Photo by Adam Swanson
Bay Beard Products
Usually when I receive a product to review, or as a gift, I have already heard of the company as I keep an eye on most products in the industry. This wasn’t the case with Bay Beard Products, as they are a new company on the beard scene. Don’t let this deter you in purchasing their products – as you’ll see in the review, I was impressed with the quality, and the scents of each product. I actually took a few extra days to “test” their products just so I could continue to use them on a regular basis.
Bay Beard Products comes out of Green Bay Wisconsin, with a tagline of “Have a Better Beard” I couldn’t have summarized these products in less words. Each has a pleasant scent that is completely unique from the others. They offer both oils and beard waxes, something that was new to me – all of the products arrived via USPS Priority mail, and the beard oil bottles were wrapped in bubble wrap. Everything made the trip in great shape, and I really enjoyed these products.
You can learn more about Bay Beard Products at BayBeard.com, but if you’d like to purchase them, visit Pomade.com.
Let’s dig into some specifics.
Photo by Adam Swanson
First up, let’s have a look at the Bay Beard Products beard oils. Don’t have time to read the full review now? No problem, visit any of Tales of the Tape:
Outdoorsman Beard Oil Tale of the Tape
Strongman Beard Oil Tale of the Tape
Fresh Citrus Beard Oil Tale of the Tape
Packaging
Bay Beard Products uses 2 oz dark amber bottles, which keeps the oil holding up against the UV rays that shorten shelf life. The bottle is a screw top, and has an orifice reducer (fancy word for plastic thing with hole in it) to slow down the flow of oil from the bottle when pouring. This is nice if you have a shorter beard so you don’t waste. But, having that I have a long beard, it’s easily removed so you can put a good amount in your palm. They use waterproof/oil resistant labels, so your beard oil doesn’t look like the bottles in Grandma’s medicine cabinet after a single use. It’s the small attention to detail that these guys exceed in.
Consistency
Applying Bay Beard Products oil is simple; if you want to use the reducer on the cap, just tap making a circular shape around your palm until you get the desired amount. For short beards, probably around three taps, for mine, it’s more like 8-10 and I sometimes re-apply immediately after. If you remove the fancy reducer, you just pour it into your palm. For me, I use about the size of a quarter; for shorter beards I would suggest something like the size of a dime. After that, rub your hands together getting it on your fingers as well. I work the oil into my beard from cheek to chin, from root to tip of the hairs, don’t forget to get it on your mustache as it tends to get the most beat up of all your facial hair. Some like to massage their fingertips into the root of the hair as well. The oil was nice and thick, not watery, making application easy and less messy.
Conditioning/Styling
Like I said in the beginning, Bay Beard oil had my beard feeling soft, and looking good. Typical to beard oil, there isn’t a lot of control given from using it. But, it does keep you from looking homeless by bringing in those crazy hairs. I found myself using a little oil after the wax, to give it a bit of shine, but we’ll get into that later. I did the standard, “will it comb” test with Bay oil. Meaning, that if I let my beard dry after my shower, there isn’t a comb in the world that will go through my beard. So, I put some oil in my beard, and tested with the comb. Bay passed with flying colors, leaving my hair soft and manageable, without making it look like I just ate a double bacon burger.
Scent
A quick note about the scents – Bay Beard offers their three scents in the beard and oils and the waxes, and the scents are the same across the two products, so while I’m only addressing them here, they apply to both the beard oils and beard waxes.
Strongman – The strongman scent is a very bold, clean scent. A real eye opener, great right after your morning shower. It has a crisp, sweet peppermint/menthol smell, with a mellow woodsy undertone that really shows up after application. This strongman scent wouldn’t be complete without the leather and tobacco undertones. This is a real man’s man scent. I’d imagine if my 6 year old son used this on his skin, he’d immediately sprout a full beard, six-pack abs, and pull out a tobacco pipe hand-carved from rhino horn.
Outdoorsman – Outdoorsman is a unique scent, starts with a heavy spicy cinnamon smell with a hint of clove. Outdoorsman seems to warm your face, like a barrel aged whiskey. It may be a weird way to put it, but I feel this is a very edible scent. If I were in a pinch on Christmas, I’d smear it on my ham. All jokes aside, this scent is strong, manly scent, but in a totally different way than strongman. Bay hit both sides of the spectrum between these two scents, and there’s even a third option!
Fresh Citrus – We started off with cooling mint, then went the opposite direction with spicy cinnamon. Now, with Fresh Citrus Bay beard products, we go in a third direction. Bay managed to nail a third scent, with sweet citrus scents and a nice, mellow spice undertone. “Fresh Citrus” smells of orange, with a slight bitterness to it almost like that of a grapefruit. I really like this scent. It’s not as powerful as the other two, but it smells just as wonderful. Very similar to the smells you’d get walking through an orange grove, the name really speaks for itself.
Comparative Cost
Typically, a 2 oz. bottle of Bay Beard Products beard oil sells for $20. However, the owner of the company also informed me that the products are available for sale on Pomade.com for $18 per bottle (plus shipping) – given the scent selection and conditioning properties, this is a good buy at either price.
Photo by Adam Swanson
Next up, let’s have a look at the Bay Beard Products beard waxes. Don’t have time to finish up the full review? No problem, visit the Tales of the Tape:
Outdoorsman Beard Wax Tale of the Tape
Strongman Beard Wax Tale of the Tape
Fresh Citrus Beard Wax Tale of the Tape
Packaging
Bay Beard Products is the first of beard balm style products that I’ve received in this style of tin. It’s HUGE, a 3oz tin that has a screw top, and they used the same high quality, oil resistant labels as their oils. They have a plastic insert into the lid that makes it a bit quirky to re-screw, but serves a purpose as to keep the lid tightly shut kind of like a gasket. This is great when on travel, so if your bag heats up, there’s no chance of spillage. Great touch, and once you use it a few days, you get used to the way it screws back on.
Consistency
This is the most exciting part for me to review! Not because the product is bland, or boring by any means. This is the first beard WAX I’ve used, and I was blown away. I’ve used balms of all sorts. From soft, to medium textured products. But this was unique in the sense that it is hard it like a mustache wax. This is the first beard product I actually thought of warming up with a hair dryer to soften before application. But, being that it’s for your beard, and not just your mustache, I was able to scrape some out with my thumb, put it in my palm, and rub until it softened. It’s a little more work than oil, but it was worth it.
Conditioning/Styling
This is another area where Bay shines! The control of the beard wax is better than anything I’ve tried. Like I mentioned before, it’s a very hard wax, so it takes a bit to apply. You need to scrape, and then rub your hands together so it warms and softens, but then it applies easily. After it’s in your beard, it hardens back up making your beard easy to shape, and puts the unruly hairs on lock down. I live in a windy little city, and this is now my go to product for those windy days to keep the beard from getting too far out of control. This wax works well alongside the oils offered, as they have the same scent in both forms. Once I apply the wax, I put some of the same oil on for a bit of shine.
Comparative Cost
A three ounce tin of the beard wax typically sells for $20, but you can also find the beard waxes on Pomade.com for $18 (plus shipping). If you’re looking for a good beard wax to keep your beard under even more control, this would be an excellent purchase as it’s on the low end of the price range for a quality product.
For more information, be sure to check out BayBeard.com, and if you’re interested in purchasing, visit Pomade.com.
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