The Best Beard Conditioner for Soft, No-Itch Facial Hair

Beard conditioners promise to tame flyaways and frizz, restore moisture, and shape your beard—and the best beard conditioner really will do all of the above. Yet pick up the average bottle, and it will say something like this: After using our Bold Beard Wash™, apply our Extra-Bold Beard Conditioner™ and let sit for 2-3 minutes. Wash out and follow up with our Bolder Beard Balm™ and a few drops of our Boldest Beard Oil™ for maximum hydration. So, do you really need to buy a dedicated beard shampoo, beard conditioner, balm, and oil? Hell no. In fact, no one has been able to convince me that guys need a dedicated beard wash, period. (Chances are, you’re using too much shampoo already, my guy.) However, we're all-in on beard conditioners.

Conditioner, balm, butter, cream—no matter what you call it, these are the best conditioners for facial hair:

• The Best Beard Conditioner Overall: Anthony Conditioning Beard Wash, $26
• The Best Multi-Purpose Beard Conditioner: Beardbrand Utility Beard Softener, $36
• The Best Leave-In Beard Conditioner: Scotch Porter Restorative Leave-In Conditioner, $12
• The Best Beard Conditioner for African-American Hair: The Shop Beard Cream, $10
• The Best Beard Balm: Honest Amish Beard Balm, $11
• The Beard Balm Upgrade: Blind Barber Bryce Harper Beard Balm, $17
• The Best Conditioning Shave Oil: Anthony Conditioning Pre-Shave + Conditioning Beard Oil, $30
• The Best Conditioning Beard Oil: Baxter of California Beard Oil, $29

As a natural skeptic, I’m the right person to review men’s grooming products. I simply don’t believe guys need that many products for clear skin and stylish facial hair. That said, it’s important to incorporate a beard conditioning agent into your regimen, especially if you want to avoid dry and coarse hair, beard itch, beard dandruff, and stubborn, un-stylable scruff. Along with a beard brush, a good conditioner is one of the few must-have beard care tools. You could use a leave-in or rinse-out conditioner, beard oil, or beard balm—it’s all a matter of personal preference. But no matter what the instructions on the label say, you don’t need to use all three. That’s too much product for your facial hair.

After years of testing various rinse-out beard conditioners, I’m convinced Anthony’s Conditioning Beard Wash is the best option—no matter your hair type. Most rinse-out conditioners come paired with a beard wash, but as I’ve already explained, I just don’t think you need a dedicated shampoo for your facial hair. And when your facial hair does need a good wash, this product can handle the job on its own. Not only was it one of the first beard conditioners on the market, but it’s also yet to be topped. The Conditioning Beard Wash cleans your facial hair and skin, and it lathers up nicely and washes out easily. For your beard, coconut, olive, and sunflower seed oil lube up the hair. Underneath, black currant, rosemary, and citrus oils cleanse the skin and wash away debris and excess sebum.

If you’re looking for alternatives, Zeus and Scotch Porter both make solid conditioning washes. You can also use the multipurpose Utility Beard Softener from Beardbrand (featured below) as a hair/beard conditioner, whether you prefer to leave it in or wash it out. But for the best beard conditioner overall, this is it.

Now, lots of guys prefer traditional beard oil to beard conditioner, and I don't blame them. Beard oils condition your facial hair by pumping the strands full of moisture, and a few drops go a long way. They soften hair on contact and keep them more relaxed over time. This prevents split ends, breakage, and beard itch—and they even nourish the skin itself, which is easy to ignore once you’ve got hair covering everything up. (And in turn, this prevents beard dandruff.) Try these conditioning beard oils, which can be applied with a beard brush or directly from your fingertips and palms.

I love both of these beard oils because they absorb quickly and have undeniable hydrating powers. In fact, I’ve yet to find a beard oil that absorbs more quickly than Baxter’s, which moisturizes coarse hair with squalane and avocado oil. This sweet-smelling oil also uses botanicals and vitamin E to strengthen your hair and skin. You also can’t go wrong with Jack Black’s unique beard oil formula, which combines vitamin E with Kalahari melon oil, plum oil, and algae extract for a soothing and hydrating blend.

Scotch Porter makes a full suite of beard care products, but their leave-in conditioner is a standout. Personally, I’ve come to prefer leave-in beard conditioner to the rinse-out variety. If you like to do your beard care out of the shower, leave-in creams are a lot less messy, for one. Apply them after a shower or in the morning while you’re getting ready, ideally when your facial hair is still a little damp. Right away, they should get flyaways under control and provide a subtle shine. After a few weeks, your hair should be noticeably softer.

Scotch Porter’s conditioner has a pleasing spice, musk, and vanilla fragrance that’s not too strong. The formula contains moisturizers such as Abyssinian oil, castor oil, shea butter, and coconut oil. It also uses white willow bark to fight dandruff and biotin to support hair growth. This leave-in cream softens your whiskers and is ideal for all hair types, including textured hair.

The Shop is a new men’s grooming brand born out of the Emmy Award-winning talk show of the same name. Like the show, The Shop grooming line is backed by LeBron James. The Shop’s Beard Cream is an affordable and lightweight leave-in conditioner that’s well-suited for textured hair (and any hair type, really). It has a classic, fresh-out-of-the-barber-shop fragrance I enjoyed, and it provided a nice shine to my hair. It uses shea butter, aloe vera juice, and vitamin E, and I appreciate that it has a short list of ingredients. Jack Black’s leave-in hair cream is unscented and sulfate-free, and it strengthens the texture of your hair over time. In the meantime, it can help soften hair and get frizz under control, using a combination of squalane and jojoba oil for maximum hydration.

Beard balms are lightweight but, compared to beard oils, offer significantly greater control over your beard’s shape and style. This makes them optimal for longer beards, though guys with full scruff may also want to use beard oils to help nourish the skin beneath all that bush. The best balms are chock full of beard-softening oils, butters, and possibly even waxes, depending on the recipe. You can use them in the morning to get better control over your beard. To keep it simple: If you want styling assistance, then beard balms are preferable to oils and wash-out conditioners.

Honest Amish keeps its formula simple in the best possible way. Halfway between a balm and a wax, it uses a blend of argan, avocado, almond, pumpkin seed, and apricot kernel oils. And to make your beard hair extra buttery soft, it also uses shea and aloe butter. This balm has a woodsy fragrance similar to the brand’s famous beard oil. It provides instant shine to your beard (more than any other product in this guide) and lets you shape your hair to your liking. Plus, it provides a reliable defense against dandruff and itch.

Honest Amish is an old favorite, but if you’re looking for an upgrade, try the Byrce Harper balm from boutique brand Blind Barber. Formulated with help from bearded baseballer Bryce Harper, it’s suitable for all hair and skin types. If you have sensitive skin that gets irritated by the essential oils in many beard oils, this is a luxe alternative that also conditions and shapes your facial hair. The excellent Scotch Porter beard balm is another winner, adding instant shine, shape, and softness to your hair. Guys with thinning hair will also appreciate the use of biotin to support hair growth. Finally, for a completely fragrance-free option, try Every Man Jack’s Unscented Beard Butter, which is thick enough to provide help with styling.

Multipurpose grooming products can be hit or miss. Usually, it’s a real master of none situation. However, that’s not the case with Anthony’s conditioning shave oil and lotion. First off, I have to rave about the fragrance, which is refreshing and masculine. Seriously, I could huff this stuff and call it aromatherapy. The oil has a blend of herbaceous and minty notes, and the formula itself blends natural oils with botanicals such as orange peel, calendula flower extract, eucalyptus, spearmint, basil, and rosemary. As a conditioning oil, it softens coarse and wiry hair, but as a pre-shave oil, it nourishes and soothes your skin to minimize redness, irritation, and flakes.

Beardbrand doesn’t try to be a jack of all trades. The company makes killer products for your beard, and that’s it. The Utility Softener is another multipurpose product, and you can use it as a hair and beard conditioner, leave-in conditioner, shaving lotion, or any combination thereof. Personally, I prefer the Tree Ranger fragrance (“Tree Ranger will have you smelling like you just hired through a Pacific Northwest forest”), but YMMV. My recommendation: Keep it in the shower and use as needed to wash your beard, then break it out when you need a shave. And finally, we’ve got Jack Black’s Beard Lube, which is a smart alternative to your drug store shaving cream. For bearded guys who still use a razor around the edges, the transparent lotion lets you create clean lines. Plus, the blend of jojoba oil and eucalyptus is good for your face and beard alike.

Before getting into the different types of beard conditioners, let’s quickly spotlight some of the best ingredients you should seek out. You’ll notice a pattern here: They’re mostly oils and butters, which will seep into the hairs and even into the underlying skin. They prevent things like beard itch, split ends, brittle hairs, beard dandruff, and to even promote beard growth and shine.

When it comes to shampoo, in general, we think not. Truth be told, you don’t need a 10-step beard care routine, no matter what Big Beard would have you think. But, there are two possible exceptions to this rule. First, bald guys who don’t otherwise have shampoo or conditioner in the house may benefit from investing in facial hair-specific products. Second, guys with extra-long, extra-thick beards who need all the help they can get. Otherwise, you can get aways with using small amounts of your regular shampoo once or twice a week. (Even better, use a co-wash—whatever you do, don’t call it a 2-in-1 shampoo and conditioner—that will condition your beard hair and soothe the skin underneath.)

We do, however, recommend using some type of conditioning product. Your beard hair will benefit from some extra moisturizing (as will the sensitive skin on your face and neck), and the best beard conditioners also help tame flyaways and manage beard itch. You can’t go wrong with a conditioning beard oil, beard balm/butter, or a beard conditioner, but we don’t recommend using all of these products in combination.

On Amazon, you’ll find tons of beard oils, serums, conditioners, and balms that promise to help lackluster beards grow longer and faster. However, there’s a reason you won’t find any of these products in our beard care guides. If there was an elixir that could guarantee hair growth, it would be priced at $5,000 a bottle and my friends wouldn’t be flying to Turkey for hair transplants. Some dermatologists and barbers do recommend products formulated with biotin, a.k.a. vitamin B7, though it's definitely not a silver bullet. If you want to incorporate biotin into your beard care, then we recommend using Scotch Porter Beard Balm, which uses shea butter and biotin to support overall beard health.