How to Make DIY Beard Oil at Home (+5 Amazing Recipes) (2024)

Do you want to make some DIY beard oil at home, which saves you money, let’s you choose the ingredients and is generally a fun hobby?

If you answered yes, then awesome, we can teach you everything you need to know about homemade beard oils and what it takes to make them.

Below we will be quickly going over the basics of beard oil, as well as comparing the costs of making your own vs. buying the premade beard oils.

We will finish the article by sharing five amazing beard oil recipes for different purposes, be it preventing dandruff, relieving beard itch, or just something for daily use.

Let’s begin. ↓

What is Beard Oil

Beard oil is a cosmetic men’s grooming and beard care product; the most popular of its kind in fact.

It’s used primarily to make the beard softer, while also providing moisturizing benefits to the skin underneath your facial hair.

Beard oils are typically created with:

• Carrier oils (which make the bulk of the ingredients) such as jojoba oil, castor oil, coconut oil, sunflower seed oil, argan oil, almond oil, etc.
• Essential oils (which are mostly there to provide scent) such as peppermint essential oil, orange oil, tea tree oil, balsam fir needle oil, cedarwood, and many more.

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need any fancy equipment to make beard oil at home. You simply need to get the dropper bottles, the carrier oils, the essential oils, and then mix the oils into the bottle.

DIY Beard Oil vs. Buying Beard Oils

The main reason to make your own homemade beard oils (and DIY beard balms) instead of buying the premade stuff has to be the price difference.

You see, premade beard oil is expensive, and ridiculously over-priced if you factor in how cheap it is to make your own, even when using “premium” ingredients.

I decided to take a look at Amazon’s selection of premade beard oils (both generic and premium kind).

And then compare those to the beard oil ingredients you’d normally use when making DIY beard oil (both generic and premium ingredients).

Here’s what it ended up looking in a bar graph:

The results were shocking, to be honest:

• The average cost of DIY beard oil using basic ingredients: $4.
• The average cost of DIY beard oil using premium ingredients: $7.
• The average cost of premade beard oil with basic ingredients: $15.
• The average cost of premade beard oil with premium ingredients: $25.

That seems like a big difference, and it is, especially considering that the DIY calculations are with dropper-bottles included.

An average-sized beard will eat up around 6-10 drops of beard oil per day. Which means that each 1oz bottle of beard oil will last an average of 75 days.

That means you will be using about five 1oz bottles of beard oil per year, which in turn means that the difference between using a basic DIY beard oil recipe would run you about $20 per year, whereas buying the “premium” premade beard oil would be $125 per year.

Now you might be thinking;

Okay, well it’s little over a hundred bucks per year, but at least I’m getting professionally made premium beard oil in return!

I’m sorry to break your immersion, but when the big beard oil brands say that their beard oils are “premium quality”, that means absolutely nothing.

If you check the ingredients, it’s usually the same stuff you can put into a basic DIY beard oil recipe for just a few bucks per bottle.

For example; organic jojoba oil is considered the best “premium” beard oil ingredient possible, and when it’s the main carrier oil in a premade oils, the manufacturers tend to run the price up to $25-50 per 1oz bottle.

Not so surprisingly, that very same organic USDA certified, cold-pressed and unrefined jojoba oil costs about $25 for a 16oz. canister. That’s 16-times the amount. Sixteen, you hear me?! You could easily just buy the canister and pour it to 16 smaller 1 oz bottles for a low-cost premade beard oil alternative.

Beard Oil Ingredients Explained

You might be thinking that beard oil manufacturers do something special and that their beard oil ingredients would be so sophisticated and hard to source that it would be almost impossible to make your own, at least as well as they do.

Well, you’d be wrong.

If you look at the ingredients label of any popular beard oil, you can see that it’s just a run-down of some basic carrier oils mixed in with a small number of essential oils.

They simply…

• Get the oils in bulk.
• Get the bottles in bulk
• Mix the ingredients.
• Print the labels.
• And start selling.

This process is 100% replicable by anyone, from the comforts of their own home. You could be making the beard oils for your own use or even sell them to others.

So, what are the main carrier oil and essential oil ingredients that make most of the beard oils?

Let’s take a look. ↓

Carrier Oils

We rank the carrier oils on these DIY beard oil recipes based on a system that accounts for their moisturizing qualities, absorption, and whether they are safe for your beard growth hormones (testosterone and DHT).

That last part is important because many oils – especially polyunsaturated vegetable oils – are antiandrogenic and can suppress the beard growth hormones. You don’t want those on your face 24/7.

Great quality carrier oils:

• Castor oil (good beard moisturizer, enhances circulation, safe for beard hormones).
• Jojoba oil (amazing moisturizer, non-comedogenic, 100% safe for hormones).
• Meadowfoam Seed Oil (emollient, quick to absorb, similar to jojoba oil).

Neutral quality carrier oils:

• Coconut oil (best for moisturizing, good for T, may inhibit DHT).
• Olive oil (absorbs poorly, but may increase the beard hormone; testosterone).
• Argan oil (good moisturizer, non-comedogenic, may inhibit DHT).
• Avocado oil (light, good for testosterone, may inhibit DHT).

Poor quality carrier oils:

• Safflower Oil (polyunsaturated, bad for your beard growth hormones).
• Rice Bran Oil (Proven to block DHT, suppressing natural beard growth).
• Canola Oil (polyunsaturated, not good for hormones, easily goes rancid).
• Almond Oil (popular beard oil ingredient, DHT blocker, easily goes rancid).
• Sunflower Seed Oil (same story, high in PUFAs, bad for beard).
• Mineral oil (aka baby oil, clogs pores, can’t penetrate beard hair fibers).

Men with naturally thick beard growth don’t need to worry too much about DHT-blockers in their homemade beard oils, but those with patchy beards and weaker growth should definitely prioritize using castor oil, jojoba oil, or meadowfoam seed oil only.

Essential Oils

We use the same type of ranking system for essential oils. These are often used in just amounts of 1-10 drops, as essential oils are extremely potent and volatile, and their main use is to provide scent or antibacterial benefits to the beard oils.

Great quality essential oils:

• Balsam fir needle oil (great foresty scent, great for beard hormones).
• Spruce essential oil (foresty, masculine scent, also likely androgenic).
• pine essential oil (masculine scent, likely to not suppress beard hormones).
• Orange & Lime oils (fresh scent, no known beard hormone interactions).
• Bergamot (nice scent, if bergaptene-free it should have no harmful effects).

Neutral quality essential oils:

• Sandalwood oil (masculine scent, commonly used in beard oils).
• Peppermint oil (lowers T orally, likely not topically, may still enhance growth).
• Cedarwood (very pleasant scent, unlikely to suppress beard hormones).

Poor quality essential oils:

• Tea tree oil (weird scent, estrogenic and likely to hurt beard growth).
• Eucalyptus oil (the main component Eucalyptol is hormone disruptor).
• Lavender oil (found to have same estrogenic compounds as tea tree oil).

When choosing the right essential oils for your DIY beard oil recipe, make sure to avoid the poor quality ones. Even though the amount is just a few measly drops, the oils are extremely potent.

Everything You Need for Making Homemade Beard Oil

You can’t really make beard oil at home from just thin air, you need to get the proper tools and ingredients first.

Here are the tools you need to create the beard oil recipes:

• 1 oz. Dropper bottles (it’s best to get dark amber glass bottles as they protect the volatile essential oils from becoming rancid).
• Small funnel (not absolutely necessary but will make pouring the ingredients into the bottles much easier and less messy.
• Small measuring cups (these are also not necessary as you can kind of guestimate the amounts, but if you want to be exact, get the cups.
• Carrier oils (we recommend jojoba oil, castor oil, meadowfoam seed oil, and maybe also coconut oil and vitamin E oil).
• Essential oils (we recommend you getbalsam fir needle oil, spruce essential oil, pine oil, and possibly some others that you like).

There are also some tester packs and sets of essential oils and carrier oils that you can buy, but we generally don’t recommend those as they always include poor quality oils that we would never put on our own beards.

How to Make DIY Beard Oil Step by Step

Okay so we have learned quite a bit already, but now comes the important part of how to make beard oil at home step-by-step.

Many people think this is a difficult process, and that big beard oil manufacturers need large factories and labor force to create their oils (has to be, they’re so expensive, right?)

Well, in reality, making beard oil is easy, and 100% doable from the comforts of your own home.

Here’s step by step instructions:

1. Pour your choice of carrier oils into a measuring cup.
2. To that same cup, add in few drops of your favorite essential oils.
3. Using a small funnel, pour the contents into a dark amber glass bottle.
4. Close the cap and give it a good shake. Your DIY beard oil is ready.

That’s… it?

Yes. In just four easy steps, you can make beard oil at home, which is just as good and sometimes even better than the premade beard oils you could buy.

It’s also cheaper – much cheaper – in fact, and quite enjoyable when you can enjoy the fruits of your own labor.

I remember years ago when I first read about making homemade beard oil from Art of Manliness, and my reaction was the usual; “that’s all it takes?”.

Who knows, maybe you can start selling your own beard oils one day.

Best Beard Oil Recipes to Make at Home

1. The Unscented Daily Driver

If you want your beard oil to do what it’s supposed to do and nothing extra, then this is a DIY beard oil recipe just for you.

Recipe & Instructions

• • 1/2 oz. Organic jojoba oil
  • 1/4 oz. Organic castor oil
  • 1/4 oz. Meadowfoam seed oil

1. Pour the carrier oils into a small measuring cup.
2. Use a small funnel to pour them into a dark glass bottle.
3. Shake the bottle well and close the dropper-cap

About this Recipe

These are hands-down the highest quality “premium” beard oil ingredients you can possibly source. All of them provide excellent moisturizing benefits and have no negative effects on T or DHT levels.

The perfect blend of slightly thicker castor oil with extremely light and non-comedogenic jojoba and meadowfoam seed oils makes this beard oil feel pleasant on the beard, while it also adds a bit of volume and a thickening effect in a non-greasy way.

You can use this beard oil as a “perfect base” for experiments, adding and testing different essential oils as you please, or just use it unscented if you want.

The best part, of course, is the price. Buy the ingredients in bulk and you will have extremely high-quality beard oil for just $3.9 + the bottle (which you can re-use).

As Guy Fieri would say; “That is gangster!”

2. The Goodbye Beardruff

Nobody likes dry skin under their beards or beard dandruff, and while it may be tricky to prevent, one of the best methods is still cleaning and properly moisturizing the beard area, while making sure that bacterial growth won’t have a breeding ground on there.

Note: Beard balm is often a better choice for beardruff prevention than oils, you can read more about this in our beard oil vs. beard balm article.

For this purpose, we can formulate a homemade beard oil, and here’s how.

Recipe & Instructions

• • 1/2 oz. virgin coconut oil
  • 1/2 oz. jojoba oil
  • 4 drops lemongrass essential oil
  • 2 drops peppermint essential oil

1. Put your coconut oil container into a bowl of warm water to melt it.
2. Once melted, measure the carrier oils in a measuring cup or shot glass.
3. Using a small funnel, pour the carrier oils into a 1oz. dark glass bottle.
4. Finish by adding in the essential oils and shaking.

About this Recipe

Our goal with this oil is to moisturize and prevent bacterial growth; a two-step punch for effectively reducing beardruff.

Coconut oil is the first carrier oil, and it has been shown to penetrate the hair fibers as well as deep skin layers, providing not only moisturizing benefits but also antibacterial relief.

Jojoba oil has similar bacteria-fighting properties, as it contains a high amount of natural iodine, which is a well-known antiseptic.

Lastly, the essential oils; both peppermint oil and lemongrass oil were found to prevent the growth of all 22 types of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria in this study.

3. The Anti-itch Beard Oil

Most of the bearded men know about the dreaded beard itch and how annoying it can be.

But don’t worry, this homemade beard oil recipe will address the issue and help rid you from the dry skin and beard rashes.

Recipe & Instructions

• • 1/2 oz. Meadowfoam seed oil
  • 1/2 oz. virgin coconut oil
  • 5 drops wheat germ oil (vitamin E oil)
  • 5 drops orange essential oil

1. Measure the carrier oils in a small shot glass or measuring cup.
2. Add in 5 drops of the vitamin E oil and 5 drops orange oil.
3. Pour the contents into a small dark dropper bottle and shake.

About this Recipe

We chose the Meadowfoam seed oil and virgin coconut oil as they are likely the best oils for preventing itchiness. This is because both of them are light and have high molecular weight, which allows them to penetrate the beard hair fibers and deep skin layers.

Vitamin E oil can be used topically on the beard and is known for its anti-inflammatory effect, (inflammation is one of the main causes of beard itch) So logically we chose to add that. Just make sure to get the vitamin E oil sourced from wheat germ oil.

Lastly, we also chose to add in some orange essential oil. It gives this DIY beard oil a nice and fresh scent, while also helping to fight the beard bacteria.

4. The Repair Man

Your beard can get damaged in many ways. Beard straightening tools for example, eventually cause some protein loss at the beard hairs. Exposure to the elements (especially cold winter) can hurt your beard.

Of course, you may be at risk of beard hair loss if you use poor quality beard products or constantly pick on your facial hair too.

We can send “the Repair Man” homemade beard oil to the rescue…

Recipe & Instructions

• • 3/4 oz. virgin coconut oil
  • 1/4 oz. Moroccan argan oil
  • 10 drops wheat germ oil (vitamin E oil)

1. Measure up the coconut oil and argan oil in a cup or glass.
2. Mix in the 10 drops of vitamin E oil and give it a bit of a stir.
3. Using a small funnel, pour the DIY beard oil into a bottle.
4. Close the lid, give it a quick shake, and you’re done.

About this Recipe

The best beard oil ingredient specifically for fixing damaged facial hair has to be coconut oil, as it has been shown in this study that coconut oil has just the right molecular weight so that it can penetrate deep into the skin tissues and inside your facial hair fibers.

In there, the enzymes of coconut oil help repair the damaged beard hairs and prevent the protein-loss of the fibers. Magic.

Argan oil is another oil known for its hair repairing benefits (which is why it’s a common ingredient in repairing conditioners and shampoos), for that reason, it deserves a place in the Repair Man beard oil.

Vitamin E oil is included because it has some antioxidant properties and it can suppress inflammation topically. All good things if the goal is preventing and repairing a damaged beard.

5. The Stimulator

Beard growth oils are mostly a scam. There’s just no carrier oils or essential oils that would have any significant growth-promoting effects.

Which is why I want to make sure you understand that this beard oil recipe; even though its called “The Stimulator”, will result only in extremely minimal gains if any.

Recipe & Instructions

• • 1/2 oz. castor oil
  • 1/2 oz. jojoba oil
  • Small pinch of carnitine powder
  • 4 drops balsam fir needle oil
  • 4 drops spruce essential oil

1. Combine the carrier oils in a small measuring cup.
2. Add in a tiny pinch of carnitine powder and the essential oils.
3. Pour the DIY beard oil into a dark glass dropper bottle.
4. Close the lid, and shake vigorously until everything mixes.

About this Recipe

Whilst oils that claim growth benefits almost always lie, this one might help you just a bit for real.

Castor oil has been studied for its effect in increasing the prostaglandin PGE2, which has been found to increase the circulation to the follicle and therefore possibly beard growth.

Carnitine helps shuttle fatty acids to the mitochondria for energy use, and in one trial this actually helped hair growth, which is why we use it topically in this oil.

Both balsam fir and spruce oils are likely androgenic (beard is androgenic-hair) at least if you believe the claims of Dr. John Berardi’s article here.

Conclusion

Making your own DIY beard oil recipes is an amazing hobby that could one day turn into a business.

After this guide at least; you have all the same info that beard oil manufacturers do (perhaps even better info) on how to make the stuff, and how to make it cheap.

After all, making beard oil easy, and mastering the recipes takes just a few hours.