WHAT IS THE BEST TYPE OF BEARD OIL FOR ENCOURAGING GROWTH?

Nobody wants a straggly, thin-looking beard. The ideal is a hearty, full beard that’s glossy and easy to groom. But, if you haven’t quite reached that stage with your beard, what’s the answer? Beard oil, of course! Read on to discover the best type of beard oil for encouraging growth…

What is beard oil?

Let’s start off with a bit of primer; what exactly is beard oil? 

As we’ve written previously, beard oil is a type of oil that’s designed to nourish, revive and condition both beard hair and the skin underneath your beard hair.

Much like supplements are designed to provide your body with the nutrients and vitamins it needs to be as healthy as possible, beard oil is designed to provide your beard with the ingredients it needs to be as healthy as possible - thereby encouraging growth.

Beard oils are typically made up of two core ingredients; carrier oils and essential oils. 

It’s the job of these two ingredients to effectively ‘feed’ your beard with the moisture, oils, vitamins and minerals that it needs to grow to its fullest extent.

How do beards grow?

‘Out of your face’ may be a funny answer, but it doesn’t give us quite the information we need to make our beards grow better. 

To gain a better understanding of how you can encourage beard growth, it’s important to understand its root causes (if you’ll excuse the pun). 

Ultimately, beard growth is determined by the levels of androgens you have in your system. Androgens are natural hormones such as testosterone which attach themselves to the follicles of your beard hairs, encouraging them to grow. 

To a certain extent, that’s the main determining factor behind how quickly and how thickly your beard grows. It’s ultimately down to your genes. 

However, it’s possible to give your beard a helping hand; with beard oil.

Caveat

Before we continue, we want to make a very important point. 

Beard oil isn’t scientifically proven to make your beard grow. As we’ve just seen, it’s the androgens in your body that actually make your beard hairs grow. 

However, beard oil - in combination with some other actions - can help create the conditions for encouraging optimal growth. 

How to encourage beard growth

As we’ve just seen, beard growth is determined to a great extent by the levels of androgens in your body.

But, what else can you do to encourage beard growth? The Cremo team has set out our top beard growth tips below. 

Use a quality beard oil

As we’ve already mentioned, your beard is going to grow at its best if you’re using quality beard oil every day. 

Beard oil helps to nourish and moisturise the skin below your beard, which will improve the condition of your beard hair. With daily application, beard oil can keep both your skin and beard in the best condition - encouraging maximum growth.

We’ll tell you what to look for in a beard oil further on, but for now, just remember that beard oil is a grooming essential!

Use beard wash and softener

If you’re serious about maximising your beard’s growth, then consider buying a dedicated beard wash. 

Shop Now - Cooling Beard Wash & Softener

A good-quality beard wash will clean your beard without stripping away natural oils as some more generic shampoos tend to do.

Beard washes such as our Cooling Beard Wash & Softener will not only keep your beard clean and fresh, but also soften and condition coarse, dry hairs - maximising their growth potential.

Regular combing

An essential part of growing your beard is combing it regularly. Combing has a number of benefits, from preventing ingrown hairs, stimulating follicles, and helping you to evenly distribute beard oil throughout your beard.

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Combing also keeps your beard clean and detangles it, providing the best possible conditions for maximum beard growth.

Have a good skincare regime

When they’re thinking about beards, many people focus solely on the hairs of the beard. The reality is that the skin underneath the beard plays an even more important role in beard growth. 

That’s because the skin beneath a beard is home to follicles. Follicles effectively form the ‘base’ of each hair within a beard. 

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Follicles are connected to sebaceous glands, which secrete sebum. In other words, follicles are responsible for drawing oils such as sebum from beneath your skin into your beard hairs. 

The biology lesson aside - what this means is that by ensuring the skin on your face is thoroughly clean, scrubbed and moisturised, your skin will be better able to provide your beard with the oils it needs for growth.

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In other words, by cleaning and ‘feeding’ your skin with moisturiser, your skin will in turn ‘feed’ your beard - creating the best possible conditions for growth.

For the optimal skincare regime, we’d recommend using a daily face wash, an exfoliating face scrub, and a fast-absorbing face moisturiser. Used in combination, these products will keep your skin in the best condition.

De-stress and relax

Whilst it’s well known that stress can have a negative impact on many aspects of physical and mental health, it’s less well known that stress can adversely affect beard growth. 

This is because prolonged periods of stress cause your body to release cortisol. This is the body’s main stress hormone and can cause your testosterone levels to drop. 

As testosterone is one of the main androgens that stimulates beard growth, a drop in testosterone will result in reduced beard growth. 

So, if you want to grow the biggest, best possible beard, you need to keep those stress levels to a minimum!

Eat a balanced diet

The better your diet, the better your beard will be. In particular, a diet that is high in protein (e.g. nuts, milk, lean red meats, chicken, fish), will provide your body with plenty of keratin.

Keratin is a type of structural fibrous protein that helps to nourish your hair - smoothing down the cells that overlap to form each strand of hair. 

In short, if you’re eating plenty of protein, then your body will be able to supply your beard hairs with plenty of keratin. This results in strong, smooth beard hairs. 

Stay hydrated

Another thing you can do to encourage beard growth is to drink plenty of water throughout the day. 

Water helps to hydrate your skin - which, as we’ve learnt - will in turn hydrate your beard. 

Whilst the exact amount of water varies from person to person, around eight to 10 glasses of water a day should be enough to keep you properly hydrated. 

Likewise, it’s also wise to cut back on diuretics (i.e. liquids that remove more water from your body than they contribute). Alcohol is the most well known diuretic, whilst coffee, tea and many sodas are classed as mild diuretics.

Consider taking supplements

If you’re truly serious about achieving a full, healthy beard, then it’s a good idea to invest in some supplements. 

A general multivitamin will generally be sufficient to maintain your overall health, which in turn, will contribute to beard health. 

Be patient

A prominent, full beard isn’t going to grow overnight! One of the key virtues you should cultivate is that of patience. 

Although it may be tempting to shave your beard whilst it’s in that itchy growth stage, be patient! Using a quality beard oil is the best way of overcoming this itchy stage and helps you get through the early stages of growing a beard.

To give you an idea of how patient you’ll have to be, consider the average ‘stages’ of a beard below, beginning from a clean shave: 

• Stubble - one to two weeks.
• Longer, ‘itchy’ stubble - two to eight weeks.
• Short beard - two to four months.
• Full beard - four to seven months.

As you can see, growing a beard isn’t an overnight job! 

Whilst you can create the best possible conditions for growth (by taking the actions outlined above), the truth is you will have to be patient.

How to buy the best beard oils for encouraging growth

Beard oil is a fundamental part of growing a beard. With the right beard oil, you’ll create the perfect conditions for growth - that is, well nourished follicles and hairs, and well moisturised skin. 

But, what are the best beard oils for growth? What do they contain? What should you look for? 

Let’s take a look…

Premium moisturisers

The beard oils that are most likely to encourage growth are those that are packed with moisturisers. 

And, you don’t want these to be any old moisturisers either. The best beard oils for growth contain natural moisturisers such as aloe, olive oil, and sunflower oil. 

In fact, moisturisers such as olive oil contain high levels of antioxidants, proteins and antimicrobial compounds that strengthen hair. Although they don’t directly make your hair grow any faster, they do prolong the life of existing hairs, giving the impression that your beard is growing more quickly. 

Other moisturisers commonly found in beard oil, such as sunflower oil, contain high levels of vitamin E which can stimulate new hair growth. 

It’s because of these growth-inducing properties that you’ll find premium moisturisers such as sunflower oil in our beard oils. 

Essential oils

To select a beard oil that will provide the best conditions for beard growth, you should select one which contains essential oils. 

Essential oils - also known as volatile oils or ethereal oils - are extracted directly from plants. As a result, they contain the plant’s scent (or essence) and add an aromatic element to beard oil. 

Like moisturisers, essential oils don’t directly lead to hair growth, however they do create the optimal conditions for growth. Essential oils are deeply nourishing for both skin and hair.

The best essential oils to look for in beard oils include jojoba oil, argan oil and rosemary oil. These are essential oils which have both nurturing characteristics and wonderful aromatic qualities; which is why you’ll find them used in Cremo’s very own beard oils. 

For example, argan oil is rich in fatty acids which will be absorbed by your skin, which in turn will contribute to the growth of your beard.

Ease of application

If you want to create the best conditions for maximum beard growth, then you’ll need to be using beard oil every day. 

As such, it’s best to select a beard oil which is easy to apply. For example, Cremo’s beard oils come with a pipette applicator, which makes it super simple to apply exactly the right amount of oil for application each day. 

Barber grade

If a barber wouldn’t use a particular beard oil, then you shouldn’t either. 

Because you’ll be applying beard oil to your beard every day, you want to buy a beard oil which is made from the finest - barber grade - ingredients. This ensures there aren’t any nasty surprises within the oil; you’ll be getting a supremely high-quality beard oil that’ll help you cultivate your beard. 

Complementary grooming products

As we mentioned earlier, a great skincare regime is a crucial part of encouraging beard growth. 

As such, you should be using face washes, moisturisers, and facial scrubs on a regular basis alongside your beard oil. 

In order to make sure your skincare regime perfectly complements your beard oil, we’d strongly recommend buying your skincare products and beard oil from the same brand. 

That way, you can be assured the products are designed to work together and not inhibit their intended functions.

The best beard oil for encouraging growth

So, if you’re looking for the best beard oil for encouraging growth, you’ll need to buy an oil that encapsulates all the qualities and characteristics outlined above. 

Cremo’s beard oils possess exactly those qualities and characteristics. With premium moisturisers, the finest essential oils, and being of barber grade, they’re the beard oil of choice. 

Cremo Cooling Beard Oil

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Imbued with Cremo’s special citrus and mint leaf formula, Cremo’s Cooling Beard Oil will not only hydrate and nourish your skin and beard, but leave you smelling great.

Containing high-quality essential oils such as jojoba oil and argan oil, Cremo’s Cooling Beard Oil will nourish your skin, making it more supple and providing your beard’s follicles with the oils and nutrients that will improve beard hair quality. 

Our Cooling Beard Oil is also rich in premium moisturisers such as sunflower oil and coconut oil, which will ensure the skin underneath your beard is at its best. 

Cremo Palo Santo (Reserve Collection) Beard Oil

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Cremo’s Palo Santo Beard Oil makes it easy to commit to the daily application of oil to your beard. Why? Because our Palo Santo Beard Oil has a lightweight, leave-in formula, meaning it’ll be absorbed by skin and hair alike quickly. 

Our Palo Santo Beard Oil is also an oil for beards with a truly unique scent. That’s thanks to its distinctive notes of bright cardamom, dry papyrus and aromatic palo santo. 

Like the Cremo Cooling Beard Oil, the Palo Santo Beard Oil is easy to apply, is of barber grade, and is available with complementary grooming products.

Cremo: America’s number one beard care brand

If you want to beard boldly (and, who doesn’t?!), then do so with Cremo. As America’s number one beard care brand, Cremo knows a thing or two about growing awesome beards. 

Enjoy an astonishingly superior beard grooming experience every day with Cremo’s beard care products.