The Best Beard Shampoos and Washes in 2024

Never thought of shampooing your beard? Take this as your sign to start! Washing facial hair is key to keeping it in good shape and caring for the skin underneath. To point you in the right direction, we’ve put together this list of the best beard shampoos and washes in 2024.

Why Wash Your Beard?

Because your beard’s success depends on it! Chances are you already shampoo the hair on your head and use some kind of body wash or soap on your body, so why ignore this crucial part of your appearance? Washing your beard is important at every step in the growth process, as it helps clear buildup from the skin underneath, wash away dirt and toxins, and impart moisture and other benefits to hair and skin alike. If you’re dealing with ingrown hairs or itching in your facial hair area, it is particularly important.

Can You Use Regular Shampoo to Wash Your Beard?

The short answer is yes; in fact, the product we’ve slotted in at No. 1 is designed as a regular shampoo. The long answer is slightly more complicated. While shampoos are designed to wash your hair and scalp, some of them may be too harsh for the more sensitive skin on your face or won’t meet the needs of facial hair. Because your beard is close to your mouth, you also don’t want to use shampoos on your facial hair that contain potentially harmful ingredients.

Facial hair is biologically different from the hair on your head. It’s controlled by hormones, and its makeup is slightly different from hair in other places. That’s why your beard has slightly different needs than your head hair. Beard shampoos need to be highly moisturizing to do the job right, as your facial hair is often coarse and gets easily tangled.

What to Look For in a Beard Shampoo or Wash

The best beard shampoos and washes have the following in common:

• No Toxic Ingredients. As mentioned above, it’s particularly important to avoid toxins and harsh chemicals when you’re applying products near your mouth. Stick to formulas free of potentially harmful ingredients like sulfates, parabens, phthalates and formaldehyde.
• Plenty of Moisturizing Ingredients. Your beard needs moisture, and so does the skin underneath it. The healthiest and most helpful moisturizing ingredients include natural oils like avocado, argan and jojoba, plus shea butter, squalane and glycerin. These will reinforce the skin’s moisture barrier, and will draw moisture around and through hair and skin for a softer beard.
• Antibacterial Ingredients. It’s far too easy for bacteria to build up under your beard, especially if you’re not washing it often enough. Shampoos that contain tea tree oil will be your best bet, as this natural ingredient fights fungus and inflammation in addition to bacteria.
• Anti-Itch Ingredients. Beard itch might be aggravating enough to deter you from keeping your facial hair, so if that’s the case you’ll want to fight it in the beard wash you use. Moisturizing ingredients like jojoba and argan oil will help, as well as calming aloe vera, colloidal oatmeal and anti-inflammatory green tea.

How Often to Wash Your Beard

The rule of thumb when it comes to beard maintenance is sudsing up with beard shampoo one to three times a week. If the shampoo you’re using doesn’t contain a lot of moisturizing ingredients, consider following it up with a beard conditioner. Beard oil is a great step for after the shower, as it will lock in moisture and stay in your hair to provide long-lasting benefits.

1. Blu Atlas Beard Shampoo

The best beard shampoo and wash is this revelation from Blu Atlas, which treats your beard to the most satisfying clean of its life. It’s a gentle formula, comprised of a number of ingredients from natural sources so you don’t have to worry about applying chemicals near your mouth. It soothes skin and hair alike, leaving everything soft, smooth, and more lustrous than before. Plus, it comes in two different natural scent options: Classic or Coconut Apricot.

So what’s in here that means beard itch and dullness have met their match? It all starts with the power duo of argan and jojoba oils, which tame unruly hair and deliver vitamins and minerals galore. Castor oil brings fatty acids to the picture for softer hair, plus is touted for its hair growth benefits! There just so happens to be panthenol in here, too, which seals off the cuticles of your hair to ward off split ends.

2. Jack Black’s Beard Wash

The most important function of a beard wash is to dissolve dirt, but some products do so in a way that strips hair of moisture. Not this beard wash! Jack Black has come up with a mild formula loaded with helpful ingredients like aloe vera and panthenol, plus moisturizing jojoba, balancing sea kelp and fatty acid-rich shea butter. It works well to clean and then soften, turning a wiry beard into a soft cloud of facial hair.

3. Scotch Porter Moisturizing Beard Wash

Your beard is thirsty! Keep it hydrated with Scotch Porter’s take, which is one of the best beard shampoos and washes on the market. It’s a super softening and moisturizing formula made with coarse or dry hair in mind, so use this if you’re the kind of guy who thinks a soft beard is out of the question. It comes in three different scent options: warm spice and powdery musk (a heavy, sensual fragrance), sandalwood and tobacco musk (classic masculine scent) and fresh greens and amber woods (an energizing aroma).

The key ingredients of this product set it apart. There’s burdock root, a natural extract high in vitamin A and fatty acids that fortifies hair while fighting inflammation and irritation. Nettle leaf provides important nutrients, plus protein and amino acids to promote hair growth. Aloe vera is also in here to address dandruff and settle skin.

4. Lush’s Kalamazoo

You might as well kill two birds with one stone, which is exactly what you can do with Kalamazoo, a beard and face wash. It contains ingredients that cleanse and hydrate, working just as well on your face as on your facial hair. It gets to work using pineapple juice for antioxidants, apricot kernel oil for its softening power and cupuaçu butter for thorough moisturization. Finally, lime and orange oils promote free-radical protection and brighten skin.

5. Horace Beard Shampoo

Looking to totally revitalize your beard? Give Horace’s Beard Shampoo a try. It’s a sulfate-free formula that delivers – in clinical tests, 90% of users found their beard smoother after regular use. Aloe vera is one of the main ingredients here, living up to its reputation as a conditioner and anti-inflammatory agent.

This beard shampoo also harnesses the power of humectant panthenol, smoothing argan oil and linseed oil to encourage growth. Castor oil brings a slew of benefits, including strengthening and nourishing, rounding out an excellent natural ingredient list. Users can’t get enough of this product, and praise it for its satisfying lather and the way it repels beard itch.

6. Viking Revolution Beard Wash

This formula from Viking Revolution is sure to put some pep in your step all day long. That’s because it takes care of your beard and skin, cleaning deeply and then rinsing away to reveal luscious, thick facial hair. It may even put a stop to dandruff! You have two powerhouse ingredients to thank for these effects: argan and jojoba oils.

These natural oils work alongside ginger, which stimulates the hair follicles, leading to longer and stronger facial hair. Hydrolyzed yeast protein makes hair more manageable, panthenol draws in moisture to create a more volumized appearance and aloe vera conditions while it calms. With sandalwood oil to restore shine and add a welcoming scent, this is one of the best beard shampoos and washes on the market.

7. Shea Moisture Beard Wash Deep Clean & Refresh

Next we have one of the most cost-effective washes on the list, which provides a thorough clean and plenty of moisture for a price that won’t break the bank. It gets rid of odors, flakes and dirt, then balances your skin’s pH, leaving your beard soft as melting butter. That’s partly because shea butter is involved, as well as passion fruit oil, which is loaded with nutrients and fatty acids. Tea tree takes care of fungus or bacteria lurking underneath facial hair, and coconut oil teams up with argan oil for lasting hydration.

8. Duke Cannon’s Big Bourbon Beard Wash

Buffalo Trace bourbon may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of grooming your beard, yet it makes an appearance in one of the best beard shampoos and washes from Duke Cannon. (As a scent, at any rate!) The shampoo scrubs away dirt and debris with coconut-based cleansers, then hydrates and strengthens with glycerin and hydrolyzed wheat protein. The fragrance gives you the sensation of smooth jazz in an old-school speakeasy, and is definitely a selling point for the bourbon obsessed.

9. Gibs Man Wash BHB

For those who are all about the multifunctional products, there’s Gibs Man Wash BHB. BHB as in beard, hair, body! This three-in-one product is sulfate-free and full of fatty acids, soaking your skin and hair in plenty of moisture to last throughout the day. Its key ingredients are antibacterial tea tree, balancing copaiba and the soothing, nourishing and moisturizing duo of argan and hemp oils. It comes in an inviting citrus, oak and basil fragrance you won’t get tired of.

10. Grave Before Shave Beard Wash

While this facial hair shampoo is designed for beards, it could double as a regular shampoo in a pinch. It’s loaded up with all the usual suspects – coconut surfactants and argan oil – plus tocopherol to keep hair nourished and olive oil for added moisture. It comes with an old timey barbershop scent, which feels like a blast from the past every time you lather it up.

11. Polished Gentleman Beard Shampoo

If you’re going for the polished gentleman look, a scraggly beard just won’t do! That’s where this beard shampoo comes in. It’s loaded with natural ingredients to help you achieve thick facial hair growth, and contains all you need for a soft and manageable beard. Rosemary leaf oil is included, which is an ingredient thought to encourage hair growth almost as well as minoxidil (the main ingredient in Rogaine). There’s manuka honey for extra shine, peppermint and tea tree for an energizing clean, and soothing cehami extract to show beard itch the door.

12. Every Man Jack Beard and Face Wash

Give that skin under your beard some loving with Every Man Jack’s Beard and Face Wash. It cleanses gently with coconut-derived ingredients, then floods hair and skin with hydration thanks to aloe vera. Lavender and chamomile tackle irritation, and soapwort treats a variety of skin conditions, including eczema, itching, acne and dryness. This wash comes in three scents. We happen to love the sea salt version, which is refreshing and not overpowering.

13. Bulldog Original Beard Shampoo & Conditioner

Bulldog makes a simple and budget-friendly beard shampoo and conditioner, which helps you skip a step in the shower. It offers a mild clean, then takes on the task of balancing your skin and hair moisture levels. With green tea for inflammation, aloe for softness and camelina oil for deep moisture, this product has all you need to step out of the shower a new man.

14. Medicine Man Anti-Itch Beard Wash

Beard itching is a nuisance at the least, and a reason to shave at the most. Luckily, Medicine Man has the cure: this Anti-Itch Beard Wash! This is a natural healing solution, built with a balanced formula of natural oils and extracts to stop itching for good. The combination of ingredients is genius, as nourishing hydrators like olive and coconut oils work with calming oils like hemp and lavender to offer soothing moisturization. Then sea fennel calms skin and rosemary boosts growth.

15. Professor Edward J Fuzzyworth’s All Natural Beard Shampoo Bar

This is the OG beard shampoo, and it deserves its hallowed reputation. It’s been made in Australia since the early 1990s, and brings together a number of superb ingredients in bar form, meaning there is no plastic involved. Coconut, castor and olive oils play important roles, of course, but there’s also apple vinegar to rid the skin of bacteria, cocoa powder to stimulate growth, and a number of essential oils that work magic on hair and skin while smelling fantastic. If bar soap is your thing or you’re particularly eco-conscious, this is a perfect option.

16. Anthony’s Conditioning Beard Wash

With this creamy beard wash, you get effortlessly silky skin and an instantly polished beard. It’s richer than a lot of the products on this list, making it a great choice for those dealing with dryness. Sugarcane extract in this formula acts as a gentle exfoliator, getting rid of flakes and allowing the other ingredients to penetrate deeper. Those ingredients include rosemary extract for extra growth, coconut oil to detangle hair, sugar maple extract to seal up split ends, rice bran extract to soften hair without leaving behind any residue and black currant seed oil to fight skin inflammation while hydrating.

17. Just for Men The Best Face and Beard Wash Ever

Just for Men doesn’t only make hair dyes to help men hide the gray; the brand also has one of the best beard shampoos and washes built to free up pores, soothe skin and leave facial hair fully nourished. It works with oatmeal, chamomile and aloe to bring relief to irritated skin, then takes care of hair moisture with jojoba oil. The best part is, you can slather this one all over your face to reap the benefits beyond your chin area.

18. Zeus Vanilla Rum Beard Shampoo

Want to feel like a powerful Greek god, with a beard to match? Go for the Zeus Beard Shampoo in the irresistible vanilla rum flavor (Hemingway would approve). It offers a power wash that won’t strip away moisture, then focuses on a number of potent natural ingredients for plentiful benefits.

The first is green tea extract, used to balance your skin’s oil production, protect skin and hair, and deal with inflammation. Chamomile makes your beard lustrous while banishing irritation, and dragon’s blood (the sap of the rare Croton lechleri tree) gets rid of dandruff and supplies long-term moisture to skin and hair. For an extra dose of antioxidant protection, there’s also vitamin E in here. The result will be a healthy and strong beard that can go the distance.

19. Art of Shaving Peppermint Beard Wash

There’s no ingredient more refreshing than peppermint oil, which powers this shampoo from Art of Shaving. It works alongside rosemary and eucalyptus essential oils for a pleasant cooling sensation, invigorating scent and help calming and cleaning skin. Beyond the aromatherapy benefits of this beard wash, there are also visible benefits for your beard – namely, a smoother look and feel thanks to jojoba and olive oils.

20. L:A Bruket 218 Beard Wash

You’ll love this beard wash because of its creamy lather and potent yet gentle natural ingredients. Built to hydrate, promote growth and stop irritation, this wash combines a number of essential oils that make a difference.

In this case, cedarwood oil is a star ingredient, offering up anti-inflammatory, antifungal and antibacterial properties that will work to clear up any skin issues you’re having. Orange essential oil fights beard acne, and witch hazel works behind the scenes to slow signs of aging and keep skin free and clear. Rosemary extract is included to trigger faster hair growth, and horse chestnut strengthens hair at the root.

21. Bluebeards Original Unscented Beard Wash

Pirates weren’t just known for their daring and eye patches; they also had some of the best beards in the game. Emulate Bluebeard with this beard wash, a great option for those with sensitive skin and frizzy hair. It nurtures skin and hair with vitamin E and panthenol, then softens with aloe. Since there is no perfume in here, this wash won’t cause men with reactive skin any discomfort.

22. L’Oréal Men Expert BarberClub 3-in-1 Wash

You might not know that L’Oréal offers a beard wash. In fact, it might be the brand’s best-kept secret. This BarberClub wash is a multipurpose formula designed for your beard, face and hair. It’s the kind of product you’ll take on your travels to cover all the bases, or keep in your shower over the long term. With eucalyptus, mint and glycerin, this wash offers a refreshing clean that’s enjoyable for all the senses.

23. ArtNaturals Beard Wash

For those looking for help reining in their facial hair, and who also want a little extra density, there’s ArtNaturals Beard Wash. The formula features rosemary extract, which enhances cell turnover and helps heal damaged tissue, creating an ideal environment for hair growth. Since it also blocks DHT, the hormone behind some kinds of hair loss, it’s an ideal ingredient to help get more luxurious hair.

The benefits of this wash don’t stop with extra growth. There’s tea tree to purify the pores and solve skin issues, aloe vera for soothing power, and jojoba and argan oils to make hair silky and easily styled.

24. Mr. Bear Family Beard Wash

This wash works wonders for hands and face, not just your facial hair. It’s created for outdoorsmen, providing a mild clean and plenty of extra nourishment to help prepare your skin and hair for the wilderness. Birch and milk sugars are important moisturizers that work to inflamed calm skin, oat extract hydrates and fixes split ends, witch hazel protects skin and hair, and sunflower seed oil leaves behind moisture you’ll be grateful for.