How to Make Beard Balm

Currently, beards are pretty trendy. Also, with “No-Shave November” and Christmas coming up, a homemade beard balm is a great gift idea for the bearded folks in your life. Learn how to make beard balm and check out the list of essential oils you can add to the beard balm for a great scent.

Why Use and Make Beard Balm?

Okay, let’s get my confession out of the way. Confession: I hate beards. Whew. There, now I feel better. When I started dating my hubby oh-so-many years ago, I told him that I have a zero tolerance policy for beards or mustaches. He was totally fine with that, and thankfully, he’s kept his promise to keep his face delightfully clean-shaven ever since. 

However. Beards are super trendy right now, and pretty much ALL the other men in my life (friends and family) have beards for at least half of the year. I wince a bit when I see their beards all straggly and/or ragged, or when my guy friends frantically scratch their beards and complain about how itchy the skin can get under there. So I like to spoil the bearded men in my life with some homemade beard balm as part of their Christmas presents every year. 

Why use a beard balm?

Beard balm is a hair grooming product that helps tame and smooth the beard hair and it also helps moisturize the skin underneath. If you’ve ever seen bearded actors with perfectly smooth facial hair, you can bet that they keep the beards that way by using a beard balm. 

Also, you should consider using a beard balm for the ladies in your life. A lot of ladies like beards, but they want to snuggle up with soft, manageable beards, not scratchy and bristly. Bottom Line: Ladies, consider making this beard balm for your men so they have soft and smooth beards. Men, consider making this beard balm so your beards are manageable and less scratchy. 

Why make a beard balm?

You can purchase beard balms in stores or online (for example, Plant Therapy has this nice beard balm option). However, many beard balms that you can purchase are kinda expensive. Plus, you have to pay close attention to the ingredients, and make sure you’re not buying a commercial brand filled with excess chemical gunk. Blegh.

I love making DIY products like homemade beard balm for a few reasons:

1. I know all the ingredients are safe and organic.
2. There is an amazing feeling attached to making products for your loved ones instead of just buying them.
3. I can customize the scents, depending on what the person likes.
4. While buying the ingredients at first might be a bit pricey, I then have everything on hand to make multiple batches in the future. 
5. I can use those same ingredients to make other products (like my gentle healing salve, sore muscle salve, headache salve, etc.).

I absolutely love making gifts for people for Christmas, and this beard balm is really easy to make and, fortunately, I already had all of the ingredients on hand. It was a wonderful texture and the guys loved it!

Choosing Essential Oils for Your Beard Balm

Let me start by saying: you do NOT need to use essential oils in your homemade beard balm. While many of these essential oils have nice medicinal benefits to them (as a nice bonus), the main purpose of using essential oils in your beard balm recipe is for the scent. 

So if you cannot afford essential oils right now, or you are just not interested in them, no worries, just ignore that part of the recipe! Just realize that the beard balm you make will not have a scent (although it will still smooth and moisturize).  Click here to learn more about how to figure out where to buy essential oils (there are some really bad companies out there, so you need to do some research!).

Here is a list of great beard balm essential oils to consider. This list is based on what I think most men would like to smell. However, you might want to talk to the person you are making this for and learn what scents they like. Feel free to make a combination of some of these essential oils, too, to make a customized scent!

• Balsam Fir
• Cedarwood
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Cypress
• Eucalyptus
• Fir Needle
• Lemon
• Orange
• Peppermint
• Pine
• Rosemary
• Sandalwood
• Spearmint
• Spruce

You can also purchase essential oil blends to use in your beard balm. These are really handy if you’re worried about what scent combinations to make. Each company has different blends to pick from. Make sure you read about how to pick an essential oil company here, and, after carefully picking an essential oil company, you can check out their blend options. 

I personally mainly use Plant Therapy (there are a few other essential oil companies I like, too). I really liked their Wood Spice essential oil blend for this beard balm recipe.

How to Make Beard Balm

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. coconut oil
• 1 tbsp. shea butter (this is the shea butter I use)
• 1/2 tsp. honey
• 2.5 tbsp. beeswax (I love using beeswax pellets)
• 1 tbsp. almond oil (like this one) OR jojoba oil (this affordable jojoba oil is the one I use)
• 2 drops Vitamin E (I use the 2 oz. bottle from Mountain Rose Herbs)
• 20-30 drops essential oils (see list above for inspiration)

Directions:

1. Using the double boiler method (I usually use a glass bowl on top of a saucepan on the stove. The saucepan has some boiling/simmering water in it), heat the 2 tbsp. coconut oil, 1 tbsp. shea butter, 1/2 tsp. honey, and 2.5 tbsp beeswax. 
2. Stir constantly until it is completely liquid and clear. Stir over the heat for another 30 seconds-ish, just to make sure the beeswax is completely melted.
3. Remove from heat. Wait about 30 seconds-ish to let the liquid cool a tiny bit. 
4. Add the 1 tbsp. almond oil or jojoba oil, 2 drops of Vitamin E, and the essential oil drops of your choice.
5. Stir and carefully sniff. If the scent is not strong enough for you, add another 5-10 drops. We don’t want it to be potent like cologne, but it should let off a subtle scent.
6. Immediately pour into your preferred jars (see notes below for tips!).
7. Loosely put tops on the containers, and let the jars set on your kitchen counter for a few hours or overnight until they have set. Then tighten the lids and they are ready to go!

Notes:

**Jar ideas: This beard balm will make 2 or 3 tiny jars of balm. Don’t use the wrong type of jar for this project. In the past, I have made the mistake with salves and balms and used typical half pint mason jars (like these). I  have small hands, and even I struggle to get my hands down into the jars to get the salve or balm out. Instead, use shallow glass jars (like these 4 oz jars) or small salve tins (like these 2 oz. containers) for your beard balm. Men can get their big hands into those jars without issue.

**Using the Beard Balm: You only need a tiny little smear of beard balm, no bigger than pea-sized, to massage into your beard. Excess beard balm can be rubbed into your chest or arms, since it’s a nice moisturizer. 

If you make homemade beard balm this year, please tell me about it in the comments below!

I love hearing from you all. Tell me what scent combination you used and if you (or your men) liked it and if it helped tame the scratch and straggles.

Need More DIY Gift Ideas? Check out these Recipes:

• How to Make Homemade Lip Balm
• Gift Ideas for Gardeners
• Homemade Herbs de Provence Salt
• How to Make Queen of Hungary Facial Toner
• The Ultimate Herbalist Gift Guide
• Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix