8 Best Beard Conditioners Reviews - for a Smooth, Soft & Silky Beard

A beard conditioner is a blend of natural oils that is clubbed with vitamins and moisturizers to make your scruffy beard soft and tamed. It is similar to the conditioner that you’d use for your hair. Only, a beard conditioner does not use sulfates or other harsh chemicals that can inhibit the natural sebum production of the skin.

There are two different types of beard conditioners in the market:

These are to be used in shower possibly with a good beard shampoo or a soap and will detangle and make the beard more manageable. Some are a combination of a shampoo and a conditioner.

A leave-in conditioner on the other hand can be applied in place of beard oil before you leave for the day. Leave-in conditioners are very versatile products that can double up as oil or as a balm. Along with moisturizing and making the beard softer, it can also add the shine that makes beard oil such a sought after product.

Now that you know what a beard conditioner is, the next obvious question that people would ask is how different is a beard conditioner from beard oil and what do you need in your beard care routine.

An awesome beard needs all the care and nourishment that it can get and you should be looking at adding both, a beard conditioner as well as beard oil to your grooming routine.

If you are looking to pick just one of them, then it would make more sense to pick a leave-in beard conditioner because it usually has the same ingredients as beard oil and serves the same purpose.

To explain this better, let us pick one bestselling beard oil and conditioner and analyze their ingredients. We won’t mention the brand name for now.

This best selling leave-in beard conditioner has a blend of carrier oils as the base. It boasts of:

Not all beard oils have a variety of oils. (but some nonetheless have such a variety, a quick note on this: more oils doesn't necessarily mean better product).

Further, it has a blend of fruit and nut butters in Cocoa, Aloe, Shea Butter and Kokum butter making it extremely rich and spreadable. Non greasy, mind you, but very spreadable.

Last but not least; it has gentle aromatic essential oils for all-day fragrance in your beard.

Now let’s take a closer look at bestselling beard oil.

This bestselling beard oil on the other hand has a blend of oils the number is not constant of course, but it's a blend of carrier and essential oils.

I'm not taking anything away from the beard oil here. This is just an attempt to compare the two products. The oil is very effective at what it is meant to do. It will nourish the beard hair, keep it soft and prevent beard itch.

The beard leave-in conditioner on the other hand is clearly designed to make it easy for you to apply on the beard and the natural butter blend ensures that every single beard strand is coated and hydrated. Since it also has a blend of carrier oils and essential oils, it will serve all the purposes for which one typically uses beard oil.

There you have it. It is now up to you to pick what works best for you. If you want to use both the products separately, then you can pick an in-shower beard conditioner and use your favorite beard oil. Either way, the importance of a good conditioner in a beard care routine cannot be undermined.

While there are tons of articles and posts that discuss the advantages of using beard oil regularly, very little is written about the advantages of using beard conditioners. If you have ever wondered why you need beard conditioners in the first place, then here are a few reasons why.

If your beard looks like it can be used to scrub utensils, then you absolutely need a beard conditioner.

It will soften your beard and make it more manageable for you and for those around you. You will have a soft, flowing beard and a happy patner.

Even if you are still in the growing stage, using a conditioner will ensure that you do not have to go through the brillo pad stage. Your facial hair will become soft as it grows.

The dreaded beard itch is one of the common reasons for many beards to be sacrificed at the altar. 

Don’t let yours die a premature death.

Get a conditioner and treat the itch before it begins to make the beard seem like an unbearable malignant growth on your face. besides the itch, beardruff is another problem. And let me tell you that there is nothing more uncouth than white flakes of dead skin falling off your beard. A beard conditioner is your way out of that mess.

If you find your fingers getting stuck in your beard as you try to run them through, then you have a problem on your face.

Tangles will lead to breakage and split ends and very soon, you will go right back to Brillo pad from well groomed. A beard conditioner will detangle that web and let that beard comb glide through the beard like it’s meant to.

A dehydrated beard is caveman’s turf. Unless you want to look like a Neanderthal, you should seriously consider hydrating your beard and what better way to do it than use a beard conditioner.

Regular conditioning will keep your beard healthy and thick. The nutrients in the beard conditioner will help you tremendously in growing the beard that you desire.

Like every single facial care product that we use, we follow very simple rules while deciding whether to buy a beard care product or not. The most important of them all is that we take a good look at the ingredient list.

The only place for chemicals and synthetic ingredients is in the lab. I've seen products advertised as all natural with silicones mentioned in a corner on the product label in print so tiny that most people would miss it.

I take the ingredient list first and put it under the scanner. Even if a manufacturer only mentions all-natural oils on the product label, I send them an email and ask them to divulge the ingredients. Any brand that does not reveal their ingredients probably has something to hide. That’s automatically a big red flag.

The most important function of any beard conditioner is to hydrate the beard. So, the first pick is a beard conditioner that is most likely to hydrate your beard for a longer time frame.

A blend of hydrating ingredients is always welcome. My favorites are jojoba oil, Argan oil and Sweet almond oil.

The texture of a beard conditioner is a very important but overlooked factor that can make or break your purchase.

The last thing you want is a beard conditioner that is too thick and waxy making it difficult to apply. At the same time, you do not want anything that is overly greasy and disappears into your beard to make it heavy and shiny.

Usually, Shea Butter alone suffices to give the conditioner a spreadable texture. But some products use a blend of butters too. I don't like products that are not easy to apply. As simple as that!

If you've used beard care oils, waxes or conditioners, I'm sure you're well aware of the fact that not all essential oils smell the same.

Some have an overwhelming aroma that can linger on your beard all day. If you do not like the scent or find it too overpowering, then chances are that its money down the drain. This is why I'm very picky about the essential oils in any beard care product, especially beard oil and conditioner.

If you are picking an in-shower beard conditioner that is with or without a shampoo, then you’d want to pick one that lathers easily and cleans your beard effectively.

Not all beard shampoos and conditioners are suited for all skin types.

If you have sensitive skin or acne, then some of the ingredients in beard conditioners can cause allergic breakouts. This usually happens in products that have multiple essential oils.

You can always use an unscented beard conditioner that does not have essential oils.

If you’d like to skip the effort and handpick from the 9 best beard conditioners in the market, then here’s the list for you.

As always, I have made the task easier and rated the best ones on the basis of their ingredients, quality and beards that it is ideal for. There's no specific order, they all good, it depends on your needs and preference.