We already have an excellent collection of Golden Beard award-winning beard balms, so why did we make a beard butter?
Hey, Dan here from RUNESILK!
Here's a short story to explain why we added a beard butter to our list of products, along with a few tips on how and why you should use a beard butter in your daily beard routine.
"Beard balm, beard butter!? I thought I just had to whack a bit of oil in the beard and I'd have people falling at my feet as if I were the featured star in a famous deodorant advert...or riding off bare-chested across beautiful sands on the back of a white horse, like a real man!"
Before I started making beard care products, I had a face full of overgrown stubble and used to apply beard oil to help with the itchiness and dry skin. Beard oil became a 'go-to' gift for birthday, Father's Day, Christmas; I got almost every giftset out there, advent calendars, all the supermarket brands. I would apply oil (most likely too much) to my beard, infrequently.
The reason I stopped shaving was that, after a couple of decades, I still could not shave properly and would hate the neck rash that would follow a clean shave.
As my beard journey was progressing, I got frustrated with straggly hairs and would always just trim the beard before it had a chance to get to any form of decent length. In the early phase, I didn't know Facebook groups like iBeard, Guardians of the Beard, Private Beards and Home of the Beados existed. It was from joining these that my beard journey was blasted wide open, along with my eyes to some of the awesome stuff out there in terms of men's grooming products directly aimed at the beard, and to help you get past that "You know, the one with Tom Hanks, with the ball, with the hand, you know...him" Castaway look.
Okay a quick comparison of beard balm and beard butter, so you first understand why we developed a butter of our own.
- Beard balm is for deep conditioning and style, hence the addition of beeswax.
- Beard butter has no beeswax.
"That's it?" Yup, pretty much. Now some craft beard care producers may argue differently, but then we all make different products, and we make our products individually. Some may add a small amount of wax to help bind the different kinds of butter. However, most beard butter has been made in a similar way to their beard balms and contain similar ingredients - we just didn't add wax to it and then spent a little more time whipping it up.
How do I apply a beard butter?
Take a small pea-size amount and warm it in the palm of your hands, spreading it over palms and fingers. Being a zero-wax product, this should turn to a clear oil in a matter of seconds. Rub your hands together and then apply to the beard. I have a 6-inch beard currently, so I tend to use a little bit more (maybe broad bean size), and apply using a hand-over-hand technique, really working it over the top layer of the beard before running my fingers through to make contact with the skin underneath.
When do I use a beard butter?
Now, who are we to tell you when to apply a beard butter, our Bedtime Beard Butter can be used at any time during the day. However, we added some of those sleepy kinds of essential oils to our Dark Night Bedtime Beard Butter to help aid a good night sleep, but if you want to put it on in the morning, you do just that! I love buttering up my beard after a shower and then drying with a hairdryer. Not only do the oils help to protect my beard from the heat, but it also smells amazing too!
Would I use butter over an oil?
You can if you like the conditioning properties of butter such as Shea, Mango and Cocoa, then yes.
All beards are not born equal and therefore require different care. We could go into the science of straight and curly hair, but this is not a lesson on the common Alpha Helix or the lesser common Beta Pleated Sheets (I just love saying that second one), nor is it a deep dive into skin types.
Why don't you try mixing up your beard care routine to see what works best for you?
How do I use a beard balm?
This article is not a tutorial about beard balm, but if you want to know, see "How do I apply a beard butter?" above.
You still haven't answered the question! Why did you make a beard butter?
Because it makes your beard feels fantastic! Plus, our customers and (dare I say it? Yes! We have fans, be proud, and say it) our fans asked us to make it. So I spent the last six months researching, testing, testing some more to develop one I was happy enough to put out there.
Would you like to try it?
Dark Night Beard Butter available in a 60ml aluminium screw-top tin on our website to pre-order fro Friday 19th June 2020.
Want to know more? Leave a comment.
1 comment
Nice blog post. The beard butter you sent me, assuming it’s the same as the final product, is awesome. I love the scent. Great for bed time. Keep up the good work.