The Best Beard Oil on Earth. My Fave for 2024.
By Steve Huff
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2024
Since November of 2022 I have been trying out various all natural beard products for my beard and not all are created equal!
I have spent around $4,000 on beard products over the last two years from over a dozen companies, testing their oils and butters so YOU DO NOT HAVE TO! Honestly, I just wanted to find what worked best for me and I was also curious as to just how different these oils and butters would be from each other. I went down the rabbit hole from several companies and saw the good, the bad and the ugly! One was amazing, some were very good, a few were decent and a couple were awful.
I have tested products from companies like BeardBrand, Live Bearded, Artius Man, Honest Amish, Fable, Black Rebel, Beard Octane, Luxurious Bastard, Bearded Bastard, Dr.Nicks, The Beard Struggle as well as many others that have been in use by me for the last 24 months.
Of all of these, I have one clear stand out fave brand for 2024
(and yes, I paid full price for everything I own. This is not a sponsored post)
To test each brand over the last 2 1/2 years I used each brand exclusively then would trim down and start again with the next brand to find my fave.
What does beard oil do? Butter? Balm? Well, over my 54 years on this earth I have tried to grow a beard many times. In the years past I would stop and shave due to one main reason. My skin would get irritated, dry, flaky and beard dandruff would be awful! It would get so bad at times teh skin under my chin would be raw.
I was not aware at the time that all I needed was some beard oil. The oil soothes the skin, keeps it from drying out and promotes healthy beard growth. Since I started using beard oil, my beard grows so much faster fuller and softer though not all brands help your beard. I have found a couple that seemed to harm it! Not all are created equal.
After finding the right beard care I have no more itchy skin, dandruff, rawness or issues, just perfect smooth and hydrated skin under the face fur. I use Beard Butter mainly at night to nourish the beard and skin while I sleep. I sometimes use it with oil during the day. When using specific beard wash, conditioner, oil and butter/balm my beard really started to get bigger, fuller, softer and looking so much better.
Not all oils are created equal as some use an inferior carrier oil blend that can irritate your skin or even cause breakouts. My skin is super sensitive to some oils like coconut (causes me to breakout) and I have looked for a blend that soothes rather than irritates. One that nourishes the skin and beard both.
Just before starting my beard journey. Bare Baby faced!
I have also found most department store brands (wal mart, etc) use ingredients that are not natural (bad for our skin) or use inferior quality carrier oils (bad for our beards). Some of these messed with my skin, even the expensive brands.
Here I am at the age of 54, growing a big full beard for the first time in my life.
Black Rebel is my #1 Fave Beard Care Company after trying all of the big names extensively.
I have had a love/like relationship with this brand over two years but have grown to love them most of all, especially now that they have improved so much for 2024.
Black Rebel has upped the game this year and now offer a full tallow butter without the wax and shea butter of their standard butter, making it much smoother in beard. The new Tallow formula is not nearly as firm or thick but it smells just as amazing as the standard yet does truly nourish my beard and skin, and this tallow is amazing for the skin underneath the beard. It even has anti inflammation properties built in, and this is awesome. It doesn’t have much hold as the standard butter (which Black Rebel still offers) but I use the butter with the oil and my beard has never been softer.
My old complaint with the standard butter (for me) was that the wax/shea butter was a bit heavy and sticky in a longer beard, and the all tallow version has fixed this 100%! For those who prefer the original, yes indeed they kept the OG version as some do prefer the wax version for the hold. A friend of mine had the new butter and I tried it and loved it so I started placing orders with Black Rebel again due to the new butter, the new wash and even new packaging of their oils and cologne. They have also been creating some otherworldly great scents lately!
Dylan is such an exquisite, manly, subtle yet powerful scent. One of the best they have made. I expect it may make a comeback or maybe added to the mainline one day.
They have repackaged their mainline scents into black bottles with the same cool artwork as ever. They improved the beard wash. They lowered prices a bit (now Black Rebel is cheaper than Live Bearded, BeardBrand and Beard Struggle when buying a package of oil, butter, wash, etc yet have superior ingredients and art) as well and come out with a new scent (or three) every month! You no longer have to sub to get the new releases and they can once again be bought as a one off, at least for now. They have regained my #1 fave spot as of July 2024 due to these improvements. Bravo BLACK REBEL!
Pricing. It seems high but is it?
A great pricing example is that I order the oil, tallow butter, cologne, wash and conditioner when I order a scent from Black Rebel. This costs $79 shipped. I did this with another company and the cost was $95 for the same set yet an inferior scent that only lasts an hour or so, and a more sticky paste like butter. Black Rebel scents last hours if not the whole day and use Ostrich Oil and Tallow within their blends, which cost them more to make.
Another popular beard company that offers Cologne sells their Cologne for $80-$120 and it is no better than the Black Rebel cologne, in fact, that pricey cologne from the other brand wore off after MINUTES! The fact that I can get a complete set of premium oil, butter, wash, conditioner and cologne for LESS than the other brands bottle of cologne is remarkable.
I have purchased quite a few scents from Black Rebel over the last couple of years. This company uses Ostrich oil as their base, 75% to be exact. I do not know of any other beard company that does this as it is expensive to implement I am sure.
This means the oil from Black Rebel is thicker (very much so) and it seems to go much quicker as well. In beard it feels nice and keeps my beard super soft and I like what it does for my skin with its anti inflammatory properties. Ostrich oil will not clog pores either. It makes for a great carrier oil.
The scents (I own many of them) all have a similar vibe as you can tell they are all from Black Rebel. There’s something in each bottle that connects them together. I could easily blind test and pick out any BR scent (I think..the new Dylan scent threw me for a loop, in a GOOD way). With that said, they are not all the same or close, they just have the BR vibe about them and smell like no other. (this is good).
STARMAN was billed as a night time scent and to me is unique as all get out. Lavender but with earthiness and a dark yet smooth vibe. I use this butter at night mostly but can also be a daytime scent as well. This was limited so no longer available but BR releases limited editions every month. You have to get them when you can otherwise you will miss out. I missed out on some I wanted like Smokey and the Bandit, Vorhees. Mars Attacks and Michael Myers!
The OG butter from Black Rebel uses beef tallow and wax and I have to say that after 3 months of use I am not the biggest fan of this version of the butter for me personally as I have a longer beard. When in beard it makes my beard feel a bit heavy and even somewhat greasy.
The new Tallow Butter doesn’t have the hold, but doesn’t feel greasy or heavy at all. Keeps the beard very soft and manageable and I do not smell any tallow, just the scent that is supposed to be there. They seemed to have improved the Tallow Butter as well (as of August 2024) and it is now firmer, and much easier to apply without any tallow smell at all. The original all tallow butter was more gelatinous and had tallow smell mixed with the scent. So the newest Tallow butter is insanely good.
I also bought many of the colognes on offer from BR and they are nice to have when you truly love a scent. When I wear CASH I get compliments. I wore SCOUT/BAJA once to a festival and had two people ask me what I was wearing. So these scents do get noticed unlike when I wear some other brands.
When wearing Escape or Dylan my wife commented on them and loved them. My mother loves “Reaper” that has OUD in it.
I have to say that CASH is one of the top beard oil scents ever made, truly unique and WOW. Manly, smooth, just so good. It is my #1 fave scent of all time. If I chose a second place it would be Scout (now Baja Cruiser) from Black Rebel as I love the beach vibe it gives. Then again I now own 19 BR scents and I do really enjoy them all.
I also own Doc Holiday and Megaladon, both are awesome and quite stunning actually. The Doc has a smokey leather vibe and it has some depth to it as well with a cologne vibe that lasts all day. Megaladon is a sweet summer scent that again, my wife LOVES.
Black Rebel does indeed offer something for everyone but it can get expensive trying scents as special drops and monthly’s are a gamble. You will not know what they smell like until you get them but black rebel has a solid track record for pumping out some great stuff.
After a trim I started using Black Rebel exclusively. These products use Ostrich Oil as the main carrier oil. It does feel heavier in beard but performs great. Just a thicker feel in beard. With that said, the beard looks great with Black Rebel products! This was when I started using Black Rebel, after a self trim.
I like BR and feel they make a super product that does what they claim.
UPDATE: My current BLACK REBEL faves as of September 2024 out of the 17 scents that I now own (they change as I acquire new scents):
- CASH – Just such an awesome scent. Big, bold, manly and smooth. Fresh with a punch!
- DYLAN – More sophisticated and more mellow but so good! (this is no longer available, limited)
- NOMAD – This one grew on me big time, wife loves it. OUD and Tobacco that is just right.
- WILD ONE – Sweet vanilla with tobacco and this one is remarkable and very long lasting.
- BAJA CRUISER – Coconut, beach and smooth vibe. Always in my rotation.
- RAD DAD – Such a unique and amazing scent. Truly signature level.
I can also highly recommend the beef tallow soap. It lasts a long time, has no smell and works awesome. Keeps my skin soft and free of itchy dryness. Love this bar of soap!
CONS? None in 2024. They have lowered prices (package deals are great), improved their formulas, changed up the scents, improved the packaging of the cologne, now make a full tallow butter without the wax that is AWESOME (new formula)…wow, Black Rebel has improved A LOT over the last year alone. They have moved back t0 #1 for me and it was no contest.
Some of my cologne collection from BR!
Again, this is not an affiliate link as I paid for all of my bard products from BR. I make not a penny if you buy anything. I just wanted to write this as I am sure that there are many out there like me, looking for the right beard product that is worth the cost and offers up variety. Ive not seen any out there quite like Black Rebel!