It’s no secret that coconut oil is among the hottest ingredients for all kind of food recipes and cosmetic products.

Didn’t know it? All you need to do is visit any news site that deals with food or health. You’re surely going to find a couple of articles talking about coconut oil and it’s -almost magical, properties.

And why not?

Coconut oil combines taste, excellent scent and great health benefits. It doesn’t happen every day that an all natural ingredient has such properties.

Even though I would love to spend hours analyzing this magnificent oil, in this post, we’re going to focus on the benefits of coconut oil for beard and hair.

So, what should you expect in this post then?

  • What’s coconut oil
  • What are the coconut oil varieties
  • What are the benefits of coconut oil for beard?
  • How to use coconut oil for beard maintenance
  • Coconut oil suggestions
  • Making a homemade beard oil recipe with coconut oil

You can find coconut oil in all kinds of products you can think of. Beard oil, beard balm recipes, shampoos, shaving creams, you name it.

Even so, why all this fuss about coconut oil? Why does everybody care and talk about it so much when it comes to hair care?

Think about it.

You should know by now that men tend to start losing hair from the age of 30s, generally, whereas women start suffering from thinning of hair from the age of 40s.

I understand that genetics may be the reasons behind hair loss but there are also reasons like pollution and stress that may affect in hair loss.

My question to you is what if there was a product that could stall or prevent this and on top of this, it’s 100% natural?

You guessed that right!

This is how the demand for coconut oil started increasing and becoming the center of attention. More cosmetic producers started including it in their formulas while all hair experts recommending it as the number one product to use when you want to grow your beard faster -and yes, hair as well.

Besides its excellent properties it’s also essential to understand what coconut oil is all about and what makes it so unique?

Don’t forget that we’re talking about an all natural alternative compared to products with chemicals that have been used for many years.

Why would you need coconut oil for beard anyway?

Just like the hair on your head, your facial hair needs nourishment and moisture to grow healthy.

Isn’t it right?

As you probably understand, the definition of healthy hair is what looks attractive, doesn’t suffer from any dryness, itchiness or any other hair condition and is easy to manage.

Now, there’s a lot that can be said about a great diet and stress-free living.

And don’t get me wrong, these things do help you stay healthy.

But one of the great ways to get your beard and hair growing better is to apply certain products on your hair.

And you guessed that again, coconut oil can and should be easily one of them.

It keeps your beard soft, healthy and your dry skin under beard well moisturised and hydrated. We’ll get to the specifics later on.

What is coconut oil?

Coconut oil is the oil that’s extracted from the kernel of coconuts, grown widely in tropical countries.

Besides the obvious answer, it’s good to know that coconut oil is produced in huge volumes annually and it’s really popular across the globe. Yet it still hasn’t been utilized to its full potential. Only recently, more companies in food and personal care industry started creating new products to take advantage of its excellent health -and not only, benefits.

There are several ways in which coconut oil is produced. A few of the most common methods are outlined as follows:

  1. Dry Process: The dry process involves drying up the meat that is extracted from the coconut known as copra, and then dissolving it with solvents to produce raw oil. The produced oil from this process however, isn’t suitable for consumption.
  2. Wet Process: Opposite to the dry process, wet process uses the raw coconut instead of drying up the meat. Unfortunately, using this process results in a loss of good amount of oil during the procedure of generating it.
  3. RBD: The full form of RBD is Refined, Bleached and Deodorized. This process is similar to dry process, except that the dried copra is put in a hydraulic press with heat which extracts oil.
  4. Hydrogenation: The Hydrogenation involves usage of RBD’s extracted oil to refine the oil by heating it further, which saturates fats present in the raw oil.
  5. Fractionation: This involves breaking up of various fats into fractions to segregate the same from oil, which also helps in extracting fats or acids that may be of good use, in other ways.

What are the coconut oil varieties

It’s easy to classify the types of coconut oil, and we’re going to divide them into two broad categories, refined and virgin coconut oil.

Who would imagine that coconut oil was this complicated, right!?

1. Refined Coconut Oil

The refined Coconut Oil is the oil which is extracted by chemical or physical processes that refine the coconut Oil. And more particularly, it’s the oil produced by the methods of RBD and Hydrogenation.

This oil is generally used for commercial uses wherein the oil is further refined and purified, and then sent for packaging and sold in several countries for different uses. The reason is that during the purification procedure impurities and odour of the oil is removed. Though, this procedure makes the extracted oil unsuitable for consumption, the coconut oil produced in this method also helps in production of lauric acid, which we’re going to analyze it a bit more.

2. Virgin Coconut Oil

Virgin coconut oil means the unrefined, raw form of coconut oil that is made either through dry or wet process.

Virgin coconut oil was traditionally used for feeding mammals. However, now this oil is gaining popularity in many different markets and it’s used for domestic purposes like cooking as well as natural cosmetic products.

What about lauric acid?

We mentioned it a while back and it’s worth mentioning that lauric acid is one of the saturated fatty acids found in coconut oil, which is again very beneficial for a man’s health.

More specifically, lauric acid is safe to handle and is mainly used in the production of soaps and cosmetics. In addition, lauric acid is known for its medicinal properties, long shelf life. It’s especially effective against viral infections and not only.

What are the benefits of coconut oil for beard?

Coconut oil has been proven to be an excellent product for conditioning and moisturizing hair.

This is also the case with beard maintenance.

Coconut oil for beard care

Makes beard softer

Just like many oils (e.g. jojoba oil for beard care), coconut oil is excellent for beards.

It’s not greasy just like other oils and due to lauric acid, it’s able to penetrate your skin more effectively. The conditioning properties of coconut oil make the roots of your facial hair healthier and softer.

Facial hair looks shinier and healthier

As a man, I’m sure you’ve noticed this new industry arising with new beard oil and beard grooming products popping up every single day. And men love these products.

But have you thought about the reason behind this?

There’s a fairly simple explanation why this happens.

Besides their great scents and ingredients, these product are all natural. Most importantly? They actually work!

Do this for me.

Check a bunch of different beard oils and beard washes and you’ll find something in common.

That’s right my friend. Coconut oil!

It’s no coincidence that coconut oil is found in several beard oils, because of its health benefits and scent, keeping the beard moisturized and smooth.

Apart from the softening capabilities of coconut oil, it revitalizes the facial hair, making it shinier and more manageable.

Hydrates the skin

Since you’re supposed to apply the coconut oil across the length of your beard, you massage your face with it so that you keep your face and the roots of your beard well hydrated.

By massaging it, the skin will get the lost hydration and rebalance the natural moisture.

Cleans your face

As you massage your face with the coconut oil, you can also benefit from the antibacterial and antifungal properties that this excellent oil has.

Beard growth

I’m sure you remember that in the beginning I made a small reference to hair loss.

There has been a study suggesting that coconut oil prevents hair damage while promoting hair growth. This could conclusively mean that you could use it frequently to help you with beard growth since the facial hair damage would be reduced.

Maybe this could be the all natural product for your beard you were looking for, in case you want to grow it faster or even help you with making your facial hair thicker.

Coconut oil for shaving

And since we’re talking about the benefits of coconut oil for beards, it’s worth mentioning that it’s excellent when you want to use it during all stages of shaving.

I’ll explain what I mean, right away.

Pre-shaving

You can use coconut oil as a pre-shave oil to soften your face and facial hair before you apply any lathering product. We mentioned already how coconut oil is excellent for softening your beard. And using it as a pre-shave oil is a great idea.

Alternative to shaving cream

When you don’t have any lathering product, or you simply don’t want to use any, coconut oil could be used instead.

There are several alternatives to shaving cream that can be used to shave with and coconut oil can do a great job. It gives you this extra lubricity to your skin and facial hair so that the razor can glide easily on your face.

Don’t expect to have the same comfort as a shaving cream or soap while shaving but this doesn’t mean that you can’t get the job done with it, especially if you don’t have very thick facial hair.

After shaving

Just like after-shaving oil and balms, coconut oil can be used as an after shave alternative. Virgin coconut oil also have healing properties, on top of hydrating and softening your skin.

Last but not least, a benefit of virgin coconut oil for beard is the excellent natural non-alcohol scent. And who doesn’t like smell of coconut?

How to use coconut oil for beard maintenance:

I know that’s great that coconut oil gives you all these great benefits but how does the application on your beard look like?

If you want to use coconut oil for beard softening, the steps that you need to follow are fairly simple. If you’ve already been using beard oil, you’ll see no differences in technique.

  1. Before you get started, make sure that your hands are dry and clean. It would be a good idea to have a clean beard that is already blowdried.
  2. If you keep the coconut oil in cool environment, you should expect it to be in solid condition. All you have to do is scrape a dime size with your fingernail.
  3. Next, you’ll have be able to apply it on your beard. You do that by rubbing your hands together for a few seconds and make the oil warmer so that you melt it.
  4. Once the oil is melted on your hands, you can start applying it on your beard by starting from the tips of the facial hair and working your way towards the roots.
  5. Make sure you massage the roots of your beard with the coconut oil and why not, apply it throughout your entire face.

You can apply coconut oil every time you feel like since it’s an all natural product that only does good for your (beard) hair.

Preferably, apply it in the evening before you go to sleep or when you get up in the morning after you’re done showering.

A great thing about coconut oil is that it is easily and quickly absorbed by hair and skin.

Why is that good?

Well, it’s not going to take you long before you finish applying the oil on your facial hair and skin and it doesn’t feel greasy.

Now, are you planning to shave off your beard?

No problem chief!

Similarly to softening your beard with coconut oil, you can apply it on your face as a shave oil before you start lathering.

All you have to do is scrape a bit coconut oil, melt it on your hands and start applying it on your face by massaging it with circular moves. Continue massaging your face for a few seconds and make sure that there’s enough on your face and it’s not entirely absorbed by your skin.

Done with shaving?

That’s great!

You can do the same thing exactly as with pre-shaving instructions. This time, you can apply a bit less coconut oil so that it absorbs by your shaved skin quickly.

Make sure that your face isn’t wet, otherwise you’ll dilute the coconut oil.

Coconut oil for beard oil recipes

We talked about how many beard oils contain coconut oil in their list of ingredients, remember?

For these beard oils, coconut oil is one of the main carrier oils which means that in some cases is more than 80% of the total composition of a beard oil.

So, what if I tell you that you can make your own beard oil recipe at home?

Beard oil is a great product for beard grooming and care and it won’t cost you as much as buying a beard oil online.

No, you don’t have to be an expert. Continue reading and you’ll see how simple it is.

So if you want to prepare a beard oil recipe with coconut oil, all you have to do is follow these below steps. There’s literally no need for any special preparation or cooking. It’s pretty straightforward.

This is a recipe that I created myself and you can also find it on my article on DIY beard oil recipe.

The Healthy Mix

Ingredients

Step by step instructions

  1. Get an 1 oz bottle, preferably one with a lid that has an eyedropper like this one.
  2. Add the different carrier and essential oils in the bottle with the eyedropper or a transfer pipette.
  3. Close the lid securely and start shaking the bottle.
  4. You’re free to use your new beard oil. Go cocoNUTS!

Few suggestions of coconut oil for beard and hair care excellence

Even though it’s not difficult to find coconut oil, there’s a great chance that your local store doesn’t keep any stock. Heck, there are super market chains that don’t have any.

In any case, if you’re having any difficulty in finding coconut oil, you can have a look at my suggestions below before you begin your search. I’ve tried the first two and they’re great for beard care and needless to say, for cooking.

Beard oils that contain coconut oil

No need to worry if you don’t have any time to prepare a beard oil with coconut oil. I got you covered.

You can always buy a beard oil with coconut oil that someone else already prepared for you and you don’t have to lift a finger.

Now that I’m thinking about it, you need to lift a few fingers to order it.

Few of the best beard oils that contain coconut oil and you can’t go wrong with any of them are the following.

So how do you like coconut oil for beard care?

Up till recently, coconut oil wasn’t even in the top list of cosmetics manufacturers. Over the last few years, you see slowly that many producers are including it in all kinds of cosmetics. This gives us an indication of where the personal care industry is heading with all natural products.

And why not?

It was about time that we go back to basics. What’s better than a product that contains only what you get raw from nature.

Coconut oil seems to win the battle of natural oils. Due to its many properties that it comes with, the great scent and the ease to formulate, it is a great ingredient for an all natural cosmetic product.

Now, when it comes to your beard maintenance and care, virgin coconut oil is a product that once you try it out, you won’t take it out of your shelf.

Besides, even if you don’t use it for your hair or skin, you can always use it to make delicious meals, either raw or cooked.

What an outstanding product!

 

Have you discovered the benefits of coconut oil for beard and/or hair care?

 

Image Courtesy: flickr.com/yimhafiz