It’s been a while since I made a beard thing, and since I’ve been working with this lovely ginger oak moss essential oil blend quite a lot, I got to thinking… goodness. Beards should smell like this…. I could make beards smell like this. And here we are, with a lovely, simple beard oil recipe that will make beards smell like deep, sweet, mysterious goodness. Like wandering through a quiet forest in a plaid shirt, carrying an axe for no particular reason, with an unfailingly happy Labrador named Beau. Like cozy cottage bedrooms and sunsets on the dock and… I think I miss summer. But this beard oil is also lovely, and also makes a great body oil if you do not have a beard.
I included a couple other great-for-hair oils. Lightweight, absorbing camellia seed oil has been used in haircare for centuries in Japan. Argan oil is rich in antioxidants and vitamins, and jojoba oil is a beard oil mainstay for its softening and smoothing effects. The bulk of this beard oil is lightweight, silky olive squalane. I love how it feels—it’s all glidey and satiny, and doesn’t have much of a scent so our essential oils can really shine.
For some silky, pampering spoiling, I’ve included some BTMS-50—a cationic emulsifying wax. We’re including it more for its cationic conditioning properties than its emulsifying properties, but since it is an emulsifier that means this beard oil will work into a damp beard beautifully, turning into a creamy conditioner as you work it in. Groovy, eh?
I gifted a bottle to my friend a yoga teacher, Danny. Initially he didn’t notice much in the scent department, but once he tried a bit on his hand and it warmed up the scent blend popped out and won him over. Here’s what he had to say:
“First of all, the scent was nice; masculine without being too strong. The combination of carrier oils that you used softened and tamed my beard hair without being too greasy. I have a really corse beard and it has a mind of its own. I require a beard oil that will condition my beard without being too greasy and provide a nice clean smelling scent without being too strong. Overall, I really like it.”
Our essential oil blend is one of my favourites; ginger, oak moss, and michelia alba. I adore this blend on myself, but… put it on a beard and… whoa. I don’t want to be too hasty with this declaration, but… I think that’s how a beard should smell. Swoon. It’s divine. You could use something else, but why would you?
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Ginger Oak Moss Beard Oil
Heated phase
8.53g | 34.1% olive squalane (USA / Canada)
1.25g | 5% BTMS-50 (USA / Canada)
5g | 20% camellia seed oil
5g | 20% argan oil (USA / Canada)
5g | 20% jojoba oil (USA / Canada)Cool down phase
0.12g | 0.5% Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
0.02g | 0.1% oak moss absolute
0.05g | 0.2% CO2 extracted ginger essential oil
0.02g | 0.1% michelia alba (white champaca) essential oilPrepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a small saucepan.
Weigh the heated phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in your prepared water bath to melt everything through.
When the heated phase has melted through, remove it from the water bath and stir to combine. Set aside to cool.
Using a smaller, more accurate scale, weigh out the cool down ingredients into a small bowl or beaker before stirring in the melted beard oil.
Transfer the beard oil to your container. I used this 30mL bottle with a treatment pump lid, but a 30mL/1oz glass bottle that has a dropper top will also work beautifully.
To use, dispense some oil into your palm and work it through your beard. Enjoy!
Substitutions
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 25g.
- You can change up the oils for other liquid oils, but keep in mind that this recipe is distinguished almost entirely by the oil blend—if you start changing up the oils you are no longer making this recipe. I’d recommend sticking with lighter, faster-absorbing liquid oils to keep with the spirit of this recipe.
This sounds like a wonderful opportunity to play with my favorite beard! The percentages seem a bit out to lunch, though.
The carrier oils should read 20% each instead of 2%. Then it all works.
Yup, thanks! 🙂
Ahh, derp 😛 Pre-vacation Marie was clearly very excited to wrap this up and get on the road! I’ve fixed 🙂
What’s the difference between olive squalene and EVOO? I don’t have squalene but can purchase if need be to acheive the effect required. Thanks.
The difference is substantial, like the difference between bread and raw wheat, perhaps? You can learn more here. Basically, squalene is super lightweight and silky and lovely whilst olive oil is heavier and “gloppier” (?) in comparison. The fact that they both come from olives is mostly where the similarities stop 🙂
I like this part of your post: “But this beard oil is also lovely, and also makes a great body oil if you do not have a beard”.
It reminded me of when my son was just three years old. My sister and her boyfriend had come round one sunday afternoon,they were discussing my Dad’s beard. My son suddenly piped up “my mummy has a beard”. Conversation stopped, boyfriend, with a very large grin on his face, looked at my son and said “does she?”
“Yes” said my son “but it isn’t on her face like grandad’s!” 😛 I just wanted the ground to open and swallow me. Kids 😀
OH MY GOODNESS. This is so hilarious but also beyond mortifying 😐 Hahahahah. You have my sympathies (and giggles)!
So pleased it gave you a laugh 😀 I laugh about it now but at the time I was mortified. The poor child though wondered why he was no longer allowed in the bathroom when mummy was in the bath 🙁 I started having my bath way before he woke up or around midnight when I knew I definitely wouldn’t have any interruptions 😛 Embarrassing situations are part and parcel of being a Mum I think lol. Have a great weekend Marie.
I am SO glad my dog can’t talk! 😛
Hahaha have a great day lol
While I don’t sport a beard, does this work as nourishing oil for hair on head? Sorry if you covered this already in some other post.
You definitely can, just use very little as head hair doesn’t need much oil at all 🙂
Hey.. so Marie.
I don’t really make any of your products because I don’t really use any beauty products.. I just like watching your videos from time to time.
But.. I’d like to make this beard oil though, as it’s considerably more cost effective for those with very large beards that soak up ALL the oil.
But since I haven’t used any of your recipes before, I don’t have any of these ingredients. Is there anywhere in town (Calgary) where I can just go to buy all these things? Or is searching and ordering things online the only way to get these kinds of specialty items?
Head to Windy Point! You may need to choose a different scent blend (I don’t think they have oak moss), but there are lots of EOs and FOs that you’ll be able to sniff and the staff is lovely and will happy to help you 🙂
Awesome! And I’m happy that I don’t need to go to five different places for ingredients to try this out!
Thanks Marie! Have fun moving, and hope you like the new spot.
I know the feeling! Having Windy Point in town is awesome… and kind of dangerous 😛
If they have the ingredients to try and recreate this Rosewood and Tobacco oil that I have I’ll be extremely pleased.
Scent blends are always tricky when fragrance is involved (since that can be pretty much anything), but you should be able to get the balm part down!
Marie, I am looking to make a beard oil that is unscented and for sensitive skin (coconut oil makes me break out). What carrier oils would you recommend for a good, unscented beard oil?
I like jojoba, meadowfoam, argan, squalane, camellia seed, and brocolli seed oils for hair & beards 🙂 Happy making!
Thanks Marie! Can I use all of those in the same beard oil, or would that be too much?
Thanks for asking this Tim! I was going to ask about subs for squalene as it is pretty pricey. Marie – I’m guessing the oils you listed are suitable subs? Any one better than another? Many thanks for all you offer! 😀
Hello Pam!
Marie mentioned in the swap section, that sticking with a lighter, faster-absorbing liquid oil would be in the spirit of the recipe. All the oils suggested are great oils! Just the beard/hair you are making them for may or may not like one over the other. Not so much which is better than the other. I’d suggest checking out the encyclopedia, and going from there. I know, it’s the hardest part of making something is choosing between oils!
There’s not really such a thing as “too much”, but there is such a thing as “so many different oils all at once that you never get a chance to learn if any of them is particularly good for your hair/skin/beard or if any of them are particularly bad.” Think of it like making a soup containing six random foods you’d heard good things about, but never tried on their own. The soup could be disgusting, but that might be because it turns out you hate one of the foods… but you’d have no idea because you are just trying them as a medley. I’d recommend acquainting yourself with each oil individually and working up to a blend that works for you 🙂
Would it work to use neossance squalane?
Yup!
I have made this recipe twice and end up with a milky-ish oil with small white tidbits. The second time I used the microwave (ugh) to melt it to clear (about 30 seconds in 15 second bursts) and it melted to clear but smelled a bit pissed off. Once it started to cool I ended up with the small white particles in it again. Anyone else have this issue and what / why / how et al is this happening to me! LOL This would never go through a spray bottle with these bits in it.
Love your existence and celebrate your creativity!
Ida
Good morning Ida!
It sounds as if you have “burnt” some of your oils when you used the microwave as you said your oils smelt angry. When you are letting your product cool down, keep stirring it as it cools down. This will ensure an even end product. This is not intended to be in a spray bottle as it purely an oil based product. It is designed to be in an oil pump bottle or a dropper bottle. Hope this helps!
I have the same issue with the btms, even over direct heat with the lowest setting so as to not burn the oils and it takes 40+ mins (and I’ve ground up the btms with a conditioner…I even tried a different supplier cause I though I had a bad/mislabeled batch)
When I do manage to melt it down as much as I humanly can without ruining everything, it’s definitely milky, which I kinda expect, but it also kind of separates, and seems to fall to the bottom…I tried the stick blender, I works- temporarily…not sure what I’m doing wrong, but I’ve made this recipe 7 times…I hate btms lol.. I keep making it because it is a good recipe, everyone that uses it loves it, but it definitely needs to be shaken prior to use…any tips. Thanks!
Coffee grinder*
This is so nice. I’m glad that I purchased the carrier oils this recipe calls for. The guy who I made this for uses it as facial oil too. He doesn’t usually use lot of oil based things in face area. I infused rosemary in camellia oil and swapped eo’s (I know that you didn’t suggest it). I used some silica too (0,1 g / 30 g oil or so). I totally forgot that I haven’t commented this yet (shoking, haha). xx
Well, thanks to Covid, I think, , the three men in my life (father, husband and son, in case that sounded more exciting than it actually is) all have beards. The EO’s were already in my arsenal as I eyeballed this formula some time ago, and holy Hannah, it’s divine. I can’t stop sniffing it. I made a batch of it for the guys, but as they will not appreciate it nearly as much as me, I may just keep it for myself as a body oil. Mwa ha ha…thanks Marie! You remind me of good music. There’s so much you release that I enjoy, and just what I think there isn’t anything else original that could possibly come out, you think of something new. Or I revisit an older formula and enjoy it all over again. Formulation brilliance.
Heck yes! Oak moss and ginger is just divine—SWOON. ❤️ And that honey is FABULOUS!
Hey there. Thanks for the article and recipe.
Just one thing. It would have been nice to see the
finished product. A glimpse at its structure would
have been a great benefit.