The Best Beard Oil Routine (and Common Mistakes to Avoid)

A good beard oil routine takes about sixty seconds: a few drops into damp, clean skin after a shower, worked down to the roots with your fingers, then combed through the beard. Do that most days and the itch, the flakes and the wiry ends largely sort themselves out — most beard problems are skin problems wearing a disguise.

What beard oil actually does

Beard oil is a skin product first and a hair product second. The skin under a beard doesn't get the oils it would if it were bare, and once it dries out you get the classic trio: itch, flaking that looks like dandruff, and hair that feels coarse and refuses to sit flat. Oil replaces what's missing, softens the hair, and makes the beard easier to shape.

What it won't do is grow a beard where one isn't already growing, or fill patches. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling something. Judge an oil on how your skin feels the next morning, not on the claims on the bottle.

The 60-second beard oil routine

Here's the whole thing, start to finish. This is how to use beard oil properly, and it's the same routine whether you're two weeks in or two years in.

1. Wash first. Clean the beard in the shower — a dedicated beard wash or a gentle shampoo. Skip the bar soap; it strips the skin and undoes the point of the exercise.
2. Towel to damp, not dry. Pat it down so it's damp rather than dripping. Slightly damp hair spreads oil far more evenly than bone-dry hair.
3. Warm the oil in your palms. Drop it into one hand, rub your palms together for a couple of seconds. Warm oil moves; cold oil sits on the surface.
4. Skin first, hair second. Work your fingertips down through the beard onto the skin underneath — cheeks, jawline, under the chin, the neck. That's where the itch lives. Whatever's left on your hands then gets smoothed over the outside.
5. Comb it through. A comb or beard brush distributes the oil to the ends and trains the hair in the direction you want it sitting. This is the step most blokes skip and it's the one that makes a beard look groomed instead of just oiled.

How much beard oil should you use?

Less than you think. The most common complaint we hear — greasy, heavy, shiny — is almost always a dosage problem, not a product problem.

Start at the low end of your range. If the beard still feels dry an hour later, add a drop next time. It's a lot easier to build up than to wash out an overdose.

When to apply it

After a shower is the ideal window, because warm skin and open pores absorb it best. Once a day suits most people. If you're in a dry office all day, or you're mid-winter and the heater's running, a second lighter application at night is worth doing. In humid weather you can skip a day without any drama — a beard oil routine should flex with the conditions, not run on autopilot.

Common beard oil mistakes to avoid

These are the beard oil mistakes we see most often in the chair, in rough order of how much damage they do.

• Oiling the hair and ignoring the skin. The itch is coming from underneath. If the oil never reaches the skin, you're treating the wrong thing.
• Using too much. Greasy isn't conditioned. It also collects lint and makes the beard clump together.
• Applying to a soaking wet beard. Water on the surface blocks the oil from getting where it needs to go. Damp, not wet.
• Applying to a completely dry beard. The other extreme — it sits on top, coats the outer hairs and never spreads.
• Skipping the comb. Thirty seconds of combing does more for how a beard looks than the oil itself.
• Washing with bar soap or harsh shampoo. You strip the skin, then spend money putting oil back. Break that cycle first.
• Expecting oil to fix the shape. A conditioned beard that's grown out of shape is still a beard that's grown out of shape.
• Chopping and changing products weekly. Give one oil a fortnight before you judge it. Skin takes time to settle.

Beard oil, balm or both?

Oil conditions. Balm conditions and adds light hold, which helps if the hair is coarse or wants to stick out sideways. Short beards are usually fine on oil alone. Once you're past a few centimetres, oil in the morning with a small amount of balm for control is a sensible combination. If you're already using a styling product for your hair, keep it out of the beard — the two jobs are different, and the same logic we cover in our guide to choosing between pomade, clay and paste applies here.

Not sure what suits your beard? Have a look at the men's grooming range, or just ask when you're in — we'll tell you honestly if you don't need it.

Oil maintains it. A barber shapes it.

The routine above keeps a beard healthy and comfortable. What it can't do is set the lines — the cheek line, the neck line, and the way the beard meets your haircut. That's the difference between a tidy beard and one that just looks like you stopped shaving.

A beard trim is $35 at Republic Of Barbers, and most blokes are on a four to six week rhythm depending on how fast they grow. If you want the full treatment, the traditional hot-towel face shave is $55. Either way, the honest advice comes free — tell us what you're chasing and we'll tell you whether the beard you've got will get there.

Ask in the chair

Bring your questions to your next appointment. We'll look at your skin, your growth pattern and how your beard sits against your cut, and give you a routine that suits your face rather than a generic one. You can see the full list of services and times on our booking page.