I was recently a guest blogger over at Oh My Organics. You can read more about Kara here, or on Facebook here!
In case you didn’t know, Mountain Man has a pretty impressive beard. We have been married for almost 10 years (together 13), and I can remember when the beard made its first appearance, and I was hooked. I love facial hair.
When we first met, back in college, he was this sweet, baby faced country boy, who basically stole my heart from the word go. He came into the University’s photo lab (where I worked in the evenings), in his overalls, Carolina hat, and blue eyes…I. Was. Done.
As the years went on, he started growing in his facial hair. First it started with the goatee and small mustache, then it began to evolve. I should add a side note here that I am almost 2 years older than my man, and I really liked how the facial hair made him look older than me. Selfish? Or genius? I’m going with the latter.
Honestly, I blame myself. There was a time during our engagement (a month before the big day, to be exact), when he had come to pick me up for church one Sunday morning. I was living at his parents home at the time, and when he walked in the door, I saw he had shaved his facial hair. OFF. Like, completely gone. He looked so young (yet still very handsome), but still! I remember the first words that came out of my mouth… “You’re growing that back for the wedding, right?” His response, “I guess I am.” That was the last time he ever shaved it completely off.
And the rest is history.
Mountain Man is the epitome of the “evolution of the beard”. He had a beard before beards were the in thing…cool…hip…in style...you get the picture. And he prides himself on that. The same goes for his love of flannel…but that’s another post for another time.
This was shortly after we started dating. Y’all, I tried so hard to find a pre-facial hair picture. (I know of only ONE, and I cannot find it!)
Our wedding day in 2007. We were just babies <3
2009….as you can see, it is slowly growing.
Three years later, with an 11 month old J-Man. A little father/son time, telling fishing stories. This is circa 2012.
2013 and another kid later. It seems to grow with each consecutive child. Hmm…maybe it’s not my fault, after all…?
About 6 months later in April of 2014. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was pregnant with Little Miss T in this picture.
After we found out we were pregnant again, Mountain Man said he would trim the beard after baby #3 was born… This next image was taken in February of 2015. As you can see, Little Miss T had made her arrival….and the beard is as big as ever.
But today, with my nagging persuasive arguments, he does a pretty good job of keeping the fly aways in check. So handsome.
Also, ladies who don’t have to pull teeth to get your man to take a picture…I’m completely jealous. I told him he didn’t have to look at the camera. Sigh. He was way more compliant when we were dating. 😉
He is certainly one of a kind. The best, in my opinion. And his beard deserves the best as well. That’s why I decided to create the perfect, manly oil, to help him keep his beard looking its best.
For this recipe, I opted to use Avocado Oil for the base, but you can really use any other oil you like: Almond Oil, Jajoba, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fractionated Coconut Oil, etc. I chose Avocado Oil for it’s many benefits for hair. It’s known to moisturize dry, brittle, and damaged hair. It’s very lightweight, making it absorb into hair and skin more easily, and it contains some beneficial vitamins such as A, B, D, E, protein, and amino acids, to name a few!
The Oils
Choosing the perfect essential oils that I wanted to incorporate took some time. I hemmed and hawed over this for several months, and finally made a decision a week before Christmas. I’m not indecisive at all. I think.
The oils I finally settled on, make the perfect blend of manliness and yumminess. It needed to be manly (of course), so my manly Mountain Man would want to use it, and it had to smell yummy (for me), because I live with him. When we snuggle up on the couch, on a chilly winter night in front of the fire, I would like to have something nice to smell, other than sawdust. Mountain Man is a furniture designer and builder, so he always smells of sawdust. Which is not a bad thing. It’s definitely manly (which he enjoys), but it doesn’t cover the yummy category for me.
Douglas Fir
Douglas Fir is a good cleanser for the skin, and is known to help ease skin irritations. Plus, it smells like a Christmas tree, which makes it a no brainer for me.
Sandalwood
Sandalwood is good to help support dry skin and hair. It’s also known to help with calming and relaxing. So if your man deals with any sort of stress, this can be very beneficial to his emotional health as well.
Frankincense
Frankincense is one of the most prized and precious essential oils due to its extensive health benefits. It was used anciently in everything from perfumes to lotions for soothing the skin. Plus, I just really love the way this oil smells, so in the mix it went!
Melaleuca
Melaleuca is such a great skin oil, that I knew it had to be included. It’s renowned for its cleansing and rejuvenating effect on skin, and it’s also used to promote a clean, healthy looking scalp, along with clean, thick and healthy looking hair, so why wouldn’t it help with the beard area as well?
Get Creative
Now, just because these are the oils I chose, that does not mean you can’t experiment and find a blend that you prefer! I know plenty of people who hate the smell of Frankincense, so they would opt to leave that out. It’s ok! Some other manly scents you may want to try include, but are not limited to: Cedarwood, Cypress, Vetiver, White Fir, Arborvitae, Petitgrain, and Rosemary. Each has a unique smell and list of ways they may be beneficial to skin and hair. I get my oils through dōTERRA only because I trust their purity. If you need help with essential oils, shoot me a message!
You can’t have a rockin’ beard without taking care of it (with some premium Beard Oil)…and you can’t have a rockin’ Beard Oil recipe, without a label, right? So here is a free printable label you can use! (Or you can click the image below)
This printable is perfect to attach to your bottle of Beard Oil, whether for personal use or if you’re giving as a gift! Ladies with bearded men, this makes a great gift. It helps him take care of his furry face friend, while looking and smelly amazing for you.
And Guys, this makes a great gift for your fellow beard-o’s. It shows you care, but in a manly way.
Let’s move on to the recipe, shall we?
- 4 oz. glass spray bottle
- Avocado Oil
- 8 drops Douglas Fir essential oil
- 6 drops Sandalwood essential oil
- 5 drops Frankincense essential oil
- 3 drops Melaleuca essential oil
- Label (check out my free printable!)
- First, add the essential oils to the bottle, then add your avocado oil, leaving about 1/2 inch space in the bottle (to ensure there is no spillage when the spray nozzle is attached).
- Shake well, attach label.
- Beard on.
Testing…Thank you all for your patience as I worked to correct the issue with the comments section. You should be able to freely post! 🙂