used for soaps, but the skin-effects can be referenced for this, too.

http://www.summerbeemeadow.com/content/properties-soapmaking-oils

yay yay yay! thanks for all of the responses.

Yeah, I got some jojoba oil last night, hazelnut sounds nice too. Is that more of a base oil? Or is that a strong scented essential oil?

I need to do some sneaky investigating on which smells he really likes because he has really sensitive senses, so I don't want to get him something and have him end up not liking it. I know of some that he likes, but if it is going to be right under his nose, I think i have to be really careful.

What are your favorite smells ? Is eucalyptus a good one? I already have that. I've heard sandalwood maybe?

Hello,

As a 4 month beard grower, but long time aromatherapy dabbler, I have been using sweet almond oil, with Frankincense and sandalwood essential oils, for their anti itch and clean scent. This happens to be the same blend I used post shave, when I did that, and it works a treat: softens the beard and eliminates itch and spots, keeping the beard clean has been the best thing to reduce the itch also.

Sweet almond oil is also good for body massage and other concotion uses.

Definitely recommend the comb too as an investment, de~tangler and aaaaah! itcher!

have fun blending.

p.s. Jojoba, is actually a light wax that won't absorb as well as an oil, but may be what you want. it is a base oil, with minimal smell.

Cassie Langstraat wrote:yay yay yay! thanks for all of the responses.

Yeah, I got some jojoba oil last night, hazelnut sounds nice too. Is that more of a base oil? Or is that a strong scented essential oil?

I need to do some sneaky investigating on which smells he really likes because he has really sensitive senses, so I don't want to get him something and have him end up not liking it. I know of some that he likes, but if it is going to be right under his nose, I think i have to be really careful.

What are your favorite smells ? Is eucalyptus a good one? I already have that. I've heard sandalwood maybe?

The base oils, cooking oils, nut oils, hemp oils, etc, are usually 'odor-less'. It's the flower & spices from the essential oils that usually contain the scents, and often you might be only adding a drop.

Check his deoderant, shampoo, and soaps. See what he can stand.
I have a sensitive nose, and hate perfumes, etc. As an example, my deoderant is unscented, shampoo & toothpaste has tree oil, and my shaving cream is lavender. I put coconut oil in my hair. I don't mind sandalwood.

The beard oil I bought was called "Gentlemen's Beard" and it was unscented! The ingredients were:
Organic Helianthus anuus (Sunflower) seed oil, Organic Argania spinosa (Argan) seed oil, Organic Oenothera biennia (Evening Primose) see oil, Organic Simmondsia chinensis (JoJoba) seed oil, Tocopherols (Vitamin E)

Hopefully that gives you a safe base to start with.

Am i the only one who uses motor oil?

I make a shave oil which can double as a beard oil. My recipe includes Sweet Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, Argan Oil, Jojoba oil and Sandalwood EO.  I was having a hard time finding a 'Manly' scent that I also liked and sandalwood is definitely my favorite. I tried cedarwood but that smells pretty yuck to me. Might be better if it was cut with another fragrance but I haven't had the time to experiment with that just yet. I'm not a huge fan of most fragrances (I abhor most perfumes) but sandalwood is pretty mild and quite pleasant. I highly recommend it!  

Update - made and gave him the beard oil, half jojoba, half sweet almond, and am going to let him pick the scents because as i may have mentioned he has a senstive nose, and beings his beard is so close up to his nose lol, I think it's pretty damn important he likes the smell himself..

But he really likes it so far, even without the scents. I also just ordered a little wooden comb for him that should come within the day or two, so we will see how that goes too.

I love making things for the people I love!!

Well if it weren't for the email this morning in my inbox about beards I might not have found this post.  Thanks Cassie as I am a first time bearder as of this year.  I have sensitive skin and right now my beard is like wire and is difficult and painful to comb or even brush.  So I am going to try all the suggestions here to see what suits me.
I have used stuff for my mustache such as paste which contains the beeswax.  I never used to like pine essential oil scent but it was in the mustache paste and I have come to recently really like it.  I know that sandalwood mixed with other essential oils is a wonderful thing.  I commonly mix cedarwood with sandalwood and I also mix pine with sandalwood.    You will have to experiment to find the right mix.  Usually, I do one drop pine or cedarwood as they are strong to two to three of the sandalwood.  That combination is great in the bath as well.

I have two recommendations, the second is simply a guess.  I made a Yarrow infused organic sunflower oil into a light salve (melt beeswax into oil, ratio about 1 part beeswax by weight to 5 parts oil by volume for a soft salve).  Made it as a healing salve and gave some to my son to use a few days post op carpel tunnel surgery.  He used it for his beard.  :p. He had a pricey oil that was making him break out.  This worked well.  Secondly,  I am a no poo girl with hair that is kinky and curly enough to be donated as a beard, haha.  I wash my hair daily with water and then use coconut oil as leave in conditioner, tamer, frizz buster.  It acts as my shampoo the next wash.  I tried and failed no poo before, this is wonderful for me and I bet it would work well for beards too.

Billy Sawyer wrote:Well if it weren't for the email this morning in my inbox about beards I might not have found this post.  Thanks Cassie as I am a first time bearder as of this year.  I have sensitive skin and right now my beard is like wire and is difficult and painful to comb or even brush.  So I am going to try all the suggestions here to see what suits me.
I have used stuff for my mustache such as paste which contains the beeswax.  I never used to like pine essential oil scent but it was in the mustache paste and I have come to recently really like it.  I know that sandalwood mixed with other essential oils is a wonderful thing.  I commonly mix cedarwood with sandalwood and I also mix pine with sandalwood.    You will have to experiment to find the right mix.  Usually, I do one drop pine or cedarwood as they are strong to two to three of the sandalwood.  That combination is great in the bath as well.

Love it!

My guy's beard is very similar texture, but he loves the little wooden comb and turns out the one I got him smells very sandalwoody already! So may not even have to get the other scents, but we will see.

Cris Fellows wrote:I have two recommendations, the second is simply a guess.  I made a Yarrow infused organic sunflower oil into a light salve (melt beeswax into oil, ratio about 1 part beeswax by weight to 5 parts oil by volume for a soft salve).  Made it as a healing salve and gave some to my son to use a few days post op carpel tunnel surgery.  He used it for his beard.  :p. He had a pricey oil that was making him break out.  This worked well.  Secondly,  I am a no poo girl with hair that is kinky and curly enough to be donated as a beard, haha.  I wash my hair daily with water and then use coconut oil as leave in conditioner, tamer, frizz buster.  It acts as my shampoo the next wash.  I tried and failed no poo before, this is wonderful for me and I bet it would work well for beards too.

Hahahah "curly enough to be donated as a beard" that made me lol.

But yes, I am no poo too, but have the opposite problem with too much oil in my hair/skin/life anyway, so I just use baking soda/water and I'm good to go for the next 4-5 days.

Love hearing everyone's experience!

I think we tend to overthink things often times but if you look at things from a more basic perspective a beard is just a type if hair that grow on your body.
It's most often curly. Wide tooth combes are recomended for that to avoid pulling out too much hair - wooden, plastic, bone or other material. It's not important. It's the spacing of the teeth that matter.
Also the way you comb long hair to not damage it too much is start at the bottom working out any small tangles on the way up instead of just pulling down from the top and making any tangles tighter and harder to loosen.
Then there's time. I have a friend who can't understand why she can't grow long beautiful hair like mine but I've seen the way she beats the s... out of her hair when she brushes it after a shower. Top down, way too hard and way too fast. Think of how soft and easy to break your nail become after you've had them in water for a long time same goes for hair.
It's dead kreatin hanging of your body. You can't fix what's broken but you can take care not to break it.
As for which type of oil. Your body has a protective layer of oil to help keep in moisture in the skin. So oil=good. For years I've used good ol' olive oil from the grocery store as a body lotion. Applied on wet skin after a shower, bathrobe on, sit and dry but for my face it's too thick and doesn't absorb as fast as I would like so health food store guy said jojoba oil (not wax. It comes as oil) soaks in fast so now I use that for my face. The reason why speed is important to me is my bangs get greasy with the olive oil so I stick with the much more expensive jojoba for the face. Any men with skin problems in their beard could try that but if you don't have that issue then any oil/moisturiser will do.
The muslim community swears by Argan oil but I think it has more to do with regional availability than any actual super powers of the oil.
I have to say I'm quite amused when it comes to this subject because it's exactly the same as it was with the long haired grunge guys of the 90'ies. They couldn't understand why their hair didn't magically look beautiful and shiny like the girls hair did.
So are you ready for a truely amazing fact: if you want pretty THAT'S the reason we take so long to get ready

With respect; I have had a beard for 51 years, never off.
I have never seen the need for oil.
I brush it regularly, daily, and wash it every 3 days or so.
I need to be convinced of an alternative.
But on the subject of beards, have you heard of the band " The beards"?

John C Daley wrote:With respect; I have had a beard for 51 years, never off.
I have never seen the need for oil.
I brush it regularly, daily, and wash it every 3 days or so.
I need to be convinced of an alternative.
But on the subject of beards, have you heard of the band " The beards"?

That's because you're in the southern hemisphere.
Everyone knows that the body's natural oil is flows in the opposite direction there, much like your toilets.

I use beard oil to alleviate my itchy skin. I have other skin issues very occasionally. My assumption is that your body, diet, nutrition, skin, and hair type just works naturally for you. Perhaps climate (humidity).  You're like a lion & his mane.
Or maybe your beard is so long, that it acts as a shady mulch. You need to only water occasionally, if at all.

Terry, you may be on to something with the north and south hemispheres.
Perhaps the southern hemisphere may be a natural sanctuary for beards.

Karen Herløv Horte wrote:
The muslim community swears by Argan oil but I think it has more to do with regional availability than any actual super powers of the oil.

I'd vote for Argan Oil as well, to keep the beard moisturized and not oily. The good thing about Argan oil is that this oil is not greasy, and the skin/hair absorbs it quickly. So it's nourishing for the skin and the hair follicles. I would go for Castor oil is i want more volume. And even mixing both with some essential oils for a good smell would be a good option.

I personally did some research about Argan oil and it only comes from where i used to live for a while (Morocco). Good luck in finding a pure Argan oil, it's rare and expensive.

If interested in more about this oil, here is an article that details a lot about it : https://www.frommoroko.com/argan-oil-benefits-origins/

I would vote for this beard essential oil it is the mixture of Castor, Cypress, Frankincense and Jojoba oils.

These are some pretty good demonstrations of making homemade beard oil I saw on YouTube.

If you want your beard oil scented (very, very lightly I would suggest), I have used a thyme and lavender combination with great success in making scented men's products for people I know.  BTW, and for everyone, this is a great combo for a bath oil or bath salts scent that is lovely and relaxing without being "frou frou".

This is the recipe that Hubby uses for his blend. https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/beard-oil-recipe

I used to work in a clean room. I'd rub coconut oil over my neck and entire head since it has anti microbial qualities. It made my hair(short) and skin great and a Philippine girl I worked with said "Pate you always smell soo goood... like food!
It'll make your skin and hair nice and tropical peoples will instantly love you.

Chris Pate wrote:I used to work in a clean room. I'd rub coconut oil over my neck and entire head since it has anti microbial qualities. It made my hair(short) and skin great and a Philippine girl I worked with said "Pate you always smell soo goood... like food!
It'll make your skin and hair nice and tropical peoples will instantly love you.

Coconut oil is amazing for skin, in most aspects, but it's also comedogenic, meaning it will often clog pores, so it's wise to try some, and see if it breaks you out. I can use it anywhere except on my face. I don't have a beard (ha!), to oil, but it does mean that if hubby were to use it, he couldn't kiss me. So, it's a good idea to keep your partners in mind too, when choosing a beard oil.

Carla Burke wrote:

Chris Pate wrote:I used to work in a clean room. I'd rub coconut oil over my neck and entire head since it has anti microbial qualities. It made my hair(short) and skin great and a Philippine girl I worked with said "Pate you always smell soo goood... like food!
It'll make your skin and hair nice and tropical peoples will instantly love you.

Coconut oil is amazing for skin, in most aspects, but it's also comedogenic, meaning it will often clog pores, so it's wise to try some, and see if it breaks you out. I can use it anywhere except on my face. I don't have a beard (ha!), to oil, but it does mean that if hubby were to use it, he couldn't kiss me. So, it's a good idea to keep your partners in mind too, when choosing a beard oil.

Thanks Carla. I had never heard that, and none of my family has had a problem with it, but good to know!

I've made some beard oil. I suggest making small batch though like the little essential oil bottle size. I used a blend of oils and some liquid vitamin e to help it last longer.

I used some cedarwood oil, some cassia, a few drops of lavender for it's benefits, it didn't smell foral.

You will want argan oil and jojoba oil in your mix for sure.  

Honestly, if he likes woody scents, cedar oil is a great one.  just a couple drops in a 1 oz bottle.
or something more invigorating would be eucalyptus.

for 1 oz I would do 0.5 oz argan oil, .25 jojoba and 0.25 olive oil.  You could just do a single oil.  If you did, I would choose argan.  if you want to exclude the olive oil I would do a 1:3 mix of jojoba:argan.

jojoba is great for his face.  argan is key for the hair.  

I hope you found a great oil recipe and enjoyed it enough to continue to play with diy and natural skin/hair products.  

Beard oils can be a great opportunity of aroma therapy, too. For example, blending lavender and rosemary gives an uplifting, mentally stimulating, yet calming effect, and smells great, without smelling too feminine.

Or, functional - for folks who are out in the woods or really even just outdoors in summer, a cedarwood/geranium/Lemongrass are good for repelling ticks, fleas, and mosquitos.