Last week we talked about what we use in our organic oils and how those ingredients are beneficial for your beard. This week we’ll go and talk about the balms. We will explain what ingredients we use, why we use them and how to properly apply it on your beard.
Organic Beard Balm without additives To make the balms we use a base of beeswax, shea butter, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. To that base, we add after the oil of choice depending on whether we are making Big Sur, Arctic, Toscana or Surtic.
As we mentioned in last week's post, the main difference between beard oil and beard balm is that the latest works also as a styling product for your beard. And that happens mostly because of the presence of the main ingredient: beeswax. Beeswax or Cera Alba is produced by worker bees and used to build the honeycomb cells where the honey, pollen, and larvae are stored.
The beekeeper, to collect the honey, cuts off the wax cap from each honeycomb. And that is exactly what we use! Of course, this is a simple explanation of the process, but if you are interested in learning more about it you can always check out the Wikipedia article about it.
The main reason why beeswax is used to make beard balm (or mustache wax as well) is that it gives the balm their holding properties, so you can style your beard keeping the hair together. But not only that, as it contains Vitamin A it also works as an anti-allergenic and anti-inflammatory to soothe irritated skin caused by skin problems such as dry skin or eczema. On your beard repeals dirt, moisturizes, and keeps it healthy and shiny.
Beeswax is really hard to work with by itself so it needs to be softened down by melting it down with other ingredients. At Golden Beards, we chose shea butter, coconut oil, and cocoa butter. But what are those? Let us explain a bit about them: Shea Butter is a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree. It is edible and used in Africa for food preparation. Its use has been traced back to Ancient Egypt, where shea butter was used to protect hair and skin from extreme weather conditions of the African desert and savannah.
And they were perfectly right using it! Besides being a perfect natural skin protector, it also moisturizes dry and damaged skin while it softens and smooths the beard. It is rich in Vitamins A, E, and F and provides the skin with essential fatty acids and nutrients necessary for collagen production.
Coconut Oil is an edible oil extracted from the kernel of mature coconuts harvested from the coconut palm. Its high saturated fat content makes it slow to oxidize making it very resistant to rancidification. Which means that you can hold on your beard balm for longer! It also hydrates the skin and beard while making it shinier and more manageable. It has also antibacterial and antifungal properties.
Our Organic Ingredients Cocoa Butter is native to parts of Central and South America and extracted from the cocoa beans. Besides being the main ingredient of delicious chocolate, it has been harvested for centuries to make skin moisturizers. One of the main reasons being the fact that it melts down at human body temperature. As the coconut oil mentioned before, it helps prevent rancidity giving the balm a longer storage time.
This is due to cocoa butter being one of the most stable fats known with a high content in antioxidants. It has moisturizing abilities to prevent dry and itchy skin. The mix of all these 100% organic ingredients together in a perfect formula combined with the oils makes perfect beard balm for your daily care. Beard balms can be used for any length of beard, but where they really shine is on medium to long beards. Being able to tame your wild beard into your desired style and shape while you use a premium product that protects your beard and skin at the same time is a real pleasure, believe us! You can use it, after a good hot shower, combined or not with beard oil (it’s completely up to you).
Depending on your beard length and personal preferences, take your desired amount of balm on hand and rub it between the palms until it melts. Stroke, it through your beard and use a boar bristle brush to distribute it evenly and sculpt it as you like. Easy and really beneficial for your beard and skin: A perfect product!"
