Every beard oil is made of two kinds of oil: a carrier oil and, in many cases, a small amount of essential oil or fragrance. The difference between the two determines how safe and how pleasant a beard oil is. Once you understand it, you read an ingredient list with different eyes.
What a carrier oil is
The carrier oil makes up most of the bottle, usually more than ninety per cent. These are plant oils such as jojoba, babassu, argan or almond, pressed from nuts, kernels or seeds. They care for the skin and hair and are mild enough to use neat on the skin. The carrier oil does the actual work. It determines how light the oil feels, how quickly it absorbs and what your skin does with it.
What an essential oil is
Essential oils are highly concentrated plant extracts, obtained by distillation, added mainly for scent and sometimes for their properties. They are so potent that neat on the skin they can cause irritation or sensitivity. That is why they are always heavily diluted in a carrier oil. In the dermatological literature, leave-on products for the skin generally use low concentrations, in the order of a few per cent. More is not better: it mainly raises the risk of irritation.
Why the ratio matters
A good beard oil is therefore not a mix of equal parts, but a carrier oil with a carefully dosed scent component. That dosing is a skilled choice, not an afterthought. Too much fragrance does not make an oil more luxurious, only harsher on the skin. In developing our beard oil, everything therefore starts from the carrier oil, and only then comes the scent, in the smallest amount that suffices. If you want to know why that carrier oil matters so much, read babassu oil, the base of our beard oil.
The carrier oil does the work. The scent is an accent, not the lead.