Top 11 Ways to Use Utility Balm

Beard balms were hardly new when Beardbrand launched Utility Balm in 2016, but we had our sights set much higher. So instead of settling for creating just another beard balm, we decided to shake up the market and formulate a do-it-all product for your beard, hair, and skin.

This conditioning balm melts quickly in your hands and is absorbed into your skin and beard. It's lightweight and comes in all of our awesome fragrances. And since 2016, Utility Balm has gone on to become one of Beardbrand’s most popular products.

The Utility Balm really is a “Swiss Army Knife” of a product, and there are seemingly endless ways to use it. In fact, our Beardbrand Alliance members consistently come up with creative new ways to use Utility Balm.

Want to get the most out of your Utility Balm? These are our 11 favorite ways to use Utility Balm.

DAILY BEARD CARE

The most obvious way to use Beardbrand Utility Balm is as a daily beard conditioner, similar to Beard Oil. The primary ingredients in Utility Balm are shea butter, mango seed butter, apricot kernel oil, jojoba seed oil, and beeswax.

Because Utility Balm contains butters and beeswax, it has a thicker, heavier consistency than oil. This helps it sit on the surface of your beard hair a bit longer than Beard Oil, providing a slower release to the conditioning benefits. This slow release is particularly beneficial if your beard tends to dry out quickly.

Utility Balm doesn’t provide any hold, but the beeswax helps control flyaway hairs more than Beard Oil does.

Instructions: Warm Utility Balm between your hands and evenly apply to a damp beard and the skin beneath it. Then, evenly distributed with a boar's hair brush.

DEEP-CONDITIONING HAIR & BEARD MASK

No, we aren’t talking about that kind of mask.

A hair mask is a deep-conditioning product that you leave in your hair for an extended length of time—typically overnight—to provide extra reparative hydration to hair.

Some people are more prone to dry beards and head hair than others. If you work in the food and beverage industry, you likely have to wash your facial hair every day. If you work outdoors or in a manual labor job, you’re probably washing sweat and grime out of your beard daily, too. Live in a frigid, dry environment? That can also take its tool and easily damage hair and skin. Or, you might just have coarse hair that needs more hydration than fine hair.

Whatever the case, Beardbrand Utility Balm works well as a hydrating mask and can even help repair broken hair.

Instructions: Scoop a generous amount of Utility Balm into your hands and apply thoroughly through your beard or head hair. Brush or comb it out to make sure it’s evenly distributed. Leave the Utility Balm in your beard and/or hair overnight, then rinse or wash it out in the shower the next day. Utility Balm is made with natural ingredients, so it is easy to rinse out.

DRY SKIN CARE

This is where Utility Balm really starts to separate itself from standard beard balms. The shea butter, mango butter, apricot kernel oil, and jojoba oil found in Utility Balm are outstanding skin moisturizers.

Shea butter, in particular, is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that soothe dry and irritated skin. While shea butter technically comes from a nut, it is low in allergy-causing proteins, making it safe to use for most skin types.

Instructions: Warm Utility Balm between your hands and apply to hands, knuckles, elbows, and any other areas where your skin is dry.

TATTOO MOISTURIZER

Tattoos hold their ink better when your skin is healthy and hydrated, so regularly moisturizing them is important. If you don’t take care of them, they’ll fade more quickly and become a faint shadow of their formerly vibrant selves.

We’ve already covered why Utility Balm excels as a skin moisturizer, so don’t just apply it to dry skin—work a bit into your tattooed skin as well.

However, Utility Balm is not recommended for fresh tattoos that are still healing. Follow your tattoo artist’s instructions for that part. They’re industry experts, so use their guidelines until your tattoo is healed.

HAIR STYLING

Love a natural glossy finish on your hair but don’t want to give it much of a hold? Utility Balm is perfect for adding shine while allowing your hair to retain its natural texture. Its deep conditioning properties help keep your hair and scalp nourished and healthy at the same time.

Rock a side part or a quiff and don’t have time to style it every day? Using Utility Balm can pull your look together just enough for a more finished appearance as you walk out the door.

Instructions: Rub a finger full of balm between your hands, then run them through your hair a few times. Brush or comb accordingly.

EYE SERUM

an open jar of Beardbrand Utility Balm on a blue backdrop

 

The two primary ingredients in Utility Balm are shea butter and mango seed butter. Both are ripe with antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that support collagen production in the skin. This helps keep skin softer and is believed to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Instructions: Emulsify a pea-sized amount of Utility Balm in your hands and gently massage into the skin underneath and around your eyes.

SCALP CARE

Utility Balm makes an excellent after-shave to soften and heal that freshly shorn skin. Using unguarded clippers or trimmers on your scalp is a common practice, but that can kick up some dandruff and dead skin that needed to be exfoliated anyway. Using Utility Balm afterward seriously helps with the appearance of a freshly buzzed head and prevents flaking through the rest of the day.

Instructions: After a shower, just warm it in your hands and apply a light layer all over the scalp.

MOISTURIZING FOOT BALM

Your barking dogs might be an afterthought, but Utility Balm is an excellent solution for callused and cracked feet for the reasons mentioned above. Your feet will smell a heck of a lot better too.

Instructions: Apply and massage a generous amount of Utility Balm to your feet (especially heels and calluses) at night to help soften that skin tissue. If you’re looking to speed up the process, exfoliate your feet regularly while using this as a conditioning product.

REDUCE SCARRING & STRETCH MARKS

We have a running joke that you could heal a bullet wound with Utility Balm. This isn’t true, and if you’ve been shot, you should go to the hospital—but we won’t tell you how to live your life.

That said, Utility Balm contains ingredients that have been shown to be effective at reducing the appearance of scars and stretch marks. Shea butter, the primary ingredient in Utility Balm, helps your skin create new cells and may help prevent scar tissue from reproducing. Research is still anecdotal, but there’s no harm in applying Utility Balm to stretch marks and scars (just don’t apply to wounds that are not fully healed).

Instructions: Use your fingers to gently massage the Utility Balm into scars or stretch marks regularly.

SHAVING LUBRICANT

The viscosity of Utility Balm makes it an alternative to shaving cream. It’s made from natural ingredients, so you’re not shaving with irritating synthetics or silicones that can clog your pores and cause ingrown hairs.

Instructions: Warm a generous amount of Utility Balm in your hands and apply to warm, wet skin. Shave as normal. You can also use Utility Balm as a pre-shave balm to better prepare your skin and hair for the razor.

SOOTHE SUNBURN

Don’t have any aloe vera handy? Utility Balm can help you soothe a sunburn in a pinch. We’ve already talked ad nauseam about shea butter and mango butter having anti-inflammatory properties, so we’ll spare you from us repeating the details. Just know that you can use it to soothe your skin when you’ve had a little too much fun in the sun.

We only recommend using Utility Balm on first-degree sunburns—the kind of sunburns that are non-blistered.

Shea butter also provides around 3 to 4 SPF. It’s not enough to replace your sunblock but does give it a slight boost.

THE WRAP UP

Have questions about how to use Utility Balm? Shoot us a message at support@beardbrand.com, or text "STYLE" to 512-879-3297 for a free personalized consultation. We’ll be happy to help you out.

Keep on Growing.

SOURCES

What is Shea Butter? 22 Reasons to Add it to Your Routine

Health Benefits of Mango Butter

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This blog was originally written by Will Mouradian in 2018, and updated by Mike Lawson on March 15, 2021.

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