The Right Beard Oil for Winter Dry Weather

The Truth About the Secret Winter Enemy to Your Beard

Your beard was good in October. By December, it crackles under your fingers like it has never been colder; even the same oil bottle that worked all Fall is still on your sink, half full, used every morning.

Most guys don't realize that winter can make their beard drier till it's too late. It brings four or five different environmental or habit changes one after the other – all at once – and each by itself is manageable. A covered-up beard is supposed to require less grooming than one that's visible, hot water indoors, hot water in the shower, windy weather outside, and just plain old common sense that a covered-up beard doesn't need to be tended to constantly are all against you all at once, and no oil could out-groom them all. That's exactly why picking the right beard oil for winter dry weather matters more than just adding a few extra drops.

No, it doesn't mean your routine is ruined! It's not about adapting to winter by doing the same things that were successful for summer, but about making some actual changes.

For those of you who have a beard, you probably know that it is the only thing left to keep it warm in the winter.People with beards know that the only way to keep their beards warm in the winter is with the cold.

Indoor Heating and Cold Weather

If your beard is drier indoors than outdoors, then chances are your heating inside, as well as the weather, is to blame.

This is important because forced-air heating can cause indoor relative humidity to fall to the teens or low two-tens level, which is even drier than many desert climates and skin continually loses moisture to that dry air throughout the day, without you knowing. A twenty minute walk in the cold will cause less cumulative damage than spending eight or more hours in that environment.

Use a humidifier in your bedroom with a setting of 40 – 50% relative humidity for at least 6 to 8 hours while you sleep, and if you don't have a humidifier at work, increase your oil by 1 – 2 drops to make up for the loss of humidity during the day. This is one of the simplest adjustments in any beard oil for winter dry weather routine — small, but it targets exactly where the moisture is disappearing.

This is because increasing the ambient humidity will minimize the amount of moisture that your skin is losing to the air in the first place, not replace it once it's lost.

Hot Showers Undo Your Morning Oil

The longer the showers, the hotter they will be, and they undo the oil that was applied in the morning!

If your showers have been lengthening and hotter since the weather turned, you've probably been removing the oil barrier from your skin each and every day, and not associating it with dryness.

It's important to know because hot water strips your skin of the natural oils that keep it supple, whereas warm water does not do the same—plus, the hotter the water in winter, the longer and hotter the shower. You may undo much of the work of your morning oil application with a 10 minute shower at a really hot temperature.

Try to follow this guideline: shower for no longer than 8 minutes, set the shower to lukewarm (comfortable, below 100°F), and use beard oil within 3 minutes of getting out of the shower.

This is possible because the shower is short and cool so there isn't as much lipid barrier being stripped away in the first place so the oil process is keeping moisture in the skin rather than trying to replace the moisture that a hot shower has eliminated in the first half.

Wind Chill Removes Moisture from Your Beard Before You Realize It!

If your beard feels stiff or brittle just after going outside, then the wind is at work in addition to the cold temperature.

This is important because as with any process involving moisture and evaporation, wind increases the rate of moisture loss from the skin and hair, and wind chill does more than just enhance the effect of actual chills. If a day is calm at 30°F with a wind chill of 19°F, it is a vastly different day for your beard than if the same temperature is registering on a thermometer, but the 30°F day is windy, with a wind chill of 37°F.

Use an additional 2–3 drops of oil or light balm before going outside on any day when the wind chill is below 32°F, and cover the lower half of your face with a breathable scarf when you are outside for more than 30 minutes.

The trick is that the added product provides a bit more protection from the evaporation, which is what you need to protect your beard from, but a thermometer is not going to tell you.

Wool Scarves Are Simply Roughening Up All the Hair They Come in Contact With

If your facial hair is static and frizzy by the end of a cold winter, then it could be the scarf and not the cold.

The reason is that raw wool fibres are relatively coarse and are rubbed up against the face by a scarf throughout the day, which will eventually lift the outer cuticle to the same extent as performing any kind of vigorous towel-dry, and the rubbing of scarf and face will create static electricity that will cause flyaways during dry winter weather. When guys make this mistake, they typically feel it's the cold weather which is causing their fabric to lose its texture, when in reality it has been caused by hours of fabric contact.

If possible, use a cotton or silk-lined scarf, or, if you are using a buff, smooth out any flyaways with a slight amount of moisture in your hands instead of dry handling.

This works because the less the direct friction of fibers on hair, the less the cuticles are being rubbed down throughout the season.

Skipping Oil, Because You're "Covered Up" Is Costing You the Most

When you're wearing a scarf or spending most of your time inside, you may be thinking that an oil-free beard is easier to maintain, but that's not the case either.

This is important to fix, as covering it up doesn't stop the moisture loss that occurs underneath — a scarf will keep in some heat, but it won't stop transepidermal water loss, and indoor heating systems will keep moisture out even if you're never outside on any given day. In most of the cases I've seen, the guys who say “it's covered anyway” when it's cold in winter are the ones who are most surprised by how dry it can get by January. Skipping product is the single most common mistake in any beard oil for winter dry weather routine.

Continue to spray regularly for as long as 4–6 days a day, regardless of coverage or out-of-door exposure—as usual, adjust for beard length—but make it winter, not a time for less spraying.

Because it's all about consistency, not intensity, and that's even more important in a climate that's constantly extracting moisture from the skin and hair of the body.

Integrating the Pieces

These five things don't happen by themselves — no one breathes dry air, takes hot showers, doesn't get a little chilly outside, doesn't wash clothes as often or doesn't take as many baths — they all combine over the course of a winter and it can feel like a sudden attack. You won't need to tweak to the heat of the house to fix the shower habit or adjust anything to accommodate a humidifier to fix the habit and still have enough against the beard to keep it feeling rough.

A realistic beard oil for winter dry weather routine looks like this: use a humidifier at night, add a little more oil in the day to compensate for dry air, use cooler, shorter showers, more oil before going outside in the wind, and using a milder oil on your skin when it gets rough, and applying it every day, even when you are covered.

Wait until the actual time to judge the results. Most men will find that their beard isn't as brittle in the first week or two with the shower and humidity changes, it will feel much different in week two or three, and it will last through the coldest week or two in the season around week five or six.

However, this won't eliminate the fact that some regions of the world are really colder and drier than others and no regimen can make winter seem like summer. However, it eliminated the vast majority of the season-related differences. In a couple of weeks, run your hand over your beard again and there's a very good chance that it won't crackle as much as it did in December. Stick with a proper beard oil for winter dry weather routine and the season stops being the enemy it used to be.

FAQs

Is beard oil for winter dry weather actually different from what you'd use the rest of the year?

Not always a different oil, but a different amount and timing. A good beard oil for winter dry weather routine usually means 1–2 extra drops a day, applying right after a shorter, cooler shower, and pairing it with a humidifier so the oil isn't fighting dry indoor air on its own.

Does beard oil work for dryness in the winter time?

Yes, but it is most effective when combined with some lifestyle changes. The oil is filling in for the moisture and lipids that are removed by indoor heating, hot showers and wind, but if the same lifestyles continue, the oil is always running to catch-up with the moisture and lipid loss. When combined with cooler showers and increased humidity inside, it can make a considerable difference.

In the winter months, how many times should you apply a beard oil?

As with the daily dose, the starting point is still one to two drops a day, but most guys seem to need 1–2 more drops than they would in the summer. When the weather is cold and windy, the skin loses more moisture than in other seasons, which is why skin requires a bit more product to maintain a comfortable level. The oil absorbs better when applied immediately following showering with the skin slightly moist.

Does the use of indoor heat make beard dandruff more prevalent during the winter?

There is a certain amount of truth to that as the hot air from forced-air heating dries the skin under your beard, making it more noticeable during the winter months. This is not related to the actual fungal causes of beardruff, but dry heated air will exacerbate underlying dryness, whatever the cause is. Running a humidifier and increasing the amount of oil, slightly, both help off-set it.

Should you shave your beard in winter and take hot showers?

Long, hot showers are more likely to take the moisture barrier away from the skin than warm showers, and this doesn't help your bearded routine add moisture. This is more apparent in the winter because showers are hotter and longer during the winter months. Showers lasting less than 8 minutes and less hot than lukewarm will keep you from further harming the barrier you are attempting to repair with the oil.

Do scarves ruin your beard?

It can be caused (primarily by friction and static) without harming the fabric itself. Over the season, rough material such as raw wool can cause the outer cuticle of the hair to raise, visible as a rough texture and flyaway hair. That friction can be minimized by a cotton or a silk-lined scarf or a thin buff lining under wool.

Is it better to use a stronger beard oil in the winter?

When it's the coldest, many guys find that a slightly richer oil can help them, but it's more important what oil they use than how much. Using a heavier carrier oil mixture with 1-2 more drops per day typically makes up for the increased moisture loss from a heating and windy day than just pouring in more of the same lighter summer oil.

How long does it take for beard oil to work for dryness in the winter?

After the oil itself and the shower habits/humidification issues are resolved, most guys will see a reduction in brittleness within a week. A better texture usually becomes apparent in about two or three weeks, and is fully established during the coldest part of the season (usually about the 5th or 6th week). If results are not achieved after that, chances are that it's due to some other habit, such as water temperature while showering, or the type of scarf used.

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