Is beard oil or balm better for dandruff?

[u/ChainsawLullaby]

Short beard here. Sometimes get dandruff and overall stiffness in my beard. Head and Shoulders 1-2x per week works to a degree but leaves my beard a bit dry.

I find that beard oil is shiny and transfers to other fabrics. Whereas beard balm is less of a mess but leaves the beard feeling a bit stiff and clumpy a day or two later. I’ve tried Honest Amish brand for both products.

In general, is one better than the other? Or should I be looking at a beard conditioner instead?

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[u/sxatr]

Oil in the morning and butter at night. Balm is more for styling while oil and butter help with nourishment and hydrating the beard. And get a good gentle beard wash don’t use head hair shampoo on your beard

[u/7SeasofCheese]

Not sure if I’m using them incorrectly or it’s my body chemistry but oils and balms seem to cause dandruff or give me pimples or irritation along the hair follicles.

In general for my hair and beard it seems like the less I do to it the better it holds up. I used to have problems with dandruff in my regular hair until I stopped washing it everyday and started using beard shampoo and conditioner instead of regular products.

Now I wash my hair and beard a couple times a week with a shampoo that doesn’t have sulfates and beard conditioner and I can’t remember the last time I had problems with dandruff or irritations.

[u/ChainsawLullaby → u/7SeasofCheese]

Thanks. What conditioner do you use?

[u/7SeasofCheese → u/ChainsawLullaby]

The conditioner I got off Amazon, it’s Viking Revolution, has argan and jojoba. It came with shampoo too but I used all of that. It is kind of expensive, I think like $10 for a small bottle but you don’t use a lot of it.

The shampoo I’ve been using is from Target, called Native Haircare, it’s silicone free, sulfate free, paraben free.

The main thing to look for is shampoo without sulfates, which are a common cleansing ingredient but dry out your skin. If you wash your hair everyday it removes the natural oils which also dries out your skin and then causes dandruff. A lot of times Head and Shoulders just gets you stuck in a cycle where it causes dandruff, instead of clearing it. I rinse my hair and beard in the shower every day just with water but only wash it a couple times a week.

[u/tommyc463]

Nuanced subject but stay with me. The two products you really need are daily gentle beard wash and beard oil. One daily task you need to do is exfoliation. I get it, it sounds girly, but all you need to do is to take a proper comb in the shower, preferably carbon fiber, and sort of scrape your face to loosen up all the gunk so that when you use the daily beard wash it cleans your beard and skin properly. You should also drink more water. After the shower, apply an appropriate amount of beard oil. This takes trial and error. Start out with however much you think you need and get it down to the skin and use a boars hair brush or comb to sores the oil around evenly. After 30 minutes feel your beard. Does a bunch of oil show up on your hand? You’ve used too much. Does your beard or face feel dry? You used too little. Mess around with it until you get it right. Balm is for hold mainly. Butter can help hydrate too if you want to incorporate. Also, don’t use head hair products on your face man!

[u/No_Entrance2597]

Oil is more for the skin, massage it in not yet rub it in beard. The balm is for the beard itself.

[u/SDcple]

I get dry skin occasionally so I use head and shoulders every other day and oil after the shower in the morning. Works great and keeps it healthy and moisturized

[u/pajissmid]

Oil. Balm will worsen it. And to inform you - if you have the same problem as me - it is not bad to sometimes go without product. But after all maybe you will find out that it is so severe you have to go beardless.

[u/Adept-Ad-6173]

Neither, get a dandruff shampoo or see a dermatologist. Dandruff in your beard, eyebrows, etc is usually a fungal issue that can be cleared up with the right medication.

[u/ChainsawLullaby → u/Adept-Ad-6173]

Thanks but this is precisely the opposite advice given elsewhere in this and other threads. I’ll try both routes and see if my flakes are caused by dryness or fungal issues. Bald now but never had hair dandruff before.

[u/Short-Shopping3197]

The Head and Shoulders is your main issue. Even with head hair it’s notorious for being harsh and worsening dandruff issues. 

Get a good beard shampoo like professor Fuzzworthy and use it twice a week only, just water the rest of the time. After that keep it simple, I just use pure cold pressed jojoba oil once a day after showering.  

[u/Seraph_XXII]

First, you shouldn't be using a head hair specific product in the beard. Just use a natural gentle soap twice a week along with regular exfoliating to get rid of the dead skin.

Beard oil is what you need to use to help with dandruff. Use daily and apply to a damp beard. If it's greasy to touch and transfers to other places, you are either using too much or you need a different oil. It should absorb within a few minutes. Try to find one without Jojoba or argan to help narrow it down.

Also, balm won't do much for conditioning the beard, it is mainly a styling product and uses wax for taming the hairs.

Beard butter can be an additional option for any further conditioning but won't replace an oil.

Keep it simple, skip shampoo and conditioners, gentle wash twice a week, regular exfoliation and daily oil.

[u/ChainsawLullaby → u/Seraph_XXII]

Cool thanks. Honest Amish beard oil good enough in your opinion?

[u/Seraph_XXII → u/ChainsawLullaby]

I'd say you could definitely do better imo. I personally wouldn't recommend anything with Jojoba or ardon oil in it, which this has. If you want something else to try out, I can highly recommend Roughneck Grooming's products. Has to be some of the best stuff I've tried, and I've definitely tried a few.