If you are growing out your beard for the first time ever you may notice a few things that are going on – first off your beard hairs are likely growing in 10 different directions, the skin underneath your beard is likely feeling quite a bit itchy, or worse, is flaking, and your beard generally feels pretty coarse.
All of this is completely expected:
If you are not taking care of your beard correctly.
In fact, all of the above aliments can be easily treaded with this little product called beard oil.
Beard oil has been around for ages, however, it hasn’t really become that popular until the last few years when the whole beard trend started to take off.
Prior to the huge beard explosion, it was mainly reserved for the beard enthusiasts, the ZZ Tops of the world.
But beards in of themselves are inherently manly and its awesome to see men sporting some epic beards.
So as you grow your beard there are a few things you absolutely must know about beard oil – especially before you plunk down your first buck on any.
When Should You Start Using Beard OilBeard oil manufacturers will claim that you can start using your beard oil as soon as you have a bit a stubble.
While this technically might be true, it is a bit of overkill.

What I personally recommend for beginners is a beard oil that typically only contains 2 primary ingredients – jojoba and argan oils.
Both jojoba and argan oils are carrier oils (the primary ingredient in beard oil that gives all its awesome benefits) that are relatively muted in scent and are great for guys just getting started with the whole beard oil endeavor.
When jumping into some of the more exotic beard oils, you do have to be mindful of rashes or allergic reactions especially if you have sensitive skin.
So always make sure you do a patch test – typically behind your ear or in the bend of your elbow – to make sure you don’t have any sensitivities to the oils.
Jojoba specifically is one of the most mild oils that you can get and therefore the likelihood of a reaction is very very small – hence why I recommend this one for those just starting out.

What Are The Skin Benefits of Beard Oil?

Carrier oils – the main acting ingredient in beard oil – is also used as a massage oil.
Some of the more popular types being sweet almond and jojoba are the primary oils being used due to their low chance of allergic reaction and the ability to absorb rather quickly when applied to the skin.
Carrier oils, as we talked about extensively so far, will give your skin a splash of moisture in the same way that a hand lotion does.
Therefore some men may use their beard oil as also a simple moisturizer for their hands – especially beard oil that is unscented.
So don’t be afraid to use this on other places than your beard, its just simply a moisturizing oil that has been re-marketed as beard oil!
What’s The Deal With Essential Oils?

While carrier oils might be delivering all this awesome moisture to your beard, but I have yet to talk about the other key ingredient to a beard oil – essential oils!
Essential oils are pretty damn sweet.
You see, carrier oils are well, boring. Their scents are muted and only serve the purpose of hydrating that skin.
Essential oils on the other hand are like the cool freshman in college that is living on their own for the first time – they are simply the life of the party!
Beard oil wouldn’t be beard oil if it weren’t for the mixture of essential oils.
From cedar wood to lemon, frankincense and peppermint, essential oils provide all the wonderful smells for beard oil.
So if you want to have a nice subtle smell of the Appalachian Mountains in Upstate New York or an orange grove in Florida – beard oil can bring you there (well scent wise that is).
Here’s the kicker:
Essential oils don’t stop at the scents – no way!
In fact they also provide their own slew of benefits.
Take for instance tea tree oil. Tea tree oil is common essential oil used within beard oil, but it also doubles as a natural antiseptic. Therefore if below your beard you have acne, well the tea tree essential oil can and will do an awesome job and fighting off some of the acne.
Another pretty wild essential oil is peppermint oil. If you are looking to perhaps grow your beard a bit faster, peppermint essential oil will help regarding blood flow benefits beneath the skin which may in fact help your beard follicle grow.
There are literally hundreds of essential oils in existence, so while I would love to list them all here – that would be pretty impossible.
When reading the label of a beard oil, be sure to look up a few of the ingredients with a quick Google search.
Speaking of Beard Oil Ingredients…Just a few things to note here – some beard oil manufacturers try to make it sound fancy by saying their product contains Simmondsia chinensis, which is really just the botanical name for jojoba oil.
So don’t let the fluff of fancy names throw you astray – its just marketing jargon.
In addition, always make sure that the manufacturer lists the ingredients within the product.
If they don’t then you will definitely want to avoid them at all costs. The last thing you will want to be doing is adding mystery ingredients on to your face in hopes that it is what they say it is.
How Much Beard Oil Should You Be Using?
When it comes to using beard oil, its really going to depend on the guy and how soft of a beard they are looking for.
If its your first time starting out on beard oil, I would recommend using no more than a dime sized amount (when placed into the palm of your hand).
As your beard gets lengthier then you may want to use a bit more oil, but on average an off the shelf beard oil should last you a couple of months with regular use.
Whether you decide to use it daily or every other day – its completely up to you. Some men really do enjoy the scents that beard oils give and therefore almost use it as a light fragrance.
Others are looking to be thrifty and want to only use it for its core purpose – to get rid of beardruff and to ultimately soften up the beard so they use it only once every couple of days.
When it comes to the application of the beard oil – its going to be pretty straight forward.
Remember that dime sized amount I was saying about placing into the palm of your hand?
Well do that – and then rub your hands together to get an even coating.
Once coated, you will want to make sure you get to the skin beneath your beard and make sure the oil is rubbed in thoroughly.
After your skin has a good application of beard oil, you will want to go ahead and bring the oil out to the tip of your beard follicle.
The key is this – your skin is critical for coverage to prevent beardruff and the primary area of concern, the secondary area will be the tip of your beard follicle.
Once you have a good coating of beard oil, you will want to either use a boars hair bristle brush.

This will ensure that your beard oil is evenly distributed (even more so with a boars hair bristle brush) throughout your beard.
Once brushed or comb, you should notice a light sheen to your beard and will generally look pretty damn good!

That’s Really Everything There Is To Know About Beard Oil​
I hope that all the above information gave you great insight on the importance of beard oil and why beardsmen everywhere add this to their personal repertoire and use it on such a frequent basis.
It makes your beard incredibly soft, moisturized, and just generally a whole lot more presentable – oh and that pesky beardruff goes away as well!
So I want to know straight from you – what are some challenges you may have been facing while growing out your beard for the very first time?