Beard Care: Is Beard Butter the Real Deal?

The world of beard care is in turmoil.

Keeping a beard may be the thing, but very few people have hacked beard care. Most people prefer to wing it and hope their beard doesn’t look ragged.

The few who have hacked a healthy beard will admit that they discovered their beard care secrets by accident, or they just happen to have compliant hair.

Beard hairs are prone to dehydration because of their unique position and the tendency to remain exposed all day. Furthermore, the skin at the base of your beard receives a fair share of blood, which makes the area prone to irritation and redness.

What Is Beard Butter?

The term “Beard butter” could be an oxymoron because what does butter have in common with a beard? When you think of a beard, you think scruffy, itchy and rough, and butter is quite the opposite. Right? The creators of beard butter thought otherwise. A healthy beard should not be stubby or so coarse to touch.

Beard butter, as such, is food for your beard. By applying beard butter to your beard, you nourish your strands from the roots up. Experts reveal that the key to a healthy and handsome beard is not the strands themselves but the skin beneath. Feeding your follicles proteins like keratin and collagen that makes them supple and tough at the same time will make your strands less brittle and shinier.

Step-by-step Guide To Using Beard Butter

Step 1: Wash your beard with a mild beard shampoo or beard wash

Your regular body soap won’t cut it for cleaning up your facial hair. Most of these agents are harsh on body hair; they were created for direct use on skin, not hair. As a result, they strip your hair of its oils, making them brittle and coarse.

Step 2: Pat your beard dry

Avoid applying too much friction while drying your beards. This may encourage irritation and redness.

Step 3: Apply beard butter

Take some beard butter with your fingers, rub between your palms, and massage gently into your beard. Use circular motions first, then stroking movements after.

Step 4: Redistribute using a comb

At this stage, most of the butter is in your beard, not on your face. Activate the butter by combing through your beard with a wide-toothed sandalwood comb. The comb takes butter from your beard and transfers it to gently stroking your face to the skin beneath. This motion helps it absorb more and stimulates hair growth by increasing blood flow.

The moisturising action of the beard butter should allow the comb to glide through effortlessly. Thus, there is no risk of irritation or breakage.  

Best Ingredients For Beard Butter

Beard butter usually come with a base of shea butter or cocoa butter. 

When choosing a beard butter, the primary hair-stimulating ingredients to look out for include jojoba oil, black cumin seed oil, avocado oil and grapeseed oil. Beard butter may also contain essential oils like tea tree oil. 

These oils should be used based on your particular beard needs. For example, do you desire a fuller beard, a neater one, or a softer, more compliant one?

Cocoa Butter vs Shea Butter For Beards

Cocoa butter is a sweet-smelling natural fat that contains numerous antioxidants which help skin heal and strengthen damaged skin. Cocoa butter is rich in Vitamin E, one of the major skin vitamins. As earlier stated, skin health is beard health. Cocoa butter also moisturises your beard and prevents beard itches, dandruff, and general dryness. 

On the other hand, Shea butter has a milder scent and is best at strengthening strands and replenishing lost hair oils. Sheabutter is also said to pump up the volume of beards and give an overall healthy and polished look. As with cocoa butter, shea butter repairs damaged hairs. 

Both options are great for your hair; it is up to personal preference!

Beard Butter vs Beard Wax

These options may vary in composition, but the major difference between butter and wax is the consistency.

Because butter is soft, it is used as a moisturiser. On the other hand, a wax can be used for styling and shaping because it has a better hold.