How To
Homemade Beard Oil with Essential Oils
Oct
If you or a man in your life is passionate about facial hair, why not give that small yet mighty patch of chin fuzz the ultimate grooming gift with an all natural beard oil?
A brilliant present and a thrifty way to save a few pennies, homemade beard oil is easy and fun to make, great for personalising and offers complete control of what goes on that soon-to-be-tamed facial hair.
What does beard oil do?
Just like the hair on your head, beard hair and the skin beneath it needs love and attention to keep it looking lustrous, moisturised and soft. A good homemade beard oil will not only nourish and tame frazzled ends, it will hydrate the skin underneath and keep that beard smelling great.
By choosing the right ingredients, and especially the right essential oils, it’s easy and rewarding to make your own beard oil that’s packed with nourishing and conditioning vitamins, anti-inflammatories and nutrients that also smells suitably manly too!
How to use beard oil
If you’re the proud owner of a beard, applying beard oil should be part of your daily routine. Use it after showering or your morning wash while hair follicles and skin pores are still open allowing maximum absorption.
Apply the beard oil by rubbing a few drops (or a pea size amount of your beard balm) between your hands then simply massage it into your beard and onto the skin below, ensuring a full, even coverage. For longer beards, comb the oil through the full length of each hair, making sure it’s coated from root to tip.
Making homemade beard oil – The basics
While there are endless combinations available, homemade beard oils will always comprise of two key ingredients:
-
- Either one or a combination of carrier oils
- Essential oils
Carrier oils for beard oil
The major part of your beard oil be made up from one or a mixture of carrier oils. A carrier oil is a fatty base oil typically derived from seeds, nuts or the kernels of a particular plant. Because essential oils are mostly too potent to use topically, we dilute them in carrier oils to literally help ‘carry’ them onto the skin or hair.
For homemade beard oils, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing a carrier oil. The good news, if you can’t decide between a few, there’s no reason that you can’t combine a couple to get the benefits of each.
Three of our favourite carrier oils include: jojoba oil, sweet almond oil and argan oil. These all provide superb, easily absorbed moisturisation, their packed with vitamins, fatty acids and antioxidants and make a great foundation for your homemade beard oil.
Another popular choice for beard oils is the hydrating-powerhouse castor oil. Long associated with promoting thicker, healthier hair, men around the world swear by using castor oil for beard care and you’ll find it as a common ingredient in many shop-bought beard products. Thicker than the aforementioned oils, it’s a great choice for blending with another oil to make it easier to apply.
Our two other favourite beard oil carrier oils are monoi oil and coconut oil. Both incredible natural moisturisers, these two oils differ slightly from the rest in that they will solidify at temperatures below around 20°C. That means when you use them to make beard oil you’ll want to use a little pot rather than a dropper with the result something more akin to a homemade beard balm. Monoi oil and coconut oil based beard oils literally melt in your hands as you scoop a bit out to use, making them great for rubbing into beards.
Choosing essential oils
Once you’ve chosen your carrier oil(s), all that remains is to add your selection of essential oils. This is your chance to put a signature scent on your beard oil so we recommend spending a bit of time planning and experimenting with your blend. To help you get started, we’ve created a comprehensive guide to choosing and blending essential oils which you can access below. Alternatively, if you want to keep things simple, we’ve outlined some of our favourite beard oil essential oils further down this page.
Creating your beard oil
Storage
Once you have decided on your ingredients it’s time to plan out you recipe based on the size of your bottle or container.
If you are using a liquid carrier oil, like jojoba, sweet almond or argan oil then you’ll want to store your beard oil in an amber boston bottle with a dropper fitting. We recommend starting out with 30ml bottles while you perfect your recipe. Beard oil lasts a long time so it’s unlikely you will ever need anything bigger than a 50ml bottle.
If you choose to use a solid base like our Monoi Oil or Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, try using a leftover jar or pot from some other product or give one of our 60ml aluminium canisters a go.
Quantities
For beard oil, we recommend an essential oil dilution rate of between 1-2%. That means for every 30ml of your carrier oil you’ll need to add between 6 and 12 drops of essential oil.
How much essential oils you use will depend on the potency of each oil, typically base notes have much more powerful scents than middle and high notes. Use our blending guide and the 30-50-20 method to get a perfect balance.
Method
Actually making your own beard oil couldn’t be simpler. Just measure the right amount of carrier oil and mix in your essential oils based on your recipe. The pop the lid on and give them a gentle shake to mix the ingredients.
If you opt for using a solid-state carrier oil like monoi oil or coconut oil you’ll need to gently warm them up first before adding your essential oils. Simply add your chosen amount into a small bowl then rest it inside a larger bowl of warm water without letting any of the water get into the oil. The carrier oil will soon start to liquefy allowing you to add your essential oils and mix together. When the combination hardens again, it’ll be infused with delicious scents and all those wonderful properties.
Best essential oils for homemade beard oil
Cedarwood essential oil
A critical note in many of the best-selling men’s fragrances, cedarwood oil is rich with a warm, balsamic and woody scent making it the perfect ingredient for a homemade beard oil. It’s also known for its relaxing, soothing properties, so the lucky recipient will appreciate the impact it has on his daily mood.
Sandalwood essential oil
Packed with naturally occurring antioxidants, sandalwood essential oil is another fragrance used widely in men’s aftershaves. Offering a classic woody scent, sandalwood oil is great for hydrating and rejuvenating the skin as well promoting mental clarity and calmness.
Eucalyptus essential oil
The heady aroma of eucalyptus oil needs only a light touch to deliver maximum impact, and is often used in popular aftershaves because of its fresh, sharp fragrance. It’s invigorating!
Lemongrass essential oil
Adding a few drops of lemongrass essential oil to your chosen carrier oil will infuse it with an uplifting citrusy note. It’s also a great natural insect repellent so no beasties will want to climb inside his beard, no matter how big it is…
Peppermint essential oil
Fresh, zingy and invigorating, peppermint essential oil makes a great ingredient for an addictive beard oil. It’s also good for evoking a sense of peace – what a great way to start the day!
Bergamot essential oil
Last but not least, bergamot essential oil is at once sweet and spicy with warm notes, making it the perfect addition to your homemade beard oil. Bergamot is used by aromatherapists to banish low moods, helping to get his day off to the strongest, most positive start.
Beard oil shopping list
