When Can Beard Oil Become Too “Oily”?

All of us know that having a great beard takes some work.  Besides having to regularly trim and shape it to keep it looking tidy, we should be using certain beard care products to maintain not only its appearance, but its health.  So, a must-have beard care product intended for daily application is beard oil.

Every bearded man can benefit greatly from the right beard oil formula.  Still, that doesn’t mean all beard oils are equally compatible with all beards.  In some cases, a beard oil can be too oily for a specific guy’s facial hair.  That means it could end up backfiring.  How?  By leaving the beard looking greasy, heavy, and generally unhealthy.

A Brief Overview of Beard Oil

Beard oil is a type of beard care product intended to provide moisture to the facial hair.  The facial hair is naturally dry compared to the hair on the head, as the follicles don’t produce as much oil.  Dry facial hair can lead to all kinds of unwanted problems like slow hair growth, breakage, and a dull appearance.  Beard oil can prevent all of these issues.  How?  When applied daily by supplementing the moisture that the beard needs.

It’s usually a pretty simple formula consisting of plant-based oils and essential oils.  The oils used can vary a lot, with some being on the heavier side and some being lighter.

So, why then might a beard oil make the beard too oily?

The Wrong Kind of Oil for Your Beard Type

Sometimes, the particular oils in a beard oil formula are simply the wrong choices for the type of beard that you have.  Basically, the heavier the oil, the more suitable it is for thick, coarse hair, as it will be too heavy for thin, fine hair.  For instance, coconut oil is extremely heavy, and while it can provide much-needed moisture to a guy whose beard is particularly coarse, a man who has a thin beard will often find that it leaves the facial hair looking incredibly greasy.  Oils on the thinner side that are more suitable include olive oil, jojoba oil, and almond oil.

A Beard That’s Not Clean

If your beard has not been washed recently, a beard oil can weigh the beard down.  That’s because washing the beard with the right kind of beard cleanser strips away the buildup of grease that naturally accumulates.  By skipping this step, you’re just adding more oil to the beard which is inevitably going to end up looking like oil overload.

Low-Porosity Facial Hair

Chances are that you’ve never heard of the concept of hair porosity before.  Learning about it though, can actually help us make better decisions when it comes to how we care for our beards.  Porosity is a characteristic of hair shafts, determining how porous they are.  The more porous your facial hair, the more beard oil absorbs through the shaft. Meaning, guys who have low-porosity facial hair will often notice that heavier oils just kind of sit on the cuticles of the beard without ever absorbing.  This can cause lots of oil buildup that leads to a greasy-looking beard.  Men with low-porosity facial hair will benefit from lighter oils.

When is it Time to Consider a New Beard Oil?

For any man who washes their beard regularly, and their beard oil is still too oily for your particular beard, it’s probably time to switch to a formula made with lighter oils.  At Don Juan Pomade, we have carefully selected plant-based oils that are neither too heavy nor too light, so that they can provide a balanced level of moisture to just about any beard type.  Oils like jojoba oil, argan oil, and squalene oil smooth and soften the facial hair without weighing it down in any way.

Check out our beard oils today for a moisturized yet clean-looking beard.