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Beard Oil Before Or After Shower?

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As beard guys, we know how important it is to keep your beard looking good. Whether you’re putting in the time for an epic mountain man beard or just trying to tame that 5 o’clock shadow, there are plenty of ways to care for your facial hair. One thing that often gets overlooked is what time of the day to use your beard oil, and the question we are going to answer today is: should you use beard oil before or after showering? We’ve got all the answers here, so read on! 

* Spoiler alert! You should do it after showering.

Why use beard oil in the first place?

When it comes to manly scruff, there are a few different routes you can take. You could go the full mountain man route and grow out a glorious greying beard that would make Gandalf jealous or just tame that 5 o’clock shadow into something a little slicker. Regardless of what style you’re going for, one thing that all healthy beard styles have in common is that they need a little extra love and care to look their best. Enter beard oil.

Beard oil will moisturize and nourish your beard, especially if you have a thick beard. It will make it softer, brighter, and more manageable.

When you grow a long beard, your skin’s sebum oil will not be enough and won’t reach the end of your beard strands. That can make the hair dry and itchy. To fight this, you can use beard oil to give your beard a shiny look, make it feel much softer, and reduce itchiness.

Also, the skin underneath gets dry and itchy when having a long beard. Beard oil will moisturize the skin underneath your beard, making it healthier and more comfortable for you and your beard.

Related Article: How Long Does Beard Oil Take To Work?

Man with wet Look

What is beard oil?

Beard oil is a specially formulated product with many natural ingredients that can do amazing things for your facial hair.

It will soften, moisturize and keep your beard hydrated while combating some of the problems that come with growing facial hair. Common ingredients found in beard oil include:

  • Carrier oils such as argan, jojoba, and grapeseed help moisturize, soften and nourish your face fuzz.
  • Essential oils like cedarwood, eucalyptus, and tea tree help fight beard itching and prevent acne (which is why some beards can get smelly).
  • Vitamin E is always good for your skin and beard.

You can buy some excellent beard oil products online or make your own beard oil blend at home. Check the label of any product you’re considering buying and make sure you’re not allergic to any ingredients. Also, make sure it contains natural ingredients.

Now that you know why applying beard oil is so important let’s talk about how to use it properly.

What is Beard oil

Why you should apply beard oil after shower?

As we mentioned in the introduction, whether you’re using beard oil for the first time or the 50th, there’s the question about applying it before or after showering. You should always apply beard oil after showering, and we will explain why.

But Let’s first talk about why you should not apply beard oil before showering.

Well, it is actually pretty simple; if you put on beard oil and then hop into the warm shower, you’re basically negating all the positive effects that beard oil has on your skin. The reason for this is that you are washing all of the oils away with water and soap during your shower before they penetrate your hair and skin underneath to do their job (which is to moisturize and soften your beard).

If you want to know when to wash your face after applying beard oil, read this article.

But why is it so important to apply beard oil after you shower?

It all comes to physics, and let me explain.

First, you should keep in mind that beard oils are hydrophobic, and like all hydrophobic oils, they don’t mix or blend with water (shower water or rinse water).

Ok, now that you know that let’s see how things work.

After you get out of the shower and your beard is slightly damp, it has more moisture than the atmosphere, and this excess moisture needs to evaporate.

As the evaporation process is happening, the water on your beard hair is heading towards the end of the hair follicle because this is where the evaporation takes place.

Ok, but why should I care? I am just asking why I should apply beard oil after I shower.

Ok, we get it, but this is where things get interesting. Remember when we said you should keep in mind that beard oil is hydrophobic and doesn’t mix with water?

All this time that the evaporation process is taking place, the water is heading towards the end of your beard hair follicles. Because beard oil is hydrophobic, it sits on the dry part of your hair follicles (close to the root of your hair), and as your beard hairs are getting dry from water, the oil takes its place, coating all the hair follicles.

This is super important because it will get absorbed by your hair follicles better.

At the same time, your skin pores are open from the hot shower water, and because of this, the beard oil is going deep into your skin underneath where it needs to be instead of staying on top of it.

The trick is not to apply beard oil on a wet beard because if your beard is too wet, this process will take a lot of time, and the beard oil will evaporate before it gets absorbed. On the other hand, if your beard is too dry, it is also more difficult to get absorbed by your beard hair.

You should apply beard oil on a damp beard, let the evaporation process take place, and do its magic.

To apply it properly, you can use a beard comb or a beard brush, depending on the length of your beard. Beard combs help evenly distribute the beard oil and ensure it gets absorbed by your beard hair.

FAQ

Do you put beard oil on wet or dry hair?

I think we have covered this subject pretty well. You should apply beard oil on a damp beard that is not either super wet or super dry after showering. Just tap it with a bath towel and then apply beard oil.

How often should we apply beard oil?

Many factors determine when to apply beard oil, such as how long your beard is, the type of your beard, and so on.

The general rule is to apply beard oil twice a day, one in the morning and one in the evening before you go to sleep.

Apply Beard oil after shower

Conclusion

Now you know why you should wait to apply your beard oil after showering because it gives you the best results.

As always, don’t forget to let us know in the comments what your favorite oils are and what you are doing to make sure that your beard is soft enough.

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