If beard oil is the king of beard products then beard balm is queen. Right ? At Southside Beard Co, we think so.
If you're sick and tired of buying beard balm that doesn't quite live up to your expectations then you might want to try making your own. As mentioned in our 'how to make a beard oil' blog, making your own products allows you to control the quality of the ingredients, the texture of the balm and scent profile.
Beard balm serves a different purpose to beard oil, that being said any good beard routine will have both of them in it as they compliment each other. For guys with longer beards, a good beard balm will provide hold and tame fly-away hairs.
Benefits of Beard Balm:
- Prevents Beard Itch
- Tames and Hold Fly-away Hairs
- Moisturises skin beneath beard
The list of benefits is endless but we will keep them to the above 3 for now.
Required Products:
Now that we're ready to start making our own beard balm, first we need to gather all the ingredients and required packaging:
1. Aluminium Tin Jars - These come in a pack of 10+ from Amazon. Get either 30ml or 60ml (1oz or 2oz)
2. Carrier oils - Argan, Coconut, Jojoba, Castor, Almond, Grapeseed, the list is endless.
3. Butter - Shea Butter, Mango Butter or Cocoa Butter.
4. Wax - Beeswax or Candelilla wax for a more vegan friendly approach
5. Essential or Fragrance oil to give it your own scent.
All of the above ingredients can be found on Amazon or eBay for a under £30 or $40. If you've made beard oil using the previous
blog we wrote then you can use the mixture of carrier oils you made from there in your beard balm recipe. Kill two birds with one stone.
The Beard Balm Recipe:
Here at Southside Beard Co, we use a 1:4 ratio when it comes to wax with butter to get a medium hold beard balm. You can do a 1:3 ratio to get a more firmer hold balm, experiment as you wish with. Make a batch with 1:4 ratio and another with 1:3 and see which you prefer.
- 20g Beeswax
- 80g Shea Butter
- 30g Carrier oils that have been mixed.
Double or halve it depending on the amount of balm you need.
Step 1: Using a double boiler method, put your beeswax into glass jug and melt it at a high heat.
Step 2: Turn the heat down to medium and put your Shea butter into container. The lower heat will allow the butter to melt evenly without compromising the beeswax. Also lower heat will not affect the scent strength of the essential oil which is step 3.
Step 3: Once the Beeswax and Shea Butter have turned into liquid, proceed to add your carrier oils and essential oil. Mix it all together and take off the heat.
Step 4: Pour into aluminium containers and allow it to cool overnight. If you use it too early you will not get the full texture the balm has the potential to become.
**Tip: Warm the aluminium tins before pouring the balm in. When you pour the hot balm into a relatively cold aluminium tin. We've found the balm to have a bit of lumps and not be smooth when it sets. This is from our experience of making 100s of balms, we're not sure how we came to this conclusion but it has 100% helped with the texture of the balm.
You can warm the aluminium tins up by placing them under a warm tap water or a container filled with warm water. This will allow the metal to be warm all around.
Remember to dry it completely with tissue or a piece of cloth before putting the balm mixture in.
How And When To Use Beard Balm:
The best time to do a beard care routine is after the morning shower and just before going bed, doing your pre-bed beard rituals. That being said, beard balm can be used any time during the day to hold the beard in place and condition it.
We recommend first thing in the morning after having a shower and washing your face and beard. This is because your body's natural oil will be stripped off your beard after a wash, apply a beard oil to condition and beard balm to tame the beard.
Verdict:
A beard balm is an essential tool to look after your precious mane. It compliments beard oil by providing hold on your beard. If you're looking for a no-nonsense beard balm that contains all the right ingredients and smells awesome then checkout our collection of beard balms.
