During my earlier years as a freshman at beard grooming, I had no idea about a lot of things concerning growing and grooming a beard. I’m sure that at that point, I hardly knew what I was doing, so I tried out a lot of stuff, and that includes cocoa butter. The million dollar question here is, “Can you use cocoa butter on your beard?”
Absolutely, you can use cocoa butter on your beard, and it will work its wonders on your facial skin and beard just as it would on your body. If you are growing a beard, cocoa butter is great for keeping the beard healthy and soft.
I have done quite a lot of research on this topic, and what I have found is really interesting. Read on to find out how you can use body butter or lotion on your beard as an alternative, and the benefits as well as the potential risks involved.
What Is Cocoa Butter?
Hearing the name “cocoa butter” brings back many childhood memories of my favorite snacks, and even now, it brings to minds edible such as chocolate ice-cream, chocolate cake, and chocolate bars. Yet this same superb ingredient is now playing a key role in beauty care products. Different from the cocoa found in your favorite snack, this one used for skincare will nourish your skin and won’t make you gain any additional weight.
Cocoa butter is obtained from the cocoa bean. It’s a yellowish looking vegetable fat that can solidify at room temperature. Cocoa butter is very rich in Vitamin-E, contains antioxidants, and smells really good. The cocoa butter extracted from the cocoa beans comes from a bigger cocoa tree.
Should You Apply Cocoa Butter To The Beard?
Depending on your skin type, cocoa butter could be one of the best things that you can do for your skin.
Cocoa butter has garnered quite a reputation for being an incredible skin and hair product. Hence, when we are shopping for grooming products, we tend to be on the lookout for products that contain cocoa butter. After all, many beauty products contain cocoa butter. It sounds so fantastic, but it is not that simple. Just like everything in life, there is a downside to using cocoa butter for your beard.
Nature is kind enough to have given us cocoa butter for use, but is it the best option for caring for your beard? Sadly, it is not, and here are the reasons. Using pure cocoa butter without it being mixed with other chemicals such as dyes, oils, fragrances, and other compounds could greatly benefit your skin.
However, the downside is that it can clog your skin pores, especially if you have oily skin. So, if you are prone to acne or have oily skin, then pure cocoa butter or products containing a high amount of cocoa butter might not be a good fit for you or for grooming your beard.
Does that mean you shouldn’t use cocoa butter at all? No, all you need to do is get a product that has a lower concentrate of cocoa butter with a low comedogenic rating. If you have oily skin, it’s best you just stay away from cocoa butter.
Benefits Of Cocoa Butter
We tend to forget that as much as the beard needs care and grooming, the skin underneath requires maintenance to support healthy beard growth. Cocoa butter is one of nature’s creams that can help your facial skin create the right condition to promote soft and healthy beard growth.
Cocoa butter has so many benefits to both the skin and the beard. Let’s take a look at some of those benefits.
- Cocoa butter will give your beard a better and deeper moisturizing and conditioning, even more than beard oil.
- Cocoa butter is rich in vitamin E, rich in antioxidants, and helps grow a healthy beard.
- It is incredibly good at locking moisture within the body, giving it the ability to keep the skin hydrated and nourished.
- It contains nutrients with healing properties that can help in smoothing scars.
- For a long beard that requires a lot of moisture and conditioning, cocoa butter is especially suitable.
- Cocoa butter contains natural plant compounds known as phytochemicals. These compounds can improve blood flow to the skin and slow down aging skin by protecting it against harmful UV rays that could damage the skin.
- Besides all the numerous benefits of cocoa butter, it smells good when applying it to your body or beard.
Cocoa butter can greatly improve your skin and beard appearance, and when used properly, it can be a sweet beauty treat.
Can You Use Body Butter On Your Beard?
Short answer, Yes! You can apply body butter lotion on your beard. I’ve even done it several times myself.
What Is Body Butter?
Body butter is produced by combining essential butters and carrier oils and it doesn’t contain any extra water. Butters are the essential minerals and fats extracted from natural sources such as cocoa, shea, palm, mango, etc. On the other hand, carrier oils are ingredients used to control and deliver butter (essential ingredient) into the skin. Depending on the source of butter, they will vary in their absorbency, texture, and rigidity.
Butter and carrier oil are key ingredients for manufacturing body butter. They are combined with other ingredients unique to every brand (the secret formula) to create and manufacture body butter products.
Body butter is formulated with several other ingredients that benefit the beard and can be a solid substitute for beard oil and balm (depending on the ingredients). They are known to retain the moisture that is within your skin. Not only can they help in preventing dryness and other forms of flakes, but they can offset wrinkles too. Even though body butter is designed for moisturizing the skin, they are also able to care for your facial skin and beard.
Body butter is rich and contains high fat, which makes them much denser than many other moisturizers. When you include their fatty acid and vitamins to help repair damaged skin and control hair breakage, you will agree that your beard is in for a good treat when you apply body butter.
How To Use Cocoa Butter for Beard
1. Melting
We already know that cocoa butter, when left, could solidify at room temperature. Therefore, you might find it a little bit tricky to use whenever you want to, which is one of the downsides to applying pure cocoa butter. There are a few ways to go about it successfully.
One of them is using your fingertips to rub the butter and allow the friction to help you melt it, then you can apply it to your beard. However, this method will take a little more of your time, which may be inconvenient if you are in a hurry.
Another way of softening it is by using a hot water bath, the bain-marie method. You wouldn’t want to put it in a pan and fry it though! That won’t be good at all. After melting it, in a gentle way, to your desired texture, you can then apply it to your beard.
There are numerous ways you can apply cocoa butter and use it for your beard.
2. Using It As In The Shower Conditioner
With its versatility, cocoa butter can serve as a superb conditioner. You can either apply it directly to your beard as a conditioner or mix it with your existing conditioner before using it. If you want to know the difference between beard oil and beard conditioner, check out the following blog post.
3. Pre-Wash
Using cocoa butter as a pre-wash treatment is another way to utilize it. You will need to first melt your cocoa butter, apply and spread it by massaging it properly into your beard. Leave it for about 10 to 15 minutes before washing it.
Note that you shouldn’t allow it to sit for more than 20 minutes or it might solidify and become difficult to wash off. Since cocoa butter usually solidifies under room temperature, leaving it on for too long will make it adhere to your beard. You can set a timer to help you keep track of time while applying this treatment.
If you are planning on adding cocoa butter to your grooming routine, there are several products that contain cocoa butter as one of their ingredients, and you can find them in stores. However, these products only contain a slight amount of cocoa butter and other ingredients, fragrances, and additives.
If you are concerned about purity, you should buy cocoa butter in its stick form or perhaps get the pure unrefined cocoa butter. You can melt it yourself using hot water.
Some of the people I have interacted with over the years go as far as combining oils like Vitamin- E with their cocoa butter to formulate their own homemade beard cream and other cocoa butter beard and skin products.
Conclusion
You can apply cocoa butter or body butter to your beard, especially if you have always had dry skin and beard. Is there any possible downside to using cocoa butter? Yes, there are possible risks, especially when you have oily skin that is susceptible to acne.
If you are a lover of butter products, you have many options to explore, as there are numerous beard creams made of your favorite essential butter in stores.