The Best Beard Butters for a Thick and Healthy Beard
Any man who lets his beard get past a certain length will start to experience some … issues, which might include:
- Split ends
- Itchy, dry skin
- A flaky beard and facial dandruff (the dreaded beardruff)
All of these add up to an unattractive beard, can feel uncomfortable throughout the day, and in general just make having a beard much more of a chore than it has to be.
Thankfully, there’s an easy way to deal with the problem: Beard butters.
What is beard butter?
A beard butter, or beard balm (basically the same thing, but thicker, with more hold) is a hair care product that you rub into your beard daily, that moisturizes your beard and skin, and provides more of the nourishing vitamins and minerals that your beard needs to grow.
A quick search shows that there are hundreds of different beard butters out there. How do you choose the best ones? Simple. Our guide breaks down the top 10 beard butters and balms on the market right now, and will help you make a smarter, more informed choice.
The 10 Best Beard Butters
Honest Amish Natural and Organic
When you’re talking beard balms and butters, Honest Amish comes up again and again. It certainly seems to be the go-to for a lot of guys out there, and it’s easy to see why.
Hand crafted in the USA, Honest Amish prides themselves on their all-natural, all-organic product. There are absolutely no man made chemicals in the mix, and Honest Amish go so far as to store it in a tin that’s also 100% recyclable. If you care at all about the environment, this beard balm lets you look good while saving the trees.
Even if you’re not too concerned about that, this is still a fantastic balm. The natural ingredients lend it a medium to strong scent of cloves and anise. For the uninitiated, that means this smells sweet and light, like black licorice. The first time you put it on, it might seem a little strange, but the scent fades down to a pleasant sweetness in a few minutes.
Balms are slightly thicker than butters, so for consistency it’s recommend that you melt this down by placing it in direct sunlight or inside a warm car for a few hours. Once that’s done, it melts down to a light consistency that rubs in well, and only takes a tiny, pea sized dab for most beards.
In our opinion, Honest Amish deserve their reputation, and if you’re looking for an all natural beard balm, this is basically the best option out there.
Maestro’s Classic Mark of a Man
A big, hefty pot with a unique scent, Maestro’s Classic misses out on our top slots by a hair’s breadth, but is still an amazing product that’s suitable for almost any beard type and length.
The scent is interesting, mixing grapefruit, black pepper and bergamot in a subtle combination that has a spicy undertone. Texture is very lightweight, almost a pudding consistency, which makes this butter very easy to apply, especially with thicker beards, and spreads a long way.
Despite being light, the consistency is also non-greasy, so it doesn’t leave a residue, making this the perfect butter to apply before you sleep and leave in overnight to keep your skin moisturised and healthy.
The pot is a large 6oz, around 50% more than usual, which, balanced against the price tag, puts this mid-range. Finally, it’s made and distributed right here in the USA.
Every Man Jack Sea Salt Butter
San Francisco born, and made in the USA (sensing a pattern in our top choices yet?) this butter by Every Man Jack is the only 100% vegan friendly butter on the list.
Specifically designed to rejuvenate dry, tired beards, the formula contains a high amount of cocoa butters for moisturising, and wheat proteins that help promote strong hair growth (beard hair is keratin, which is basically 100% protein.)
There are two scents available. Hemp, and our choice, sea salt and citron, which is light, airy and fresh. The texture is gelatinous, like a thin hair gel, which can be worked into thicker beards without difficulty. Compared to some butters, this particular brand might be absorbed slightly faster, so we don’t recommend it as an overnight butter.
But as a vegan butter that’s cruelty free, never tested on animals, and responsibly made here in the USA, this is by far one of the best options out there right now.
Beard Guyz Beard Butter
If you have itchy skin or a flaky beard that suffers from beardruff, this 4oz pot of soft beard butter by Beard Guys is one of the best to deal with the issue.
Made from natural ingredients, the butter has an updated formula that’s been designed specifically with feedback from customers. Light and easy to rub in, the formula is non-greasy and simple to spread. This does mean the hold is only light, but for most shorter and mid-length beards that’s not going to be an issue.
Regular use will leave your face supple, with coconut and grape seed oil for soft and healthy skin under your crop, and keratin and soy proteins to help rebuild beard hair and encourage a thicker, healthier growth.
Priced in the mid-range, you can buy a 3 or 4oz pot, and if for some reason you don’t like it, there’s a full 100% money back, no questions asked guarantee.
Legend Sandalwood and Vanilla Beard Butter
Built from the ground up and still made in the USA, Live Bearded beard butters are some of the best we’ve seen.
Available in seven different scents, including Gunslinger (cigars and cedar) and Executive (leather, vanilla, and … cedar.) We prefer the Legend, because of the light touch of sandalwood on a base of vanilla, which is widely recognised to be a scent that goes with a lot of men.
Unlike a lot of butters, there’s also an unscented option if you have sensitive skin, or prefer something without added oils, (or you want to add your own.) This is an amazingly undervalued option that, in our opinion, more beard manufacturers could add to their product lines.
In terms of feel, these butters are light and non-greasy, sinking easily into the skin because of the high natural butter content. The scents also have a good amount of staying power, lasting for a long time.
But the best thing about Live Bearded is probably their customer service. They are consistently rated exceptionally by their customer base, and that little touch gives you the confidence to buy from them without worrying about what you’re ending up with.
Detroit Grooming Belle Isle
A big, thick tub of butter, with its jam jar aesthetic and simplistic label, this butter looks like it could have been hand made. But Detroit Grooming is actually a company with a proud heritage when it comes to beard care.
We’ve chosen the Belle Isle butter, which has a subtle but manly orange and lavender scent, but Detroit Grooming have a lot of options when it comes to scents and styles. It comes in a heavy 4oz tub, and in terms of pricing, sits at a mid-price.
All natural, it contains almond oil, vitamin E oil, sunflower oil, avocado oil, and beeswax, adding up to a nourishing, thick, non-greasy mixture that will help your beard grow thick and strong.
Viking Revolution Beard Balm
We’ve reviewed Viking Revolution products in a lot of our beard care lists, and always found them to balance out great products against reasonable price.
Viking Revolution’s beard balm basically follows that principle. It’s a mid-price balm, coming in the standard 2oz cans, but unlike a lot of other balms can be bought in multipacks for decent savings.
The scents is a light, pleasant mango and orange, which is pleasant without being overpowering, and lasts for most of the day. As with most balms, a little goes a long way, so one tin will easily last several months, and in the hand it melts easily, with solid shape holding capacity.
One of the best things abut Viking Revolution is that they’re a one stop shop for beard and mustache care. If you buy a balm and like it (and you almost certainly will) you can easily buy out an entire bathroom’s worth of beard oils, combs, scissors and trimmers, and know that everything you’re buying is great quality.
ArtNaturals Mustache and Beard Balm
Another all natural product, ArtNaturals differs from Honest Amish in its lightness, and its incredible citrus scent.
It’s worth going into that further. A lot of beard balms and butters have generic ‘manly’ scents, and even favorites can sometimes be an acquired taste. But the light orange based citrus smell of this balm lasts all day, and is clean, fresh, and overall smells amazing.
Each 2oz can contains a 100% natural mix of argan oils, mango butter, jojoba oil, grapeseed oil, and a whole host of other organic antioxidants, with no parabens or harsh chemicals. Everything is cruelty free, and never tested on animals.
Like most balms, one can will last a long time, and as balms go, ArtNaturals is very wallet friendly. The long list of essential oils and other ingredients also makes this balm one of the most nourishing on the list, and allows it to penetrate deep into thicker beards. We recommend this ArtNaturals balm for men with particularly coarse and tough beards, though it’s going to do just as fine for any other man too.
Rocky Mountain Barber Company Cedarwood
Another all-natural product, this beard balm by Rocky Mountain is home grown, and packed with good stuff for your beard.
Coming in a 2oz can, this cedarwood scented balm is reasonably pricey, as beard balms go, but it’s more than worth it. The scent is light and masculine, a clean, foresty aroma of cedarwood and eucalyptus that fades slowly and keeps you smelling fresh through the day.
Eight essential oils nourish down to the roots of your beard, and despite feeling quite oily when you first get it out of the tin, the balm disintegrates into your skin and hairs, leaving no residue, even if you put it on last thing at night.
Quality control is exceptional. The balms are created in smaller batches than normal, to make sure that everything is perfect. With all this in mind, it’s easy to see why 200,000 men use Rocky Mountain beard balms every single day.
Grave Before Shave Cigar Blend
A quick glance at the branding and scent of this beard butter gives you a good idea what the makers were going for. It’s pure masculinity, with a vanilla and cigar scent that’s deceptively light and subtle on the nose.
Reasonably pricey, it comes in a large, 4oz tub that lasts a long while. Out of the can, this butter feels slightly gritty, without the smooth consistency you’d expect from most butters. However, there’s no beeswax, so with a little working into a beard, it quickly smooths down and disappears, and you’re not going to end up with any lumps of butter in your beard, and for a light butter it offers a lot of control.
One thing that’s not ideal is the packaging, which actually leaks if the butter gets too liquid, so be careful opening this for the first time. But apart from that, this is an effective beard butter that smells manly and does what you need it to do.
Beard Butter Buyer’s Guide
Consistency and hold
There’s a lot of difference in consistency between different butters and balms, and different products.
Some butters are a thinner, more liquid consistency, which is good for spreading into thicker beards and moisturising dry skin, but doesn’t generally offer as much of a hold.
A thicker butter, or a balm, will be harder to spread throughout your beard without a little work, but will be more likely to coat the hairs and offer a lot more beard control and stability.
Ingredients
Beard butters tend to have reasonably short ingredient lists that follow a similar trend. Usually, you will see:
- The base, like cocoa butter or almond butter that the product is built around
- Essential oils and vitamins, which moisturise the skin and help your beard grow longer and stronger
- Scented oils like citrus
FAQs
What’s the best way for me to use my Beard Butter?
A beard butter can be used at any time of the day, but the best time to use it is when you’ve just got out of the bath or shower.
Reason one is because your skin will be clean, meaning that you’re not rubbing the day’s dirt and sweat back into your beard.
Reason two is that after showering, your skin will be softer and more supple, so the ingredients in your beard butter will work into your skin better, helping to moisturise and nourish your skin and get rid of beardruff and other issues.
Finally, after showering, it’s much easier to control your beard itself. Hair follicles will have opened up from the warmth, letting the beard butter penetrate deep into the root of the hair, and the hairs themselves will be softer and more accepting of the butter.
Most men use their beard butter at one of two times. Firstly, after their morning shower as part of their daily grooming routine, letting the butter work throughout the day and keeping heir beard looking sharp. Or alternatively just before bed, which gives the butter the maximum time to penetrate into your individual beard hairs, and ensures you’re going to wake up looking your best.
Why is my beard butter not melting?
Occasionally, long term storage in a warehouse or during shipping can cause the consistency of a beard butter to change, making them overly firm or gritty.
To fix the issue, the simplest way is to pop your beard butter in the microwave for a minute (unless it’s in a metal container,) then freeze it in the freezer overnight, and let it re-thaw naturally.
What’s the difference between a beard balm and a beard butter?
Beard balms and beard butters can seem very similar at first, but they’re deceptively different products.
Beard balms tend to have a thicker consistency, and a much thicker base because of high levels of beeswax and other firming products. Balms should be considered more like a styling product, like hair wax, and can be used to shape and firm up longer beards.
Beard butters on the other hand have a much softer, thinner consistency. Beard butters are great for styling shorter beards, but are mainly used to condition a beard and keep it looking thick, lustrous and healthy.
