Beard oil can really make a big difference to the health of your beard. It can even help you fight and prevent most challenges that most bearded men encounter in their day-to-day beard growing and maintenance. Beard oils are made of a mixture of several oils, lets take a look at the benefits mustard oil has for beards.
Mustard oil is good for beard grooming but does not stimulate beard growth. When applied to the beard, mustard oil will condition, moisturize and help fight dandruff in your beard. Mustard oil may help beard growth by improving blood circulation, and nourishing beard follicles.
A point to note however, mustard oil will not help grow a beard where there is none. Consumption of mustard oil in the United States is not approved by the FDA. Mustard oil contains about 40 percent erucic acid, which has been proven to cause health issues in animal studies (source
).
The best way to use mustard with this knowledge in mind is topical. You can mix it with other oils that beard friendly such as emu oil (one of the best carrier oils) avocado oil, grapeseed oil, sunflower oil, castor oil, and coconut oil among others.
Alternatively, you can just buy a premium high-quality beard oil that does not have antiandrogenic oils such as rosemary oil and tea tree oil.
Table of Contents
What is Mustard Oil
Mustard oil is extracted from the seeds of mustard plant. Other names that you will come across referring to mustard oil include, sarson ka thail, sarson ke tel, or sarson ka tail.
Types of Mustard Oil
There are three types of mustard oil
- Black mustard oil
- White mustard oil
- Brown mustard oil
Before using any oil on your beard or skin, make sure you perform a patch test to determine that you are not allergic to the oil.
To perform a patch test follow the following steps.
- Apply a drop of oil at the back of your wrist
- let it sit for 24 hours
- observe any side effects
- In case of any side effects do not use the oil and vice versa
Benefits of applying mustard oil on Beard
Beard Conditioner
Mustard oil is loaded with several fatty acids that have been proven to have a conditioning effect on the hair. A 100 grams of mustard oils contains the source
- 12 grams of saturated fat
- 59 grams of monounsaturated fat
- 21 grams of polyunsaturated fats
These fatty acids will keep your facial hair moisturized and conditioned. But how does this help your beard, you may ask.
Keeping your beard moisturized will help you avoid dry beard, flaky skin underneath your beard, split ends, beard breakages, and a frizzy beard.
While these benefits will not stimulate new beard growth, they will help your beard grow.
Men of African descent have a curly and coarser beard. This curly nature of their beard makes it hard for the natural oils produced by the body to nourish the whole beard strands.
These curly beards need to be moisturized using beard oil as sebum oil is not enough, therefore given the moisturizing and conditioning nature of mustard oil, any man with a curly beard should always use mustard oil.
Nourish facial hair follicles
Dirt, sebum oil, hard water, build-up caused by the use of wrong beard products. This results in ‘calcification of hair follicles’ a process that can hinder the growth of facial hair or even cause ingrown facial hairs resulting in beard itching especially if you have one month worth of beard growth.
One of the components of mustard oil is magnesium, magnesium dissolves these build-ups and helps open up facial hair follicles hence helping the growth of your beard.
Fights dandruff
Dry and flaky skin can lead to a dandruff outbreak, dandruff can also be caused by bacteria or fungi.
Mustard oil will help you prevent beard dandruff by keeping the skin beneath your beard well moisturized.
Secondly, mustard oil has been proven to have antimicrobial properties that will help prevent fungi and bacteria from causing dandruff outbreaks. source
Fights inflammation
If you are suffering from acne that may cause inflammation on your skin beneath the beard and result in beard loss. Mustard oil is loaded with omega 3 fatty acids that help relieve inflammation, combined with its ability to treat acne due to its anti-microbial properties.
Mustard oil may help prevent beard loss caused by inflammation of facial hair follicles hence helping with beard growth.
Improve Blood circulation
While mustard oil will not stimulate the beard since that is up to genes and the levels of the two beard hormones (testosterone and DHT). One factor that has been proven to aid in beard growth is blood circulation in the cheeks.
Blood circulation ensures that your facial hair follicles are properly nourished and have all the nutrients they need to grow.
Luckily, mustard oil has an enzyme known as myrosinase and other pungent components known as sinalbin, sinigrin, and myosin. When these components come into contact with water or any other oil.
They produce the condition known as the ‘heat of mustard’ that stimulates blood circulation in the area mustard is applied.
Since massage has also been proven to stimulate blood flow, and in return blood flow is good for beard growth. You can kill two birds with one stone, use mustard oil for massaging your cheeks. Make sure you wash it off after one hour to avoid clogging your pores.
How to Use Mustard Oil on the Beard
Mustard oil beard mask
You can either use mustard oil alone or mix it with other natural oils to gain more benefits, mix it with oils such as argan oil, jojoba oil, or olive oil.
Massage this mixture into your beard and apply it from root to the tip, let this mixture sit in your beard for an hour. Then wash it off with a good beard shampoo with warm water.
Conclusion
While mustard oil will not stimulate beard growth, It is a great beard oil alternative if you are looking forward to conditioning, moisturizing your beard. Its blood stimulating properties can also help with beard growth especially if poor blood circulation is impacting your beard growth. Remember, however, not to use it internally.
