Hair’s Looking at You, Kid: DIY Beard Oil for Under $8 a Bottle
Beards are all the rage these days.
Guys are going to expensive lengths to groom their facial hair. There’s a slew of specialty items to consider, plus barbershop-style shaves and trims. The cost of manscaping keeps ticking up.
Just this summer, my boyfriend and I took a stroll through a local indie market, where there was an entire booth dedicated to beard care.
We sorted through locally made balms, brushes and beard oils. After the initial sticker shock, we started smelling the oils, which enticed us to buy a $20 1-ounce bottle of citrus beard oil.
He loved it, soon claiming it victorious over his other beard-grooming products. The beard oil hydrated his skin, held his beard in place and gave it a nice sheen — and it smelled yummy all day long (to which I can attest).
I looked at the ingredients, only to discover it was made from oils we either had in our cabinet already or could easily acquire from nearby stores.
That got us thinking — maybe we could make our own beard oils for cheap. So we did. And so can you.
Getting Started
We stuck with citrus, because we live in Florida, and it seemed only natural. Plus, I love anything lemon (I even have a lemon-shaped purse).
Beard oils are mainly composed of carrier oils, such as argan, jojoba, grapeseed or coconut, with just a few drops of essential oils. You probably have some of these already.
I’d suggest using whatever you have on hand to keep costs low. Fortunately, I had jojoba and argan oil, so that lowered my cost immediately.
You’ll also need a bottle to house your homemade concoction and an eyedropper to assist the oil-transferring process.
What You’ll Need
Make a list of a few oils you like, and price-match your local grocers with online sellers.
We found Amazon to have the best deals overall, especially in bulk. We ordered a three-pack of citrus oils, a six-pack of amber glass bottles and a 100-pack of plastic pipettes for nearly half the cost of local grocers.
Our search did turn up a couple of cheaper options at a local health food store, and we nabbed those. Don’t be shy about shopping around — it’s your money!
Here’s our final supply list (Priced at Rollin’ Oats, Trader Joe’s and Amazon):
Grapeseed oil, 4 ounces: $4.49 or $1.12 per ounce
Jojoba oil, 4 ounces: $7.99 or $1.99 per ounce
Argan oil, 1.7 ounces: $6.99 or $4.11 per ounce
Three-pack orange, tangerine and lemon essential oils, 1 ounce: $12.17 or $4.05 per bottle
Eucalyptus essential oil, 1 ounce: $4.79
Six-pack 1-ounce amber glass bottles with eyedropper: $5.38 or 90 cents per bottle
3 mL transfer pipettes, pack of 100: $5.87 or 5 cents per pipette
Mini funnel (optional)
Initial total cost: $47.68, or $7.95 per 1-ounce bottle.
And that’s if you don’t have any oils on hand already. Since I had a couple at home, my total cost was $32.17, or $5.36 per one ounce bottle.
That’s a quarter of the price we paid at the indie market!
How to Make the Beard Oil
Now you’re ready for the fun part (which takes less than five minutes).
- Start with your carrier oils. Most are compatible with all skin types, however, if you have dry or oily skin, make sure to find the best one for you.
We chose grapeseed oil for the majority base, as it’s less greasy than argan oil.
Fill the empty amber bottle almost halfway with grapeseed oil, or about ½ ounce.
Tip: If you’ve ever bought a flask, it comes with a tiny stainless steel flask funnel. Grab that bad boy, and use it to transfer any oils with a squeeze top.(Don’t forget to wash it afterward!) Otherwise, just screw off the squeeze top and use your pipette. This method might take a little longer, but it works.
- Add the jojoba oil, about ¼ ounce, or until the amber bottle is ¾ full.
Optional: You can use the same pipette throughout the whole process, or swap it out for another one if you’re worried about cross-contaminating your oils.
- Add the argan oil. Ours had a built-in eyedropper, so we squeezed about four full eyedroppers into our mixture.
- Now, with the carrier bases complete, move on to the essential oils.
We started with the eucalyptus essential oil. This stuff is potent and can overpower the entire mixture, so go easy. All you need is one drop.
Tip: Our eucalyptus essential oil had a built-in European dropper, which regulates a drop at a time and proves tricky trying to mix from one bottle to another. Just pop off the top and use your trusty pipette to get the exact amount you need.
- On to the lemon essential oil. We used three to four drops of lemon because it’s citrus beard oil after all, and have I mentioned that I love lemon?
- Add one or two drops of the orange essential oil, and voilà!
- Seal your concoction, and give it a good shake so all the oils get nice and acquainted for their happy life together.
- Open and bask in that sweet beard-oil aroma.
Most guys will use about four drops per day, and there’s about 600 drops in a bottle. That breaks down to 150 days, or a little over 5 months per bottle. For a six-pack of bottles, that’s 2 1/2 years worth of beard oil for less than $50 (unless you’re ZZ Top).
What to Do With the Leftovers?
We’ve decided to prolong our investment and make blends as Christmas gifts for our bearded bros, complete with homemade labels specially named for them.
My boyfriend has since mentioned winter and spring-themed beard oils.
These concoctions even work in an essential-oil diffuser or can be used for homemade cleaners and some DIY beauty products.
The options are endless. Awaken your inner chemist and get creative.
Stephanie Bolling is a local contributor to The Penny Hoarder. She really likes lemons.
