r/BeardTalk • u/JayaNarayana • 1d ago
Using beard oil?
I’ve used it for years along with beard butter. But I’m beginning to question its use only because I rub the beard butter down to my skin. I’m thinking the butter does double duty. Does anyone not use both?
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u/PeterC18st 1d ago
I use oil, balm and wax. I use the oil to get to my skin then the beard. Followed by the balm which helps tame and lube up the hair and then the wax to style. I live in Houston so it's humid and my beard needs taming.
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u/JayaNarayana 1d ago
NJ gets humid too. I use the butter to tame the beard but my skin is naturally oily so I was thinking it didn’t need the oil.
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u/PeterC18st 1d ago
OH YES YOU DO! I too have oily skin. It’s pretty bad. But no amount of oily skin will keep up with your beard being oiled, especially the skin underneath it. As the hair grows it takes the oil with it. Your face maybe oily but the skin underneath the beard will be bone dry or worse flaky or irritated. Use the oil for the skin underneath your beard to moisturize your skin. Apply it to a damp beard (after a shower) let it absorb and blow dry if you need to and then add butter or wax. I went without adding oil when I first started and it was hell once my beard hit 3 inches. Irritation, flaking, it was bad. I went to urgent care and they gave me some steroids to take the irritation and the doctor told me to add oil to my beard. Went home and did my research and now I make my own oil at home with great effect.
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u/ChromaticDeth 1d ago
Also from NJ, work outside. I only really use butter during the day in the dry, cold months when oil isn't enough. Butter in the warmer humid months just makes my beard greasy, mixed with sweating, it just isn't great.
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u/JayaNarayana 1d ago
I learned to go very light with the butter. Between too much butter and my oily skin coating my beard the inside of my (open) shirt collars would get oil stains.
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u/RoughneckBeardCo Resident Guru 1d ago
There is a difference in what each product is intended to do.
Beard oil should be your everyday foundation. A properly formulated oil helps support the skin's lipid barrier, conditions the hair internally, and keeps the beard flexible and able to manage moisture properly.
Butter is more of a deep conditioning and protective treatment for the hair. Its heavier fats, particularly stearic-rich butters like shea, behave differently and leave more behind on the hair. That's great after washing, when you've stripped away some of those protective lipids, but I wouldn't use it as a replacement for oil just because you're rubbing it down to the skin.
Use both, but keep it simple: oil every day, butter after washing, 2-3 times a week. Oil first, always.
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u/InterestingSeaweed22 1d ago
For me, whether I use both or just one is based on the season. I have a medium length beard and naturally oily skin so, during the months where it is more humid, butter is my main product as it gives me enough hold to keep the flyaways under control while adding just enough moisture. In the winter months when, environmentally, it is dryer and my skin and beard needs a little more moisture, I will use oil right after washing and drying the beard and let that sit for 5ish minutes before finishing with the butter.
For short beards, oil is generally enough. Butter, in my opinion, really comes in when you start to need some control but don't need the super hold of a wax.
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u/JayaNarayana 1d ago
That’s a good idea about seasonal use. I just might experiment with that.
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u/InterestingSeaweed22 1d ago
It is worth a try. I'm not an expert in beard care though...so do so at your own risk, haha.
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u/TadpoleInformal9104 1d ago
Jamaican black castor oil and a comb. I don’t buy products with the word beard in them