As men with facial hair, we know that having a beard with solid growth is important for not only our masculinity, but also our appearance. As such, it is very important to know what the best beard oils for growth are!
Having a lengthy beard isn’t the only way that you can use beard oil for growth. There are many men out there with patchy beards who just want those darned patches to be filled in.
For example, I’ve had my beard many different lengths, sometimes very long, and other times shorter. All these times I was still manly, no matter the length!
However, before I had a great beard, I had a patchy one from the time I was 17 years old to whenever I was 18. Once I turned 18, I realized I needed a good-looking beard, not necessarily a long one (my face at the time looked like a ton of wispy pubes).
It was at that moment I began researching beard growth techniques. I couldn’t find much, but a friend of mine recommended beard oil.
At this time, beard oil wasn’t that popular yet, and was more of its own subculture than a full-blown thing. You could call me a hipster, if you will.
Research was done on these magical beard serums in abundance. One conclusion I came to was this: beard oils made from natural oils and the right essential oils help your beard grow faster and help those patchy zones get hair growth that wasn’t there before.
Since then, I’ve used both premade beard oils from premium beard brands, and I also learned how to make beard oil, as well as some beard oil recipes.
I know you want to get to the juicy stuff, so I won’t go into detail on the oils that help with growth, but you can find them on our guide to men’s beard care.
The Best Beard Oils for Growth
BeardBrand’s Tea Tree oil is possibly one of the most direct and straightforward beard oils on the market today.
These guys have some of the best beard oil selections we’ve seen, and they are made with the bearded man in mind. Specifically, we will be talking about their Tea Tree beard oil.
This oil is designed in a way that it solves many of the different issues a man with a beard faces: growth, patchiness, fullness, and even acne. Unlike the other brands we’ve taken a look at today, this one makes a point to primarily focus on tea tree essential oil as the main fragrance and benefit.
Here are the carrier oils found in this one:
- Jojoba Oil
- Grapeseed Oil
- Almond Oil
- Castor Oil
As we mentioned before, grapeseed oil is great for locking in moisture and fixing brittleness, which in turn helps that beard grow! Jojoba oil is actually beneficial for helping control skin moisture, as it is the same consistency as the oil naturally produced by your skin. If your face is dry, then it will help fix this, and if your face is naturally oily – don’t worry – the jojoba will naturally soak into your skin and you won’t notice any additional oiliness on your skin.
Now, things get really juicy when we look at their essential oil blend:
- Tea Tree Essential Oil
- Vanilla
- Peppermint Essential Oil
This combo helps with a number of things that don’t only include fragrance. First of all, tea tree essential oil naturally combats and gets rid of acne. You can actually use it as a spot treatment on acne, and you’ll see that acne spot disappear sometimes overnight. Having this in the beard oil helps control under the beard acne which is both unpleasant, and unattractive.
The peppermint oil stimulates the capillaries under the beard, promoting beard growth, and also helps with cleanliness. This double whammy of tea tree oil and peppermint oil works together to both grow and destroy any chance of acne ruining your precious beard.
The smell is great, giving your beard a clean smell that’s that of a sophisticated man. If you’ve never smelled tea tree oil, it is hard to describe. Trust us when we say, it is a nice and subtle blend of a clean man.
This beard oil was specifically designed with beard growth in mind. Beard Farmer’s makes the list because of their dedication to using natural products that won’t harm your beard. A lot of beard oils use manufactured chemicals to create a sense of beard softness and thickness, but they do not actually do anything but harm your beard.
The Growther Beard Oil uses the following oils in their beard oil recipe:
- Lavendar Oil
- Peppermint Oil
- Castor Oil
- Cedarwood Oil
- Rosemary Oil
- Thyme Oil
- Sage Oil
- Ylang Ylang Oil
- Cypress Oil
- Grapefruit Oil
The oils that stand out most here are peppermint, cedarwood, and rosemary. This combination helps stimulate blood flow, rejuvenate the skin underneath your beard, and also keep it naturally clean. Beard growth occurs whenever all of these criteria are met, and Beard Farmer’s meets those criteria with their Growther Beard Oil.
We tested this oil on a few of our colleagues who could only manage a weak stubble, and within 4-6 weeks they were experiencing significant growth that they hadn’t had prior. Even if you have peach fuzz, this product is great to use. Just apply it lightly around the area you want your beard to grow, much like you would a face moisturizer.
Personally, we loved the fragrance of this one here at The Gentleman’s Playbook. They blended well, and the supporting oils such as thyme, sage, ylang ylang, cypress, and grapefruit really made it a fresh feeling and smelling beard growth oil. Of course, you’ll primarily be getting more of the lavender and peppermint as well as cedarwood and rosemary smell coming through. If you love a manly beard oil with a hint of bright and citrusy undertone, that also helps with beard growth, this is the one for you!
This list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning Honest Amish at least once. These guys are possibly the most famous brand in the beard world due to its humble price and the value that you get as part of that price.
Honest Amish is all natural and all organic, vegan friendly (most beard oils are, but they’ve made it a point to claim this) and smells great.
While Honest Amish is clear with the carrier oils it uses, they do not disclose which essential oils are in the blend. We find this both annoying and smart at the same time. It annoys us because we don’t know for sure which oils they have and can only make educated guesses as they claim that the “7 Essential Oils” are used for beard growth. On the flipside, we think it is smart due to the fact that of course, they don’t want anybody stealing their secret sauce!
Here’s the carrier oils included in Honest Amish’s Classic Beard Oil:
- Avocado Oil
- Virgin Pumpkin Seed Oil
- Sweet Almond Oil
- Apricot Kernal Oil
- Golden Jojoba Oil
- Virgin Moroccan Argan Oil
- Kukui OIl
These are all very standard when it comes to a beard oil that helps you grow your beard faster. We’ve seen this combination in hundreds of beard oils, so it comes to no surprise here. The unique oil in Honest Amish, however, is the Kukui oil.
Kukui oil is known to help keep moisture in the hair, which helps condition your beard. It also fights against hair damages such as split ends or tearing and is used often as a skin moisturizer. There are many other benefits to it as well that you can read about here.
That name is a mouthful, but man does this beard oil pack a punch!
Beard Flux XL has caffeine in it, which helps stimulates the hair follicles. This equates to that lusted after beard growth we’ve been talking about this whole time! Not only does the caffeine set this oil apart from others on the market, but it also does not use any fragrances or essential oils. It only consists of carrier oils that help promote beard growth and the caffeine that they’ve added as their unique selling point.
This oil is tried and true – almost everyone who has used it has experienced a thicker, fuller beard, and better growth. Beard Flux XL helps not only with growth, but also with patchiness and itchy skin. The oils that they use to achieve this effect are listed below:
- Argan Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Jojoba Oil
- Amla Oil
- Caffeine
While this list is much smaller than the others, it still gets the job done. This beard oil is focused and honed in to its purpose – a beard oil for growth with no bullshit in the mix.
Everything in the blend is 100% pure and organic, and they have a 100% guarantee to boot. If you don’t like it, send it back and get a refund. If that isn’t a great way to promise the perfection of your product, I don’t know what is.
Beard Flux XL beard oil has secured insanely positive reviews across the board, which is no easy feat. With tons of testimonials and proof to back it up, it is clear that this caffeine-based beard oil is a premium, top notch brand.
Even when we used it, we felt the difference almost immediately. Our beards felt more hydrated, healthier, and even those small patchy spots we’ve hidden underneath our luxurious man-manes have disappeared and filled in when it would normally take much longer to do so.
Another fantastic all natural and organic beard oil, Seven Potions has created a beard oil with a greatly refined scent and some very unique carrier oils in it. Most of these oils haven’t been mentioned on our website before, and we actually had to do some research on what they are exactly.
- Apricot Kernal Oil
- Crambe Abyssnica Seed Oil
- Simmondsia Chinensis Cera
- Prunus Dulcis Amara
- Vitamin E
- Cedar Wood Oil
- Sandalwood Oil
- Essential Oils
Crambe Abyssnica Seed oil is hailed as the new replacement for jojoba oil – it has higher erucic acid. That means that it is a much more potent moisturizing oil, which is great for your beard and skin – this will help with itching and beard dandruff!
The next oil that Woodland Harmony has in it is Simmondsia Chinensis Cera – this is a mouthful, but it is really just jojoba oil, which again is great for moisture and fighting against those beard flakes or a brittle and dry beard.
Next up, they’ve included Prunis Dulcis Amara – just your run of the mill almond oil, surprisingly. Following this one up are Vitamin E and cedarwood and sandalwood oil, all of which are great for beard growth.
As we said before, they do not disclose which other essential oils are in the blend, but the smell of this one is subtle and it leaves your beard feeling soft and hydrated, and really does help it grow!
Smooth Viking is not a top tier beard oil, but it is great if you’re needing beard oil for growth on a budget. It comes in at half (sometimes even a third) of the price of other beard oils. They do not actually use essential oils in this blend, however they do have a great list of carrier oils, which are the following:
- Avocado Oil
- Sweet Almond Oil
- Moroccan Argan Oil
- Olive Oil
- Pumpkin Seed Oil
- Castor Oil
- Jojoba Oil
- Vitamin E
The manufacturer of this oil claims that it helps fight against beard brittleness and skin flakiness. This is backed up by the addition of sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, and Vitamin E that is included in the blend.
We weren’t big fans of the fragrance, as it was clearly artificial and not derived from natural sources. You may be wondering how a beard oil like this made the top 20 round up – simply put, it is good enough to make the cut because of the pricing. While we recommend not using any beard oil with artificial junk in it, if you’re on a budget and want to spend only around $10 before diving headfirst into the craft, then this is the best alternative we found to other cheap oils like ones from Walmart.
On the contrary, reviews of the product say the opposite of what we do – many people love the smell, and this oil has fantastic reviews. UPDATE: As of 2021, we have noticed that all reviews for this oil are gone. The oil uses artificial fragrances, which aren’t the best for your beard’s long term health. If you’re on a budget, this is an okay starter oil. There are definitely better ones that made this roundup, though.
This beard oil is an okay substitute for beard growth for those who are on a budget and don’t want to take the dive into a premium beard oil, however, we do not recommend this as a long-term beard oil solution because the artificial fragrances won’t be great for your beard’s long-term health.
Does Beard Oil Help with Growth?
What we say about using beard oils for growth means nothing unless we can support these claims. Now that you know what the best beard oils for growth are, we wanted to share some evidence and case studies supporting the claims we are making on beard oil helping with beard growth.
We took a look at a before and after we found through Beard and Company and the results are astounding. The before and after is below:
The company goes over some of the reasons a beard looks so much better when its cared for with beard oil.
First of all, whenever you aren’t using a beard oil, your beard can become very unruly and curly. Beard oils help straighten and soften the hair on your face, which results in your beard immediately appearing longer than it normally is, but that doesn’t answer the question: does beard oil help with growth?
According to Beard and Company, whenever your beard stops growing, it is usually due to the beard hair being dry and breaking off. A dry beard also results in split ends that stunt the growth potential of your beard.
By using beard oil, you’re consistently replenishing your beard’s natural oils and keeping the beard hairs soft and hydrated, which keeps growth moving. Without the beard oil, your growth will slow down dramatically or cease to grow at all.
There are also some unique essential oils that help with stimulating beard growth (a lot of the oils listed above have these oils) by increasing blood flow to the hair follicles on your face and keeping the oil on the foundation of your beard hydrated and malleable.
Furthermore, in an article from Huffington Post, Dove’s Men+Care hair expert, Jason Schneidman discusses how beard oil is a necessity in taking care of your facial hair. He says:
Schneidman also has some additional tips to help make beard oil more effective for growth and beard maintenance. He tells us that you should apply beard oil right after a shower. After you shower, your skin’s pores and hair follicles are more open and will take in the oil more effectively. Schneidman says that just a few drops of beard oil will do the trick.
By taking care of your face’s hair follicles in this way, you can see some dramatic results that help fight against beard patchiness as well as dry and itchy skin, which are growth stumpers when it comes to your beard!
With all of this in mind, we hope you feel assured that beard oil is not a waste of your time and money. It is a very affordable men’s care necessity that will improve the health, durability, growth, and appearance of your beard.
Naturally, the next step is to learn how to use beard oil for growth! You need to learn how to properly apply and how often you should use your new beard oil to reap the most benefits from it.
Is Beard Oil Safe for Your Skin?
There are lots of men in this world and with lots of men comes lots of different reactions to different ingredients in many things.
You may be concerned about whether or not beard oil is safe for your skin. In general: yes it is. If you’re worried about having an allergic reaction to an ingredient in beard oils for growth, keep reading and we will help you test and see if you will have a bad reaction to the oil you’ve chosen.
To start, a proper beard oil uses only natural ingredients, none of that synthetic stuff. Your beard is a sensitive creature, and a lot of the beard oil companies out there know this and appreciate the subtle art and nature of growing and taming that beast on your face.
All of the oils we have listed in our article use natural carrier oils and essential oils – this means they are plant-based and not made in a lab from chemicals.
These ingredients are safe for your skin. They won’t clog your pores, they won’t strip the oils from your skin and dry it out, and the same applies to your beard.
However, if you are concerned about an allergic reaction to an oil, The Gentleman’s Playbook has a simple way you can test out whether or not an oil is safe for your unique case.
In almost any facial care product you find (particularly chemical laden ones) they recommend a 24 hour spot test.
A spot test is whenever you apply a new skincare product to a small part of your skin, like your wrist. This gives you 24 hours to see if that spot on your wrist has a bad reaction before you go covering your entire face in a product you’ve never tried before.
We recommend that for any new products you plan to use on your face you use the spot test.
With beard oils, simply put a small half drop onto your wrist or the back of your hand and thoroughly rub it in to your skin. Wait 24 hours and see if there’s any negative reactions such as a rash or irritation. If there is, schedule an appointment with your local dermatologist or skincare professional to see if you have any other allergies and what oil could be causing the reaction.
All said in done, beard oil itself is not dangerous for your skin. It is created with your skin in mind and matches the same consistency of the oils your skin naturally produces, that way there are no natural risks associated with the use of beard growth oils.
How to Use Beard Oil for Growth
As you can see, there’s definitely no shortage in the market when it comes to beard oils for growth. We’ve only pulled a handful of the best out there.
Of course, there’s always the option to make your own beard oils at home, which can be very rewarding and cost saving! Despite this, nothing beats a well-crafted professional beard oil. They can make great gifts for others, and help you get rid of that patchiness you’ve been experiencing in your beard or help you grow your beard that seems to have stopped growing.
We recommend using one drop of oil for shorter, more stubbly beards. Just put one drop in your hand, slap your hands together, and rub that oil all over the palms of your hands! Then, run your fingertips up and through your entire beard, allowing your palms to fully touch the beard as you do. After this, run your palms flat down the entirety of your beard to smooth it out.
For you Gentlemen with medium sized beards, it’s best to typically use 2-3 drops of oil. Use a dropper to control how much oil you put in your hand, let 2 or 3 drops go into your palm, and then rub your palms together to cover them with the beard oil.
After your hands are covered, run your fingertips and palms up through each side of your beard simultaneously, starting from the bottom of your beard, and running up until you cover the entirety of your beard. After you’ve fluffed that puppy up nice and wild-like, run the palm of your hands smoothly down the sides of your beard, back down to the bottom.
Once you do this, your beard will be evenly hydrated with your new beard growth oil and your beard will appear shinier, more full, and much softer.
If you happen to already have an incredibly long beard and want to keep it tamed, then we suggest using 2-3 drops of beard oil at a time until you fully hydrate and cover your beard. Per usual, rub the oil in your palms, except this time massage it into your beard like you would massage hair conditioner into your hair.
After applying your beard oil, you can use a beard comb to help tame your man-whiskers into a beautiful and sparkly sea of face fuzz that no dame can resist.
Using these application methods for each beard type will help make sure your entire beard and the skin underneath it gets hydrated and gets the most out of the power of any beard oil for growth.
Whether or not you have little “peach fuzz” or a full grown lumberjack-style beard, we’ve got you covered