Christmas Gifts for Your Husband (When He Has a Beard)

The letter came pinned under a jar of my charcoal sticks. No name, just neat handwriting: "Illustrator, you draw people for a living. My husband has a beard, owns everything, and says he wants 'nothing' for Christmas. Draw me a gift." So I opened a fresh sketchbook and drew him five different ways, because every husband is one of about five sketches.

Here's the short answer. The best Christmas gifts for your husband, if he has a beard, are things he'll use every morning and think of you when he does: a beard oil in a scent that fits his personality ($18.99), a cologne that matches it ($39.99), or a full kit in one scent if you want the big box under the tree. The trick is matching the scent to the man. Below is my sketchbook of husband types, the scent I'd pick for each, and how to peek at his bathroom shelf so you don't guess.

Christmas gifts for your husband: start with who he is

Most gift lists sort things by price or by category. I sort by silhouette. When I draw a man, I look for the one line that says who he is: the way he leans on a fence, the mug he never puts down, the plain gray shirt he owns seven of. Scent works the same way. A man who smells like a pine forest and a man who smells like a doughnut shop are two very different drawings.

So before you shop, figure out which sketch is yours. Here's the page from my book.

The sketchbook: five husbands, five scents

The outdoorsman

I draw him from behind, mostly. He's always walking toward a tree line with a thermos. His truck smells like a campfire and he owns more flannel than you do. Give him The Marksman Beard Oil (crisp pine, warm cedar, mystical amber). It smells like the place he'd rather be on a Saturday. If his beard is long and gets wind-whipped, add The Marksman Beard Balm for light hold. Cold weather is hard on a beard, so point him to our winter beard care guide while you're at it.

The coffee guy

One mug, permanent. He has opinions about grind size. He likes things dark, rich and a little bitter. I'll be straight with you: Dr. Wolf isn't a coffee scent. But the blend of Dr. Wolf Beard Oil (fresh blueberries, warm tobacco, aged mahogany) lives in the same mood as a dark roast with a blueberry muffin on the side. Warm, deep, a bit sweet. For the man who drinks his coffee black and his evenings slow, it fits the drawing.

The minimalist

Gray shirts. One watch. A bathroom counter with exactly three things on it. He doesn't want a scent, he wants his beard to feel softer and the skin under it to feel less dry. Get him The Barkeep Beard Oil, which has no added fragrance. If he has a mustache he's proud of, tuck in The Barkeep Mustache Wax ($11.99) as a stocking stuffer. The plain line is also the one I'd pick for a husband whose skin gets touchy with fragrance. Our unscented beard oil guide explains why.

The cologne guy

He has a shelf. He knows the difference between top notes and base notes. He's going to be hard to impress, so give him something that matches. The Warlock Cologne (dark tobacco, brown ale, citrus spark, cherry mist) is $39.99 for 80 ml, and it pairs with The Warlock Beard Oil so his beard and his neck tell the same story. One tip for him: oil goes in the beard, cologne goes on the skin.

The one who smells like a bakery on purpose

You know who you married. He eats the frosting first. He'll smell a candle in a store and buy it on the spot. This man needs The Baker Beard Oil (fresh doughnuts, warm vanilla sugar, hint of cinnamon spice). If you want to go all in, The Baker Cologne is the dessert course. Fair warning: you will want to hug him more. That's the point.

How to sneak a peek at what he already uses

Asking "what scent do you like?" gets you "I dunno, whatever." Investigating gets you an answer. Here's where I'd look, in order:

1. His shower. Check the body wash and shampoo. Woodsy, citrus, sweet or "sport fresh"? That's his comfort zone.
2. His cologne bottle. If he has one he wears a lot, look up its notes on the box or online. Then pick a character with a note or two in common, or go unscented so they don't fight.
3. His current beard oil. Is the bottle almost empty? He likes it. Half full for a year? Wrong scent, or he doesn't know how to use it. A different character might be the fix.
4. His beard length. Short beard or stubble: oil is plenty. Longer than a couple of inches, or wild at the edges: add a balm. Not sure which he needs? Read beard oil vs beard balm.
5. His skin. Red patches or flakes after scented products? Go with The Barkeep's unscented line.
6. His orders. Coffee order, favorite candle, the dessert he always picks. Scent taste and food taste overlap more than people think.

Still stuck between two sketches? The scent matching gets its own page in how to choose a beard oil scent as a gift.

Best Christmas gifts for men with beards, by budget

Every drawing needs a frame. Here's how I'd frame your budget.

Under $20

• A beard oil in his scent, $18.99 for a 1 oz bottle. The single best small gift on this page.
• The Barkeep Mustache Wax, $11.99. For the man with a mustache he grooms on purpose.
• A natural deodorant, $13.99. The Baker Deodorant or The Warlock Deodorant match the oils above.

Under $40

• The Adventure Pack, $29.99. Five sample bottles of our best-selling oils: The Hero, The Wizard, The Marksman, Dr. Wolf and The Distiller. This is the one I'd hand to anyone who can't decide which sketch their husband is. Let him find his own scent.
• A cologne, $39.99 for 80 ml. Browse the cologne collection to match his oil.
• An Oil & Balm kit, $39.99. A 1 oz oil and a 2 oz balm in the same scent. Great for longer beards.

The big box under the tree

• A Complete Balm Kit, $79.99. Wash, conditioner, oil and balm in one scent. Find them in our beard care bundles.
• The Illustrator Ultimate Bundle, $135.99. Yes, I'm putting my own on the page. Sunlit oak, honeyed resin and ambrosial nectar, from wash to cologne. It's warm and golden, like afternoon light through a studio window. If he's the outdoorsman, the Ultimate Bundle comes in other characters too, like The Distiller (mulled spices, aged bourbon, deep barrel woods).

Want to see how a full kit gets used morning to night? Our beard care kit guide walks through it.

Pairing it with something that isn't in a bottle

A beard gift lands better with a small companion. A good wide-tooth comb, a flannel-lined weekend bag, or a handwritten note about why you picked his scent all frame the gift nicely. The note matters most. "This one smells like the cabin we rented" is a whole drawing in one line.

And if he's truly the man who owns everything, there's more for that sketch in gifts for men who have everything.

FAQ

One last thing

I mailed the sketch back to the woman who wrote that letter. Five little drawings of one bearded man, with a circle around the one in the flannel holding a thermos. She wrote back a week later: "It's the outdoorsman. Obviously. I don't know why I didn't see it." That's the funny thing about the people we love. We've already drawn them a thousand times. We just need someone to hand us the pencil.

Your beard, your story.

— The Illustrator

Keep reading in the Wizard's Library

• How to pick your signature beard oil scent
• What beard oil actually does
• How to use beard balm