The RUNESILK Story · June 2020
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. Why We Made a Beard Butter
We already had an excellent collection of Golden Beard award-winning beard balms, so why did we go and make a beard butter too? Hey, Dan here from RUNESILK. Here's the short version of that story, along with a few tips on how and why a beard butter earns a place in your daily routine.
"Beard balm, beard butter? I thought I just had to whack a bit of oil in the beard and I'd have people falling at my feet, like the star of a famous deodorant advert, riding off bare chested across the sand on a white horse, like a real man."
Before I started making beard care products, I had a face full of overgrown stubble and used beard oil to help with the itchiness and dry skin. Beard oil became my go-to gift for birthdays, Father's Day, and Christmas. I collected almost every giftset out there: advent calendars, all the supermarket brands. I'd apply oil, most likely too much of it, infrequently.
I stopped shaving because, after a couple of decades, I still couldn't shave properly and hated the neck rash that followed a clean shave. As my beard journey went on, I got frustrated with the straggly hairs and would trim it before it ever reached a decent length. In the early days I didn't know that groups like iBeard, Guardians of the Beard, Bearded Banter (then known as Private Beards) and Home of the Beardos existed. Joining them blasted my beard journey wide open, and my eyes with it, to the grooming products out there aimed directly at the beard, and helped me get past the Castaway look.
Beard balm vs beard butter
Here's the quick comparison that explains why we developed our own beard butter:
- Beard balm is built for deep conditioning and style, hence the beeswax.
- Beard butter has no beeswax at all.
"That's it?" Yup, pretty much. Other craft beard care makers may argue differently, and that's fair; we all make our products individually. Some add a small amount of wax to help bind the different butters together. Most beard butter are made similarly to beard balm and shares many of the same ingredients; we just left the wax out and spent a little longer whipping it up.
Living with a beard butter
How do I apply a beard butter?
Take a small pea size amount and warm it in the palm of your hands, spreading it over your palms and fingers. Being a zero wax product, it should turn to a clear oil within seconds. Rub your hands together, then apply to the beard. I run a 6 inch beard these days, so I tend to use a little more, maybe broad bean size, working it over the top layer of the beard hand over hand before running my fingers through to reach the skin underneath.
When do I use a beard butter?
We're not here to tell you when to apply a beard butter. Our Dark Night Bedtime Beard Butter can be used any time of day, though we chose some sleepy essential oils to help it aid a good night's sleep if you use it before bed. If you'd rather put it on in the morning, go right ahead. I like buttering up after a shower, then drying with a hairdryer. The oils help protect the beard from the heat, and it smells amazing too.
Would I use butter over an oil?
If you like the conditioning properties of butters such as Shea, Mango and Cocoa, then yes. All beards aren't born equal and need different care, so it's worth mixing up your routine to see what actually works for yours.
How do I use a beard balm?
The same way as a beard butter, see the application steps above. This post is about the butter, but the technique carries straight across.
So why did you actually make a beard butter?
Because it makes your beard feel fantastic, and our customers, our fans, asked us to make it. I spent six months researching and testing, and testing some more, before I was happy enough to put it out there.
Would you like to try it? Dark Night Bedtime Beard Butter launched in a 60ml aluminium screw top tin, available to pre-order for Friday, 19 June 2020.
1 comment
Nice blog post. The beard butter you sent me, assuming it’s the same as the final product, is awesome. I love the scent. Great for bed time. Keep up the good work.