How we compare

Where the facts come from

Every fact on a balm's page (size, hold, scent notes, ingredients, where it is made, whether it is vegan, the part number) is a claim we recorded with its source: the page it was read from, how it was read, and the date. The balm page shows the source next to each value, so you can check it in one click.

Sources rank in this order:

1. The brand's own store or page: its product page, or the product feed its store publishes.
2. A retailer's listing of that exact balm, when the brand doesn't publish the figure (a size on a store that prints none, say).
3. Anything else, such as a search result or a figure converted from another unit. These values are marked with an asterisk.

Of the 3,199 values shown on the site right now, 96% come from the brand, 4% from a store.

A brand's own words are quoted, not paraphrased into a claim of ours. A review is never a source: a customer saying a balm is "made in Canada" or "strong hold" is not the brand saying so, so product-page text below the reviews is ignored.

When sources disagree

The highest-ranked source wins, and among equals the newest reading wins. A value carried over from before we kept sources ranks below everything, so any checked reading replaces it.

When two good sources disagree by more than rounding (on a size, by more than 0.15 oz or 4%, whichever is larger), we look at both and mark the wrong one rejected, with the reason. Rejected claims are kept rather than deleted, so the next check doesn't pick the same wrong number up again. 0 claims have been rejected so far.

A few conventions make balms comparable:

• Size is the net content printed on the tin, in ounces. Where a brand prints millilitres or grams we convert them (60 ml is about 2 oz, 56 g is 2 oz) and mark the value as converted. A brand that prints no size gets none, unless a retailer's listing gives one, in which case the source says so.
• Hold is recorded only when the brand names a level: light, medium or strong, or a plain synonym for one ("soft" or "gentle" for light, "moderate" for medium, "firm" for strong); the brand's own words are in the source note. "Natural hold" or "flexible hold" names no level, and "light to medium" is two, so neither is recorded.
• Key ingredients use one shared vocabulary (beeswax, shea butter, argan oil and so on), so a brand's "Butyrospermum Parkii" and another's "shea" are the same tag. A tag appears only if the brand's own list or copy names it.

Confirmed, inferred, unconfirmed

Every balm carries a confidence label. It's computed from its sources, never typed in by hand:

• confirmed (562 balms): the size and every shown fact were read from the brand's or a store's own page or feed, or an archived copy.
• inferred (64): read the same way, but at least one value rests on a search result or a figure converted from another unit, or the balm has no printed size to pin it to.
• unconfirmed (0): at least one value hasn't been re-checked since the catalogue began. The balm page says which.

Prices and price per ounce

Prices are re-checked every week. Each price shows the date it was seen and the store it was seen at. The headline price is the cheapest store that has the balm in stock. A price we haven't been able to re-check reads "recorded <date>, not re-checked since", never as current. Prices are US dollars from US stores.

Most beard-care brands sell on their own online stores, and those publish prices and stock as data, so most prices here come straight from the brand's store. A few retailers that publish their catalogue the same way (barbershop, vitamin and men's grooming stores) give a second price for some balms, and a listing is used only if it is unmistakably the same balm: the brand, scent, line and size must all agree. Where a big retailer refuses automated reads, we say so rather than guess. Amazon's rules allow a price to be shown only if Amazon itself serves it, so an Amazon listing is linked, never priced.

Price per ounce is the headline price divided by the size. We work it out; brands don't publish it. It is the fairest way to compare a $9.99 two-ounce tin with a $27.99 four-ounce one, and it is blank when either the price or the size is.

The pages that set one brand against every other use the median price per ounce: the middle of the per-ounce prices of that brand's balms that have both a price and a size, so a few dear or cheap tins don't move it the way an average would. A median over one or two balms rests on very few prices, so those pages show how many balms each one rests on.

Scent families

Balms are grouped by scent because scent is how most people choose. A balm's family is our grouping of the brand's own scent description, by its first-named note: "Citrus & Sandalwood" is citrus, "Cedar & Pine" is woodsy, "Spiced Vanilla" is spiced. The name and notes decide it, never the marketing copy around them. A scent a brand doesn't describe (a bare name like "The Outlaw") goes in Other rather than being guessed, and the balm page says so.

It is an editorial grouping, not a measurement. Where a brand's own words settle a call the keywords get wrong (a "woodsy" balm with an anise note, an "unscented option"), the brand's words win and the row says so.

Size tiers

Sizes are absolute here, because every balm prints its ounces: travel is under 1.5 oz, standard 1.5 to 2.5 oz, large over 2.5 up to 5 oz and bulk above 5 oz. The tier is worked out from the size, so two "standard" tins are close in size, and the size itself is always shown next to it. Tiers line up brand columns and find similar balms; they are for narrowing a list, not a claim that two tins are identical.

Launch years

A line's launch year is the year that balm first went on sale, never the year its brand was founded. We record one only where a source dates the balm itself, and the year links to that source, with its words in the tooltip: the brand's own statement, or a release from the time, is shown plainly ("2016"); a third party looking back is shown as "about 2015". A year nobody has dated is left blank, so most lines show none: 8 of 79 do.

Discontinued balms

A balm a brand no longer sells new stays in the catalogue, because people look for the one they used to buy. It is kept out of every comparison and listed under legacy & discontinued. 0 balms are listed there now. A balm is marked discontinued only when a source says so: a brand page that names a replacement, or two stores reporting it. A single missing page is a moved page until confirmed.

How the site makes money

It doesn't yet. When a store's affiliate program is joined, some "buy" links will be affiliate links: if you buy through one, the store pays BeardBalms a commission at no cost to you, and the link will say so right next to the button. Affiliate status will never decide what we list, the order things appear in, or which store a price comes from: the headline price is the cheapest in-stock store, whether or not we earn from it. No brand or store pays for placement.

What we don't do

• No scores or "best" picks. A single score hides whose priorities set the weights. We show the numbers and the sources, and you decide.
• No hands-on testing. Hold, scent and ingredients are the brand's own statements. A "strong hold" is the brand's word, not something we measured, and we have not smelled any of these.
• No health claims. We list what a brand says is in a balm. Whether it suits your skin, or your allergies, is for you and your doctor, and the tin's own label is the last word on ingredients.
• US market only. Prices and availability are for US stores; a store that prices in another currency is left out.
• No guessing. A value nobody has published is left blank, not estimated.

What the terms mean

Scent family

Our grouping of a balm's scent description: woodsy, spiced, citrus, sweet & gourmand, smoke & tobacco, fresh & cool, herbal & earthy, unscented, or other. It follows the first-named note; see above.

Size

The net content printed on the tin, in ounces, with millilitres and grams converted. It is what the brand charges for, not the tin's dimensions.

Price per ounce

The headline price divided by the size, worked out by us. It is the number to compare when the tins differ in size.

Median price per ounce

The middle of the per-ounce prices of a brand's balms that have both a price and a size: half cost less per ounce, half more. It is used where one brand is set against every other; see above.

Launch year

The year a line first went on sale, where a source dates the balm itself, and blank otherwise; see above.

Hold

How strongly a balm styles, shapes and stays put, as the brand names it: none, light, medium or strong (or a plain synonym, such as soft or firm; the source note has the brand's own words). A balm is mostly a conditioner, so many brands name no level at all. We record a level only when they do; a blank means unstated, not none. More wax (beeswax, candelilla) generally means more hold.

Key ingredients

The notable ingredients the brand's own list or copy names, from one shared vocabulary. A missing tag means the brand did not name it, not that the balm lacks it. Where a brand prints its full ingredient list, the balm page shows it whole.

Vegan

Shown only where the brand itself calls the balm vegan. Beeswax, lanolin and tallow are animal products, so a balm that lists them is not vegan, and a balm that says nothing isn't marked either way.

Size tier

Travel, standard, large or bulk, worked out from the size; see above.

Confirmed, inferred, unconfirmed

How a balm's data was sourced; see above.