You may be asking yourself: “What is beard balm, and why do I want to have anything to do with it?” Is it just yet another kind of grease that you slather into your face to make your beard look and feel smoother? Yes, that’s exactly what it is. Is it different than beard oil? Again, yes. Beard balm is meant to be more viscous—a kind of “spread” more than a liquid oil—and this might actually suit your needs better in a lot of ways than your typical beard oil.
There are a few benefits to using beard balm in addition to oil, since they are both perfectly valid and in fact work well in conjunction. Here are some of the main reasons for incorporating beard balm into your facial hair routine:
1) Styling
Balm is usually made with a waxy base, so you can use it not only to moisturize your beard and keep it soft, but also to style it into different shapes if you have the desire. If you have an unruly beard or you simply like being able to make your facial hair do some interesting tricks, it’s not a bad idea to use balm.
2) Keep the moisture longer
You can use the balm as a wax that will help lock in the moisture that you introduce with the beard oil. This can help keep your beard moisturized for longer even in very dry weather that will tend to make the texture of your beard coarser.
Now, the question is, how do you make beard balm? Just like beard oil, there’s no question that you should try the DIY approach, since that gives you more control over what goes in the stuff that you put on your face.
You can choose completely natural ingredients and keep an eye out to avoid substances that you know might irritate you. Not to mention the fact that beard care products can be expensive, and that it’s probably cheaper to make your own beard balm at home.
Making homemade beard balm is similar to making beard oil, and although there is a little bit more too it, it really isn’t that complicated and you can put it together in a very short amount of time. Before you begin, though, you’re going to need a few ingredient and supplies. These include:
- Some kind of butter or fat, ideally from a plant
- Some kind of wax, perhaps from bees
- A carrier oil of some kind, just as with beard oil
- Essential oils, again, the same as with making beard oil from scratch
- Something to measure weight with
- Something to measure volume with
- An eye dropper
- A container, such as one made of plastic or aluminum, that can hold the final product.
For the container, it’s probably better to go with metal because, as you will see, the balm will be quite a bit warm when you pour it into its final resting place, and you don’t want the container to be made of a material that will easily get misshapen.
Sounds simple enough, right? These are all things that you probably have lying around the house, or that you could easily order from Amazon. Once you have all of these supplies on hand, then you’re ready to start the process of making your own homemade beard balm. Before anything else, though, make sure that you have a clean working space, and that you protect your kitchen counters with plastic or some other kind of covering just in case. Beeswax can be kind of messy sometimes.
Let’s take a look at an easy recipe that you can start with. You might find that it’s very similar to DIY beard oil that you might have made:
Homemade Beard Balm Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp of beeswax
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoon of shea butter
- 2 tsp of almond oil
- 4 drops of tea tree oil
Now that you know what’s going to go into the balm, let’s move on to the actual steps:
Method:
1) Measure everything out and have it on hand. This avoids trouble later.
2) Time to melt the wax. Put it in the pot and drop it on the stove. Don’t make it too hot, though. Beeswax melts pretty easily and you don’t want to end up burning the stuff.
3) Throw the shea butter in. It should mix in nicely with the wax and you should find that you have a thick liquid consistency. Just be careful not to let it come to boil, as it will come out all wrong.
4) Once this mixture is liquefied, you’re going to want to add your oils. Take it off the stove and start stirring in the almond oil and the tea tree oil. Mix it very well. You should be able to get it stirred well enough within the span of 30 seconds or so.
5) Before it fully cools, pour it into the containers, which you hopefully kept nearby. Ideally, you don’t have any left over because you chose the volume of your containers carefully.
6) Now it’s time for the waiting game. You have to let the balm sit for awhile until it is solid enough to use. A day or two should do it; just make sure to cover up the balm to keep out inquisitive critters and other undesirables.
7) Put it on your face. Repeat every day. Get a softer beard that is easier to shape.
8) Come up with a cool-sounding fake brand name for your beard balm. Write it on the container with a sharpie. When your friends ask about it, brag about how you have your own line of beard balm products.
Summary
Now that you know how to make your own balm, you won’t need to buy another batch of the commercial stuff ever again. If you’re the crafty type, you might even try selling your own or making extra so that you can give it away to your friends. As with beard oil, it will help to keep you moisturized and will protect your facial hair from the elements, and it has the added advantage of easier styling.
