Here it is! Our big list of the best beard products you can buy. We’ve discussed these products at length throughout the site, so this is basically our entire website boiled down into a single page. We’ll go over each beard product, what it does, and provide a few recommends based on our research.
If you’re new to beards, this is a great intro to all the different products you can use to grow and groom and keep your beard healthy, and if you have a beard and are a little bit confused by some of the products out there, this can be a great explainer. There are plenty of beard products that are misnamed—or at least, you can’t really tell what they do from simply reading their name—so hopefully this’ll help you.
Alright! Let’s dive in.
Best Beard Products That Moisturize Skin and Whiskers
If you’re new to growing a beard, you may be quickly surprised at what a number it can do on your skin—and how dry it can get. These products can help:
Product #1: Beard Oil
We’ll start with what is probably the most popular, well-known beard product:
What
If you leave a beard all on its own, it’ll get dry and brittle and wispy-looking, and it needs something to moisturize it. That’s the job of a
If you think about it, you’d never go weeks without shampooing and moisturizing the hair on your head, but that’s what a lot of guys end up doing with their beards. Beard oils can imbue a lot of health into your beard, and while it doesn’t really have much sculpting ability, it’s probably the quickest and easiest way to keep a beard looking good.
Beard Oils We Recommend:
There are a LOT of beard oils out there, and we’ve tried more than 100 in our reviews. Here are our top picks:
Cremo Beard Oil: A no-frills, nothing-fancy, but well-made formulation. Comes in two widely-appreciated scents: Forest Blend and Mint. If you plan on using a lot of
Viking Revolution Beard Oil: This is our favorite mid-range
Beardoholic Beard Oil: It’s hard to find a
Jack Black Beard Oil: Plenty of beard oils offer nutrients for your beard hair and skin, but few offer as much as Jack Black
These are all good picks—any of these will probably do you fine.
Product #2: Beard Butter
Beard butter is—even among beard products—a lesser-known product, but it’s one of our favorites:
What Beard Butter Does and Why It’s Important:
We mentioned earlier that when left on its own, a beard can become a dry, prickly, wispy mess. That’s true. But what’s also true is that the skin underneath your beard can also become a dry, irritated mess, and that drives a lot of guys absolutely crazy.
A beard butter can alleviate that itch through its main ingredient, which is a “butter”—not, like, something you see on your dinner table, but the mashed-up cream you’d get from crushed up seeds and nuts. The two most common butters are cocoa butter and mango butter, although there are some others that are used.
Beard Butters We Recommend:
Every Man Jack Beard Butter: Every Man Jack is a funny name for this beard butter, because it’s actually a really “clean” formulation with some great stuff (shea butter, cocoa butter, coconut oil, wheat protein) but without a lot of crud (like parabens, phthalates, and dyes). In other words, it’s not very “every man”—it is, in fact, a pretty fancy formulation. The Sandalwood scent is very clean, and the sea salt is a nice change of pace—kind of bracing.
Live Bearded Beard Butter: Beard butters are actually kind of rare, and there aren’t too many options out there—so most beard butters don’t really have to try too hard to stand out. And that’s why we love Live Bearded Beard Butter—it’s a great product that they make in a slew of different scents, from citrus and vanilla to cedar to “campfire.” If you’re looking for skin care but also love scents, this is what we recommend.
Product #3: Beard Moisturizer
You’re probably asking, if beard butter moisturizes the skin underneath your beard, what does beard moisturizer do? That’s a great question, so here you go:
What Beard Moisturizer Does and Why It’s Important:
Whereas beard butter is mostly an all-natural formulation, beard moisturizers are actually jam-packed with skincare ingredients that are usually reserved for cosmetics. Beards have only become really popular in the last ten or fifteen years, but the cosmetics industry has many decades of experience in skincare, and beard moisturizers borrow from their lead, and include aloes, anti-inflammatories, etc.
They can be VERY powerful when it comes to relieving some of that beard itch that comes with a new beard, and they can even combat some of the beard dandruff (which a LOT of guys get).
Beard Moisturizers We Recommend:
Cremo Mint Blend Beard & Scruff Cream: This is a unique product, because it’s specifically for scruff. If you’re growing out a new beard and the sharp end of those whiskers are driving you crazy, Cremo Beard and Scruff Cream is designed to soften those whiskers and give you some relief. You can use it on your beard once you grow it out, but we mostly use it for those first few stages of a beard.
Bluebeards Original Beard Saver: This is one of our all-time favorite beard products, and nobody seems to know about it! We don’t know why that is, but we’re here to spread the word. It’s got aloe and it can relieve beard itch better than any other product we’ve tried. Your results may vary, but we’ve had great luck with it, and we’ve found it to work even with long beards, which is a feat.
Product #4: Beard Jelly
Never heard of beard jelly? Neither have most people!
What Beard Jelly Does and Why It’s Important:
Beard jelly basically does the same thing as a
Beard Jellies We Recommend:
Bossman Beard Oil Jelly: There’s only one beard jelly we recommend, because (as far as we know), there’s only one company that makes beard jelly! Bossman does a great job with it—they’ve created an entirely new product, which is pretty impressive, and it does a great job moisturizing beards and the skin beneath. It’s made in a lot of great scents, too.
Best Beard Products for Shaping and Styling
OK, so you’ve got your beard moisturized and your skin hydrated. How do you shape that thing? These are products that can help:
Product #5: Beard Balm / Conditioner
Before we dive in here, we should mention one quick thing about the name: most people refer to this product as “beard balm.” Almost everyone calls it that, and almost no one calls it a conditioner. And yet, the most popular beard balm in the world—Honest Amish—refers to itself as a beard conditioner. Why do they need to complicate things? We don’t know. But if you’re confused about the word “conditioner,” we hope that explains things.
"Viking Revolution makes their balms with a lot of great ingredients, and we've found them to be great moisturizers, as well. Their Viking Revolution Beard Balm 4-Pack is one of our mainstays."
- RTG Editorial
What Beard Balm Does and Why It’s Important:
We mentioned above that a beard, left on its own, will come dry and prickly and gross-looking, and that to keep it looking healthy, you need to give a little TLC and moisturize it. A lot of guys choose
And that’s the appeal of beard balm. It has all the benefits of a
Beard Balms We Recommend:
Honest Amish Beard Balm and Conditioner: This is the “original gangsta” of beard products, and there are a lot of reasons why: it has a totally unique and enticing scent (a mix of clove, cedarwood, and anise [which smells like a faint, faint licorice]), it’s free of weird chemicals, and it can nourish growth. This is, by far, the most popular beard balm out there.
Grave Before Shave Beard Balm: Grave Before Shave does two things really well: 1) it features dope artwork and we’re totally suckers for that kind of thing, and 2) they offer some really interesting scents, like Vanilla + Tobacco, Bay Rum, and Bourbon + Sandalwood. Awesome. Plus it’s easy to apply and doesn’t feel too sticky.
Viking Revolution Beard Balm: Viking Revolution sticks to the “classic” masculine scents, and if you’re looking for a beard balm with the recognizable “manly” scents—that is, bay rum (sweet and lively), sandalwood (the “barbershop” scent), clary sage (deep and mysterious), and cedar and pine (woodsy)—this is what we’d recommend.
Product #6: Beard Wax
Beard wax is a “niche” product that some guys really need… but a lot of guys don’t! Here’s how it plays out:
What Beard Wax Does and Why It’s Important:
Beard wax is perhaps the only clear-cut beard product, because… it’s wax! That’s it. It’s a hard wax, and you have to heat it up to make it malleable enough to get out of the container, and then when you want to get it out of your beard at the end of the day, you need to heat the wax in your beard to remove it. It’s literally wax. It’s got a few other ingredients to make it usable, but it’s mostly wax.
There are three guys that need beard wax: 1) Guys with BIG bushy beards that need some discipline and need to be given some shape; 2) Guys who like their beards to perform anti-gravitational feats—that kind of guys who enter beard contests; and 3) Guys who have a certain part of their beard that grows out in a weird direction and they need some wax to tame it. Of all the beard wax users out there, #3 is probably the common. You can read here about our favorite beard waxes, or you can continue reading for…
Beard Waxes We Recommend:
Honest Amish Original Beard Wax: There aren’t too many beard waxes out there, and in our humble opinion, Honest Amish is the best of them. It’s mostly wax, with some oils and butters to make it malleable. It’s a little bit easier to use than some of the other waxes out there, too. If you’re going to use beard wax, we’d recommend starting with this one.
Product #7: Beard Straightener
So far, we’ve discussed products that you put into your beard. We’re going to switch it up and now talk about a beard tool—the beard straightener.
What Beard Straighteners Do and Why They’re Important:
A beard straightener looks like a big comb, and it does an incredible job not only of straightening curly beards, but ironing out knots, twists, and waves. A lot of guys use it on their entire beards, but some guys use it on a specific section of their beard that’s curly or knotty or juts out in a weird direction. It’s also a great tool for “training” your beard—if your facial hair grows in a certain way, repeated use of a beard straightener can sometimes redirect it.
Beard Straighteners We Recommend:
Arkam Beard Straightener: This is a great “starter” model. It’s not too fancy, but it gets really hot and can imbue some straightness to most beards. It’s got three different heat levels, which is a nice feature for a pretty simple model.
Tame the Wild Elite Beard Straightener Essentials Kit: This is more of a “deluxe” model, and it’s 12 different heat settings (which sounds like a lot, but you’d surprised at how you may come to find a favorite), and it comes with a lot of products that help a straightened beard. Beards get dry on their own, but straightening can worsen dryness, and the Tame the Wild model comes with a beard protectant, a beard balm, and a beard soap.
Best Beard Products for Trimming, Cutting, and Shaping a Beard
You could grow out your beard and let it do its thing—but for most guys (all guys?) that ends up looking… not great.
So you’ll need to do some grooming, and here are some tools you can use.
Product #8: Beard and Stubble Trimmers
We absolutely love stubble trimmers—a good one can provide exactly what you need, and last a REALLY long time.
What Beard and Stubble Trimmers Do and Why They’re Important:
A lot of guys get their beards trimmed at the barbershop, and that’s fantastic—especially when the barber gives your face that steam bath at the end, so relaxing!—but that’s not always feasible, and sometimes you gotta take matters into your own hands. A beard and stubble trimmer—sometimes called an electric shaver or electric razor—is a powerful tool that lets you groom your beard at home.
Some models are relatively simple—they trim your beard, and that’s that—whereas some of them get really fancy, and have some really helpful (and sometimes surprising) features. In the section, we’ll talk regular beard trimmers, and in the next section, we’ll talk about “specialty” beard and stubble trimmers (that have a few bells and whistles).
Beard and Stubble Trimmers We Recommend:
Brightup Beard Trimmer: If you’re new to beard trimmers, we usually suggest this one—it’s great for anything from stubble to long beards, and it comes with a lot of great add-ons, most notably different trimmer heads and a set of adjustable combs. It’s a great model to learn on, but also provides some real value.
Panasonic Long Beard Trimmer: One of the complaints about beard trimmers we most often hear is that they’re not great for longer beards, and that’s why we like this one—it’s specifically designed for guys with big / bushy / lengthy beards. It’s also got an adjustability dial on the trimmer itself if you want to do some detail work on your mustache and sideburns.
Product #9: Specialty Beard and Stubble Trimmers
A moment ago we mentioned that beard trimmers range from “nuts and bolts” to “supa-fancy.” Here are the supa-fancy models:
What Specialty Beard and Stubble Trimmers Do and Why They’re Important:
Truth be told, a regular beard and stubble trimmer will do you just fine. But if you’re one of those guys who likes multi-use tools, or simply the finer things in life, then here you go:
Specialty Beard and Stubble Trimmers:
The Philips Norelco Vacuum Beard Trimmer Series 7200: In what has to be one of the coolest product-meets-product designs in the world, this is a beard trimmer that has a vacuum attached to it. Attached right to it! That means instead of shaving and ending up with a sink full of whiskers, you shave and then look down at a CLEAN sink! If you hate mess—or even moreso, hate cleaning up a mess—vacuum trimmers can be a really fantastic tool to have. This one—the Philips Norelco 7200—is a fan favorite (and yes—there are guys who are really, REALLY into trimmers [guys other than us, that is]). It’s got 20 length settings for everything from stubble to medium-length beards, and a few attachments to use on longer beards. It’s pretty easy to charge, and oh yeah, it’s got a vacuum attached to it! Awesome.
Philips Norelco Multigroomer All-in-One Series: This is our favorite all-in-one tool. It’s great for stubble trimming, beard trimming, and then full-body trimming—ears, nose, head, chest, etc. It’s relatively easy to clean, it’s got self-sharpening blades, and it comes with a slew of guards and combs. If you’re looking for a trimmer that does it all, this is the one we usually recommend.
Product #10: Beard Scissors
Yeah, you know what these are, but we’re going to describe them anyway.
What Beard Scissors Do and Why They’re Important:
This is pretty simple—if you’re an old-school kind of fella and you don’t want a machine so close to your face, you can always go with tried-and-true beard and mustache scissors. They’re specially shaped to get really close to your skin and give you a lot of control—and even if you do use a beard trimmer, they’re good to have around for detail work.
Beard Scissors We Recommend:
ONTAKI Professional Japanese Steel Beard Shears: We love these because they feel *precise.* Have you ever used a pair of scissors that felt wobbly and you were never sure if they were going to cut properly? That’s awful, and that’s not these. These feel precise and we like them a great deal. We’ve come to appreciate the finger rest—that’s the kind of thing you don’t realize you like until you use it. It really can provide a lot more stability.
Best Beard Products for Cleaning a Beard
Most of these don’t really require a full description, so we’ll plow through them:
Actually, scratch that—a lot of guys don’t know the difference between a comb and a brush (and which to use first), so we’ll do some quick explaining:
Product #11: Best Combs
What Beard Combs Do and Why They’re Important:
A comb has wide-side teeth, and because of those wide-set teeth, it’s easier to pull through your beard, so it’s the first thing you’d use to groom your beard. It de-tangles big knots and wrangled-up curls.
Beard Combs We Recommend:
Viking Revolution Beard Comb: There are, somewhat surprisingly, some really high-end beard combs out there—with fancy handles and all that—but all you really need is a wooden one. The Viking Revolution gets the job done, and it has a wide set of teeth on one side and a narrower set of teeth on other side—it’s pretty much all you can ask for.
Product #12: Beard Brushes
What Beard Brushes Do and Why They’re Important:
After you’ve gone through your beard with a comb, you can follow it up with a few passes from a beard brush. A brush has hundreds/thousands of bristles that are packed really close together. A beard brush is a great tool that can allow you to really go through your beard and remove any particles or debris or beardruff (aka, “beard dandruff”). There are different styles of beard brush—some have handles, and some don’t—so you can find what you like.
Beard Brushes We Recommend:
Seven Potions Beard Brush: This is a pretty simple, straight-forward, hand-held brush—nothing fancy, but totally capable of providing some organization for your beard. It can last a while, but it may need replacing if you have your beard for a couple months/years. If you want to go “high-class,” you can try the Kent Beechwood Comb. Kent is the “high-water mark” when it comes to combs, and they’ve got a lot of fans.
Product #13: Beard Shampoo
What Beard Shampoo Does and Why It’s Important:
There are a lot of guys who use head-shampoo as beard-shampoo, and that’s okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay… but it’s better to use a beard shampoo.
Why is that? Well, the hair on your face is different than the hair on your heard—you can feel the difference in texture and tension with your fingers—and it has different needs. Beard shampoos are designed to moisturize beard hair specifically, and they include a whole bunch of ingredients that aren’t usually included in head shampoo.
"Just a small amount the size of a peanut or almond springs into a sudsy cloud that's easy to work into the beard, and easy to wash out. The scent is invigorating—a little mint-y, maybe menthol-y, or like tea-tree—but it doesn't last too long, so you can use a beard oil or beard balm afterwards."
- RTG Editorial
Beard Shampoos We Recommend:
Grave Before Shave Beard Wash: Honestly, most of these the beard shampoos out there are fine. We’re partial to this one because it smells great, suds up nicely, and washes out pretty easily, but they’re all pretty decent.
Product #14: Beard Soap
What Beard Soap Does and Why It’s Important:
Don’t like beard shampoos? You can use a beard soap. They accomplish the same job, but they last longer, and they have the added benefit of giving your skin some moisturization. Plus, they feature ingredients that are good for your beard—ingredients that regular soaps don’t have.
Beard Soaps We Recommend:
Professor Fuzzworthy’s Shampoo Bar: We don’t know who Old Man Fuzzyworth is—we assume he’s an old man, or maybe he’s a strapping young guy, or maybe he’s just the brainchild of the marketing department at whatever company makes this product—but we’ve seen that it works pretty well. Beard soaps are also a matter of preference—they’re all pretty good, and you can find what you like. We found that this one smells good and doesn’t dry our skin or hair, which can sometimes happen with a beard soap.
Best Beard Care All-in-One Kits
Last but not least! For those of you who love a package deal, this one’s for you.
What Beard Care Kits Do and Why They’re Important:
It can be a pain to gather all the beard care products you need to grow and keep a healthy beard! Beard kits are a great “get-it-all-at-once” time-saver, and most include all the products you’ll need to get started.
These make great gifts, too—if you have someone in your life who has a beard or is growing one (a husband, son, partner, whatever), it can be a nice thing to pass along.
Beard Kits We Recommend:
Viking Revolution Beard Kit: We’ve big fans of Viking Revolution as a company, and their beard kit includes a comb, brush, and scissors for grooming, a beard balm and a
"One of our favorite entry-level beard care kits. If you're just starting out, this is a good option that won't cost you an arm and a leg."
- RTG Editorial
What Did We Miss?
Nothing! There you have it—all the best beard products we can think of to help you grow and maintain your beard. Use them in good health!
We’ve written extensively about all of these products, including extensive reviews of various oils, balms, butters, and trimmers, so if you have a particular product in mind and you’d like to learn more about it, click through the site to learn more.
Thanks for reading, and all the best to you—have fun, be good, and happy beard!
Michael Morris is the head writer here at Rough and Tumble Gentleman. He's got a ducktail beard and loves Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He's married to the woman of his dreams and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
