What is beard softener?

We’re all about tackling the big questions on this blog and in the beard world, this is one of the biggest: what is beard softener?

The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think.

A soft beard is a healthy beard. If your beard feels soft to touch, it means the hair has all the hydration and nutrients it needs. If, on the other hand, your beard feels dry and coarse and your skin feels itchy and irritable, it means your hair needs nourishment.

Nourishment = softness. 

Which means any product that gives your beard the nourishment it needs could be classed as a beard softener. This is a good thing as it means you have a good range of products to choose from that can hydrate the skin and preserve the essential oils your facial hair needs to stay healthy. But it also means there’s no single product called beard softener that you can find on Google and buy.  

For example, all of these products are designed to soften your beard:

Beard Softener Oil

Beard Oil is considered the best beard softener by many beardsmen and the most important product in your grooming bag. It's also considered the best beard softener for short beards and a great beard stubble softener. Beard oil is formulated to condition and hydrate facial hair and the skin underneath. Anytime your beard is feeling itchy, dry or coarse, or the texture isn’t meeting expectation, a few drops of beard oil massaged evenly into the roots of your hair will give your mane a healthy glow and leave it feeling as soft as a duck down pillow. 

Beard Softener Balm 

Beard balm has a thick consistency like lip balm. This is because it’s developed to tame and control unruly hair to make it more manageable and easier to style. 

How does it do this? 

Yep. 

By hydrating and conditioning your beard to soften it.

Beard Softener Cream 

Beard Cream or Beard Butter as we call it, sits somewhere between oil and balm. It's a luxury product that combines Argan and Jojoba oil with Shea butter (which is where it gets its texture) and Cocoa to nourish and condition your facial hair, leaving it — you guessed it — soft to the touch. Butter is also a great styler, giving a light hold and a matte finish. A lot of beardsman and especially the elves at the Mo Bros prefer to use Beard Butter as a leave in beard softener overnight. Yep, sounds different but it certainly helps you wake up with a soft beard and moisturised skin.

Beard Softener Conditioner

Beard conditioner is to beards what regular conditioner is to the hair on your head. Like a regular conditioner, beard conditioner’s role is to soften, soothe and hydrate your facial hair after washing. Where it differs is in the ingredients. 

Most regular conditioners contain silicone that works to stick the conditioner to your hair to protect it and leave a healthy sheen. The silicone is then washed away with shampoo and reapplied. That’s all good... for your hair.

Applying a regular conditioner to your beard would mean having to use a regular shampoo — one that’s harsh enough to wash away the silicone. That’s not good.

Regular shampoo, unlike beard wash, is designed to strip naturally produced sebum oil from your hair. But sebum is the oily substance your beard needs to stay hydrated. So using regular shampoo on your facial hair would leave it dry and brittle. Which also isn’t good.

Beard conditioner is formulated using natural ingredients so that your beard gets all of the nourishment it needs without risk to its natural oils. 

Depending on where you look online, any of these products could be described and packaged as beard softener. You may even find them sold as ‘beard quencher’ or ‘beard sauce’.

How to choose a beard softener? 

We're often asked what is the best beard softener. Well a good beard care routine should include beard oil, balm, butter and conditioner. You don’t have to use them all at the same time, but they all play a role in keeping your beard healthy — oil as a go-to product for instant softness, conditioner for after using beard wash and balm or butter to style and manage your mane. 

If you were to ask us to name one single product as beard softener it would probably be beard conditioner. 

Or beard oil. 

Okay, beard conditioner. Mmm maybe beard butter.

How to use a beard softener

Applying a beard softener to your facial hair will give you that quickfire hit of softness. But if you want it to stay soft and fluffy, a good routine is as important as any product. How often you use your conditioner depends on the product chosen. Oil, balm and butter should be used daily, while conditioner and shampoo should be used 2/3 times a week.

To keep your beard looking and feeling healthy, follow the Mo Bro’s 5 Step Process:

1. Wash it: Ideally, twice a week using a natural beard wash. You can wash your beard daily using lukewarm water, but limit beard wash to twice a week.
2. Condition it: Apply beard conditioner after washing on the days you use beard wash.
3. Hydrate it: Apply beard oil twice a day, morning and evening, and any time your beard feels dry. 
4. Style it: Break out the beard balm or beard butter to prime your hair for styling. Both of these products can be used whenever you want to tame your mane. 
5. Comb it: Comb or brush your hair every day to help distribute products evenly around your beard, detangle hair and train hair to grow in the right direction. 

Take a look at this routine in-depth, with videos to accompany each step, in our post: The Mo Bro’s 5 Step Process to Better Beard Care. If you're also interested then our 4 Step Kit is our ultimate beard softener kit, following the first 4 of the 5 steps in the routine.

Beard Softener Benefits

What other benefits can be had from using beard softener? Well here are just a few more that you may not have come across.

• Using beard softener will help straighten the beard. Rather than having a frizzy, unkempt beard, hydrating it will make it easier to straighten those hairs with a comb or brush and will stay straight for longer.
• Using the beard softener before shaving those lines will be easier as your skin will be moisturised much more. Using a beard oil will also provide that lubrication for the blade to glide across.
• Using oil, butter or balm will also help with sensitive skin as the carrier oils and butters will help moisturise your skin as well as your hair.
• Let's be honest your partner will thank you for it as kissing someone with a softer beard is far better than kissing someone with a coarse, dry beard. 

Hopefully, this has given you the answer you were looking for. Essentially, beard softener is many things. If it was one thing, it would probably be beard conditioner. But if you want to keep your beard soft, you should invest in all of the products that help you do it. Mo Bros is committed to providing you with the best products, made in the UK, that we possibly can.

Why not check out some of our other articles on keeping that beard well maintained.

1. Beard Shampoo
2. Beard Cream
3. 33 Tips For A Better Beard
4. How To Avoid Beard Dandruff
5. What Does Beard Oil Do?

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