Feel it — as you start to run through your beard your fingers touch a strand that is wiry at the ends, somewhere around the 2 month mark. You have been oiling since day 1, and for a while worked, but then that same coarse texture reappeared, and it became worse by the end of a windy day.

Here's what most guys don't realize: One oil, used one way, will not solve seven issues all working against softness. The seven things that really make your beard wiry: a heavy oil that never makes it to the surface, timing that never makes it to the real absorption window, an overwashed barrier, an overwashed beard, an overwashed root, sun and wind exposure, and a towel doing more harm than the wind ever did. Softening a wiry beard is not a job of discovering one oil for wiry beard texture—it's about matching every one of these 7 causes to the oil truly developed to address the issue.
The right beard oil for soft beard can make a noticeable difference, but only when it is combined with the right washing, drying, and grooming routine.

Although Argan Oil is the heaviest oil available, it is the softest because it does not penetrate and coat the skin.

Because a thick oil or butter, such as unrefined shea oil, is heavy and deposits itself on the outside of the hair shaft, rather than imbibing it, a beard can feel coated without being oily the moment you comb it. It is a very thin oil that softens the hair from the inside as opposed to coating the outside, allowing for it to penetrate the shaft itself.

Men with a hankering for softness tend to grab the heaviest, oiliest or "intensest" oil on the store shelf, and up comes a beard that looks shiny but is as wiry as a dandelion. That shiny look without any softness is downright oily, not the aim of the added product.

However, heavier oils and butters contain larger molecules which cannot pass the cuticle and remain as a surface film. A film on top of the hair will never change the structure of it, it is a structural property of the hair itself.

Use a pure argan oil and rub between 4–5 drops on the entire length of the beard, using the fingers, and let it absorb for 30 seconds, rather than sitting on top.

Argan's molecular structure is smaller, allowing it to penetrate the cuticle to the cortex, which helps to soften the actual texture of the hair rather than create a shine on top of it. Regardless, the correct oil can't penetrate the cuticle if used at the wrong time.

Jojoba Oil Only Softens a Beard You Apply It to Damp

With a completely dry beard, the oil mostly does not permeate into the cuticles, but rests on them, hence the very different feel the oil has when applied at different times. With the oil dampening the beard, it is pulled into that open cuticle rather than sitting on top.

This typically is a habit – men shower, put on clothes, put oil in their beards (and other places) 10-15 minutes after they have already. When it was the timing and not the type of oil that was causing the issues, the same oil was blamed for not performing the same way.

The raised cuticle of damp hair allows the product to absorb, while the closed cuticle in dry hair reflects the product, except for a small portion that is absorbed.

After the beard is damp, but not dripping, apply 5–6 drops of jojoba oil, working from the root to the tip, 2–3 minutes after coming out of the shower.

Because Jojoba is so similar to natural sebum, it is able to move through an open, moist cuticle, but not through a closed one. It's a matter of timing, which can help with the overall appearance of the beard, but even at the right moment, the ends can be more twisted than the rest.

A Castor Oil Handle for the Wiry Ends Everyday Oiling Skips.

The bottom inch or so of the beard is the oldest beard hair and typically the last hair to get oil as most men only oil from the jaw down. To the ends, which are usually lighter in color, castor oil has a thick consistency that can be applied to add weight and moisture.

Frizzy ends pop off the face in comparison to a smoother beard in the middle and rough or split ends will catch on collars or attire where it will have no effect on the rest of the beard.

Of course, a normal palm-to-jaw application will put more product in the finger area, which is the beginning of your palm. The fact is, the oldest hair, the most weathered — the tips — receive the least treatment, even though they've been treated the most.

Add 2-3 drops of castor oil directly to the last 1/2 inch of beard then work in with fingers after regular routine 10-15 seconds once a week.

The thickest part of the Castor coats the most damaged part of hair exclusively, providing it with a smoothing effect, which makes tips feel smooth. Some roughness is not due to the way the oil is applied, it's due to what's in the water!

Sweet Almond Oil Removes the roughness caused by hard water.

Minerals and other materials from hard water remain on the hair as it does on a glass shower door and they roughen the outer cuticle, no matter how much oil is applied. Sweet almond oil is light enough not to add to the mineral build up after smoothing it.

Men suffering from hard water conditions may find that their beard feels something short of soft, despite good beard care. This is particularly true immediately after a shower when their beard is most receptive to treatment.

Hard water combines with calcium and magnesium and may leave a residue on the hair strand which oil can sit on top of but not through to the ends, which is why there is no match to hard water with a lot of extra product.

This is to be done before, not instead of the oil:

● Weekly rinse the beard, with filtered or bottled water, to remove mineral deposits.

● Immediately apply 3–4 drops of sweet almond oil to the damp beard

The mineral film that the oil can't penetrate is washed away by the rinse and the almond oil that later follows goes right to the hair shaft and smooths it. Water isn't only the enemy of softness, it's the whole shebang that your beard is subjected to in the outdoors.

Hemp Seed Oil helps undo the effects of sun and wind.

Over time, sun and wind exposure will cause the outer layer of the hair shaft to oxidize, which will roughen the cuticle surface, and will not be fully corrected with daily oiling. The high levels of omega fatty acids in hemp seed oil not only prevent the damage from worsening, but they also help repair the outer layer of the skin.

There are men who spend a lot of time outdoors, whether it's to work or play or because they don't get to see their families during the winter, and they notice that their beard is a bit wilder in the summer than in the winter. That pattern is generally misinterpreted as seasonal dryness and not as all the damage that is being done by the environment, and thus the remedy given (more of the same oil) is not solving the problem.

Weeks of exposure to UV causes the proteins that maintain the flatness of the outer scales of the cuticle to deteriorate and weeks of wind friction causes the surface to be mechanicaly roughened.

Apply 4-5 drops of hemp seed oil every morning during a period of intense sun exposure and apply 1-2 drops midday if outside for longer than a few hours.

The fatty acids serve to strengthen the outer layer of the cuticle from additional oxidization as well as to smoothen what has been roughened. I see a lot of effects that have been seen in the outdoors that are happening indoors, and not once a day, but more than once a day, particularly in the shower.

Squalane Oil Rebuilds the Softness Overwashing Strips Away:

If you wash your beard everyday with regular shampoo, you're stripping away the natural oils that keep it flat and the resulting dryness after washing is often as much or more as the weather and hard water. Squalane oil restores that barrier quickly enough to stop the cycle from getting worse.

The ones who fail to get it, also wash their beards as if it was their head — clean is clean — but it's not the same frequency at which one should wash the beard. As time passes, the beard will start to look increasingly coarse even with regular oiling, and the oil will seem to not be working, when in fact it is - it's being washed away every day.

If you wash with regular shampoo everyday, you will wash out natural sebum and in doing so, the hair will become coarser and more exposed.

Reduce washing the beard to 2-3 times per week using a proper beard wash, and on the days you're not washing rinse with water regularly like you do for hard water buildup will suffice without removing the oils.

This relatively infrequent wash keeps the natural oil layer in place between washings and helps to reinforce the barrier with squalane's similarities to sebum, which is not at odds with the above-mentioned hard water rinse once a week, because this rinse is without cleanser and therefore does not strip oil as much as a full wash. Having a beard wash routine is crucial for keeping the manicure in place during most of the day, but just ten seconds after a shower can ruin all the work.

Grapeseed Oil Locks In Softness a Rough Towel Undoes

The fibers of a beard rub against one another during rubbing, causing the cuticle to rub away as the fibers are rubbed up by the towel. Gently dried cuticles will smooth out before they can get rough again if grapeseed oil is applied immediately after the drying process.

The damage occurs when the cuticle of the beard is at its most porous and fragile, immediately after showering, and the harsh actions of drying each day exacerbate this issue before you've even had a chance to grab a beard oil.

Daily rubbing raises the outer scales of the cuticle, and hair that has been wet is already open, so constant rubbing can only worsen the roughness as oiling will only partially improve it.

Avoid changing the way you dry, but rather the product you use once you have dried:

● Use a microfibre towel to pat the beard dry (don't rub), 10-15 seconds is sufficient.

● Immediately after, apply 3-4 drops of grapeseed oil – as the beard is still somewhat damp.

Rubbing will lift the cuticle and patting prevents it from getting lifted in the first place, and grapeseed's light and quick absorbing texture closes it back down before it can get rough.

Connecting The All Seven Fixes.

This is not about the permanently hard texture of your beard, it's about 7 minor points where a normal routine was actually doing everything to make your beard harder. The incorrect oil weight, the incorrect timing, the untreated ends, hard water, sun and wind, an overwashed barrier and even a rough towel were each contributing a little bit of rough to the overall texture; something that none of them could fix on their own.

In a realistic routine, all seven are folded together rather than one at a time. Use a lighter, fast absorbing oil within 2 minutes of showering, use castor oil on the ends once a week, wash with a mild wash 2-3 times weekly rather than daily, use hemp seed oil when oiling out on the field, and pat the beard dry, not rub, and then finish with a light oil such as grapeseed.

Try the new thing in real-time before criticizing it. After six to eight weeks, any damage to the cuticles of the beard, from the moisture, sun and friction, will be replaced by healthier beard strands, and most men notice a loss of springiness in the ‘mid-beard' area within the first 10 days of this, softer ends by week three after a few passes with the castor oil treatment, and a change in how the beard reacts — laying flatter, not getting caught in the clothes — by week three.

This will not make naturally coarse curly hair completely different — this depends on the shape of your hair follicles and not the oil. What it will do is strip away the roughness that you've accumulated over time, not through your genes, but due to your habits. After 2 months try your fingers through your beard once again. The wiry springs at the ends that have been noticed on windy days should be eliminated at last.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there any truth in the claim that beard oil softens wiry hair or does it simply make it look shiny?

If the beard is thin enough, and the oil is applied while it's wet, then the right beard oil can soften the beard's surface and actually soften the beard shaft. If you have heavy oil, it will just lay on top and add sheen to the finished product without altering the feel of the hair underneath.

How many times to oil a wiry beard to soften it?

Most beards can be treated once a day, applied in about a minute after your shower. The second light application is only applied at the ends a few times a week, allowing it to treat the oldest, dryest hair without causing overloading of the remaining beard.

Does hard water really cause your locks to become coarser?

Yes, deposits of minerals from hard water on the hair shaft cause it to get rough and oil applied on top of that will not fully smooth the hair underneath. This is typically cured in a few weeks by a weekly rinse with filtered water followed by oiling.

Can one wash a wiry beard everyday?

Yes, routine washing with regular shampoo will remove natural oils that help keep the cuticle flat, which can make wiriness a long-term problem. Someone typically can wash their beard 2-3 times per week and use a mild wash that is designed for beards, which should help to keep the beard clean while not removing that protective layer.

So what is the best beard oil for a coarse wiry beard?

The first oil to try is usually argan oil, as it is thin enough to penetrate the shaft, and not just lie on the surface, which is what really affects the feel of the hair. As it is a natural sebum oil, jojoba is effective as a daily follow up and absorbs quickly into wet hair.

How many days will it take before a wiry beard becomes soft?

In most men, the reduction in springiness is apparent after about 10 days of proper use of oil to wet hair. A beard that is fully softened and a general transformation of how the beard feels, usually takes 6-8 weeks as it is the time it takes to grow out some of the damage that exists in the cuticle.

Does washing your beard with a towel make it frizzy?

Yes, using a regular towel and rubbing a beard will cause friction, which will raise the outer cuticle of the hair, thus adding to the already rough texture of the hair. Rather, use a microfiber towel to pat it dry and put oil on it while it is still slightly damp to prevent any additional harm.