Have you looked in your bathroom cabinet recently? How many potions and unguents are there lurking and how many of them do you really use?
When I was younger I had a tin of shaving foam, a deodorant stick and a bottle of very pungent aftershave and that was it, what more could a man possibly need?
Today I can open the cabinet and find pre shave oils, two forms of daily moisturiser, two different types of shaving foams, three different technologies for cleaning the gaps between my teeth and a huge range of other lotions and potions. If I add anything else I shall find it hard to close the cabinet door.
So it was with some trepidation that I started out on a trial for yet another bottle to put in my bathroom cabinet which until recently I had no idea I really needed.
Some of you may have experienced that feeling the bearded Gentleman gets when he looks down at his dark jacket after an particularly thoughtful meeting which has demanded a huge amount of beard stroking and realises that there is a snow of beardy ‘scruff’ carpeting his lapels. During some recent beard research I read that a man often touches his beard 200 times during every day.
The solution, it appears is ‘Beard Oil’ and through Twitter I discovered a new British start up company; Beard-Base and bought a sample of their very first commercial batch of beard oil.
They have started out with three oils. After my discussions last year with Deborah Gayle on scents in which she preached that we men must avoid multiple scents and the disastrous clash of pongs I selected the unscented version.
When the bottle arrived it was beautifully packaged, right down to the moustachioed tape sealing the envelope.
The oil us very simple to apply, I put a little on the end of my finger and gently rub it in and I repeat that three or four times. The oil is beautifully light and after two weeks I am starting to notice a difference.
Beard hair, like all hair is after all dead and very porous so a moisturising and conditioning agent is particularly important and older hair is apparently even more prone to being dry and brittle than young beard hair.
The biggest change is to the condition of my skin under my beard. The oil is helping the condition of my “underbeard” follicles and skin. I can now thoughtfully stroke my beard during meetings without fear of a major beard dandruff incident.
So beard oil, it doesn’t take up a huge amount of space in the cupboard, I can stroke my beard in meetings in great confidence and my chin mane now looks sleek and in perfect condition. I think of it as the male equivalent of Bob Martins.
The oil comes in three variants:
– Unscented
– Lumberjack (fresh woodland fragrance)
– Arctic Explorer (refreshing tea tree and peppermint)
Beardbase oils are available on line from Beard-base at http://beardbase.co.uk/product/the-beard-base
