Let’s face the facts: wearing your beard completely au naturel sometimes just isn’t going to cut it. Control and moisture are the secret keys to taking your beard to the next level and really getting the results that will make a statement. Beard balm and beard butter are some of the best products to help you do that, but they’re very similar, so how do you know which one is better for you to use? To help guide your choice of product, here’s a breakdown of the differences between beard butter and beard balm.

Beard Butter

Beard butter is a beard care product that’s solid at room temperature and is frequently sold in a tub. Its main purpose is to hydrate your facial hair and the skin of your face with ingredients like jojoba oil and shea butter, as well as a blend of essential oils for fragrance.

Beard butter provides a light amount of hold to support any shaping you do on your beard, and it can also help to make your beard look thicker, fuller, and shinier by coating the individual strands when you apply it. Its rich, moisturizing ingredients will help to condition, hydrate, and soften both the hair and the skin, so this product is a great option if you’re prone to itching, dryness, or dandruff.

Beard butter is going to be the better choice for you anytime you feel that your facial hair really needs some TLC. It will really pack the moisture in and take care of your beard, so if you’re feeling dry or itchy, or you’ve been doing an activity like swimming that you feel might be putting your beard through the wringer, turning to a beard butter to add some hydration back in is a great choice.

Beard Balm

Beard balm is similar to beard butter in a lot of ways. It’s also solid at room temperature and will usually be found in a tub, and it does provide some amount of moisturizing with ingredients like shea butter, natural oils, and essential oils. It can also help to make your beard look full and thick, just like a butter does. The major difference between the two is that beard balm contains beeswax, whereas most beard butters have very little beeswax or none at all. 

A beard balm will have a different texture from a beard butter. Once you melt the beard balm down in your hands and apply it, the beeswax in the product will coat the hairs and provide a much stronger hold than a beard butter, helping you to tame flyaways and create a more sculpted shape with better hold. 

Beard balm is the right product to reach for when you really need to show your beard who’s boss. The beeswax gives you a lot more hold and control over the shape and will keep any unruliness smoothed down. 

Can I Use Both?

Having both of these products in your arsenal is a great idea! You can use them on different days as you see fit, or you can even use beard butter at night as a treatment and beard balm in the morning when you’re getting ready to head out for the day. Using both products will help to keep your beard well-styled in addition to keeping it healthy.