It took you a long time to grow that mustache, so you better take a little time and learn how to style it. With just a touch of mustache wax, you can make yourself look classy and unique. That is what you want isn’t it? You don’t want to look like a ’70’s porn star, do you?
There are mustache waxes and beard grooming products on the market for the discriminating men with hairy faces. But there are a number of compelling reasons why you might want to take a shot at making your own. To name a few: (1) it is low cost and will save you money (2) easy, interesting and fun project (3) boost your self-reliance and simplicity street cred! (4) you can customize the wax to your liking.
If you have purchased mustache wax before, when you find out how simple and inexpensive this is to make, you may find that reason #1 (low cost) is the most compelling. I just looked at the website of one of the main producers of mens grooming products and I found out they charge $9.00 for a little tube of wax that weighs only .15 oz. Wow, that is crazy!
To make mustache wax, you will need just a few items:
- beeswax
- a carrier oil
- essential oils (optional)
- shea butter (optional)
- cocoa butter (optional)
- specialty oil such as Argan, Jojoba, or Castor (optional)
In this post, I will be giving more or less a general guidelines for making a mustache wax or beard balm, rather than a specific recipe. As I see it, preferences vary greatly and I would prefer to leave space for experimentation. So let’s get on with it.
In the list of materials I provided, you’ll notice that only beeswax and a carrier oil were not listed as “optional.” In practice this means you could make the very most basic mustache wax with only beeswax and an oil. Do you want to make the most basic kind of mustache wax? I hope not. And so, if you have access to any of the other items on the list, I would suggest including them in your experiments.
The basic idea is that you are mixing beeswax with an oil in order to make the wax softer and more pliable. the way to do this is by heating the oil and beeswax together until the wax melts and then you let it cool. If you measure by weight and went with a 50/50 mix of oil and wax, the resulting wax would still be too hard to comfortably use as a mustache wax. You will need to reduce the wax portion to 20-30% of the total.
But what kind of oil should you use? My first choice would be to use some blend of the specialty oils listed above :Argan, Jojoba, and Castor. So let’s talk about these individually first.
Argan oil is an expensive specialty oil that is particularly renowned for its benefits to hair. If you can find a source for Argan oil, it is a “must have” for hair products.
Jojoba is known more as a great skin conditioner, but should nonetheless be beneficial to hair. It is a smooth silky oil.
Castor oil is much easier to find than Argan oil ot Jojoba and much less expensive. Often you can find small bottles of it in the pharmacy. Castor oil is sometimes taken orally for use as a laxative, so in the pharmacy you will find it on the shelf near other laxative products. Castor oil is also used in hand-crafted soap to increase a soap’s lather. As it turns out, however, Castor oil is also very good for stimulating hair growth. Some people recommend regularly rubbing a little Castor oil in areas where it is difficult to grow hair or where there is hair loss. This begs the question of how much Castor oil should be put in a mustache wax or beard oil. Can you just use Castor oil and add some essential oils to it? I would say no. Castor oil is good for stimulating hair follicles, but it is not conditioning the way Argan oil is. I would generally make the Castor oil portion small; say 25% of the total oil used.
Now, if you can’t get Argan oil or Jojoba oil, or if it is too expensive, there are other options. Really, most plant based oils would suffice. There are only two issues that are of concern: smell and shelf life of the oil. Smell is hopefully obvious. If you use sesame oil in your mustache wax, you’ll probably end up walking around smelling like toasted sesame seeds. In the same vein, beware of high-quality, extra-virgin olive oils. As for the issue of shelf life, keep in mind that plant-based oils do breakdown over time. If you’ve ever smelled rancid oil, that is an oil that has exceeded its shelf life and broken down. If you see an oil on sale because it is approaching the expiration date, don’t waste your money. Chances are, it is turning rancid or will soon. So the point is if the oil in your mustache wax breaks down, you will have a rancid smelling mustache. This problem is easy to avoid. Most oils have a shelf life of 1-2 years. Check the expiration date before using it. Make your ‘stache wax in small batches. Pretty simple common sense. Which particular oils would be good for this? I think a good place to start would be a light-colored, unscented Olive oil. Or a coconut oil. Or Sweet Almond oil, if you can find it. These three oils are all noted for their skin conditioning, and moisturizing properties. To any of these oils, it is also recommended to add some Castor oil.
Using Cocoa butter and Shea butter is recommended for a few reasons. First off, they are great moisturizers. These butters are beneficial to skin and hair. Second, in its consistency, a butter lies somewhere between hard, solid beeswax and liquid oil. It will give the final mixture some body and pliability.
Although Essential oils are listed as optional, I would like to say that they are ESSENTIAL (pun intended!). A basic ‘stache wax will work without essential oils, but where is the interest or appeal or fun if your wax has NO SCENT???!!!! If your wax has a great smell, it is a pleasure for you to use it and it is a gift to the people around you. So let me take a minute to talk about essential oils.
If you want to keep it simple, maybe the easiest way to take care of essential oils is to go into a Whole Foods market or New Age shop that carries essential oils. There you may find small bottles that are used for aromatherapy. These bottles may contain either a blend or a single oil. I think in most cases a blend is preferable to a single essential oil, though some people may strongly favor a single particular scent, such as Lavender. So, if single scents don’t impress you that much, sample the blends that are available and see if you like any. If you find a ready-made blend you like, this is the simplest, cheapest way to go if you are only making occasional small batches of wax for yourself.
But let me talk about the option of mixing your own blend of essential oils. There is something to be said for customizing your own scent. Some guys, like me, just have to customize things their way. And let me tell you, it really is fun to experiment with essential oils and create new smells. In general, to do this requires some expenditure, because you have to buy several different oils. If you are going to do this, it really only begins to make sense if you are buying in volume. Price per ounce is just too expensive if you are buying 1-4 ounces of an oil at a time. I purchase oils in larger quantities because I use them for making soap. So I would say, purchase essential oils in larger quantities if you can find ways to use them in other ways. Essential oils can be put into body butters, massage oils, bath bombs, balms, candles, bath salts, etc. Of course, you can use them for your own enjoyment in an aromatherapy dispenser. Or maybe you can make your own blends and package them to sell.
Whatever the case may be, if you are thinking of blending oils or just trying to figure out what kind of blend you might want for yourself, it will help to have some familiarity with the categories or families of scents that exist. Below I will list some of the main categories of scents and list some of the essential oils that belong to those categories.
Wood: Cedar, Sandalwood, Vetiver, Patchouli
Floral: Lavender, Ylang Ylang, Gardenia, Jasmin, Rose
Citrus: Bergamot, Litsea Cubeba, Lemon, Orange, Lime, Grapefruit, Lemongrass
Minty: Peppermint, Spearmint, Eucalyptus
Herbal: Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Cedarleaf
Camphor: Tea Tree
Spicy: Nutmeg, Cinnamon Bark, Coriander, Clove, Cardamom, Black Pepper
Fougere: Clary Sage, Oak Moss, Geranium, Lavender
You may mix oils from different categories to make interesting combinations of your own. Have fun and good luck creating a scent profile that fits your personality!