Beard oil

At some point in a man's life he may decide to grow out his beard. After more than twenty years of shaving daily, sometimes twice daily, I had had enough. I grew my first beard. Suffered through the stubble and scruffy stage, and finally had something that looked like a beard. And it was awful! Itchy, dry skin. Keeping it short helped, but it didn't last long.

Years later, mostly as a poke in the eye to my employer, I decided to grow a "Yeard." A full year of beard without trimming. By the time I got to the "Tweard" stage at two years, I'd learned about beard oil and life had improved exponentially.
Witchdoctor01 had given me a detailed recipe that he used, but like other recipes of more than a couple ingredients, making a failed batch concerned me. This was worse than one bad meal. This was something I'd wear on my face every day.

Now, having grown my beard out for more than seven years, even bending to pressure from women to trim it, and ultimately losing several inches of length, it remains, and beard oil has become an essential part of maintaining it.

Why beard oil?

Because the beard draws oils from your skin, leaving it dry, itchy and flaky. While mostly to replace the lost natural oils in your skin, beard oil also softens your beard and makes it less tangled and easier to maintain.

It never feels oily. The oils soak right in. The difference is that I don't wake up looking like a dried out old lizard, with an itchy beard, or scaly face and skin under my beard.

Unscented beard and hair oil is available online from a bunch of distributors. Comparing ingredients and sampling a few ounces selling for between $19 and $4 an ounce proved my theory. Lots of the price is in packaging and hype. Quality ingredients, without any fragrance are available by the gallon from bulk barber and specialty oil supply stores for sixty cents an ounce. I can add scents that ladies like, but for long-term beard conditioning I'll stick with an unscented oil.

Beard oil has been a revelation, and has freed me from the itchy, flaky, dry beard that I endured for too long. I'm sure it can help you too.

 

I went through that progression myself. Beard oils are mostly salad dressing [oil and vinegar].

 

After retiring in 08, I started growing a beard and havn't stopped since. Beard oil is an absolute must, doesn't really matter the brand, as long as you use it daily.
Pro Tip, use both a face wash and a beard wash in the shower, the face wash should clean your skin and pores well with out leaving anything behind, especially paraffin that is found in most commercial soaps. A beard wash is kind of like Baby/Puppy shampoo, it's light and easy on the hair and dosn't strip out the natural oils in your beard, yet cleans what you have there.

I use and swear by Castle soap for pretty much everything, this makes it so I don 't have to carry a bunch of unique soaps/washes, I prefer adding mint oil to mine, it took a little to fine tune the mix, but once I got it down, it is super simple to blend!

Shaving!
I like to keep my beard trimmed so I don't look like it's an out of control old caveman's beard, I prefer to blend/cocktail my shave soap with beard cleaner and shaving oils, and apply with a Badger Hair brush for that ultra smooth shave, I much prefer the old school safety razors with ultra-premium blades, my go to blades are either Murkur or Feather in a vintage light weight short handle Parker Razer, and follow up with a hot wet towel and a good brisk after shave lotion, I use Honest Soldier Lemon oil shave lotion, it dosn't sting or burn nearly as bad as alcohol based lotions and it helps prevent shave bumps and other issues, once everything is all clean and shaved nicely, I use a Teak Wood Beard brush and run the oil ( I use "Every Man Jack" brand Sandalwood) through thoroughly in all directions, Job done, and I actually enjoy the morning ritual of it all, and I really like the Sandalwood scented oil, and bonus, so does the wife!
I do trim my beard about every other week, this not only helps keep it neat, but also promotes better and fuller growth, you can get lots of volume in a shorter period if you lightly trim every week or two, just a little bit really helps a bunch!

 

I've been thinking of letting the beard grow,, never did before,, because it wouldn't,, now days it comes out pretty quick . I'm a simple old f'k ,,, don't much give a shit what folks think ,, but I'm still working,, own my own business,, and don't want to scare of customers,, a scraggely beard and ponytail at 65 might turn off a few folks. But I'm at the point ,,I don't really give a shit.
Used to ,, I'd shave twice a month ,, nowadays,,I shave at least every 3 days ,,, might just let it go ,,,