Welcome to the second review of the year and this time it’s new Beard brand Wild Hare UK. Isn’t he a reviewer? I hear you say. Yes he is, but, he has ventured into the beard product game. Will his products live up to expectations? Find out in my Review of Harold Beard Oil by Wild Hare UK
Who is Wild Hare UK?
Ollie is the face of Wild Hare and started doing YouTube videos over a year ago. He has been reviewing Beard products ever since and has tried out lots of different brands. Ollie is also a chef and did have a YouTube channel dedicated to his cooking styles. Mainly through foraging for ingredients local to him.
Ollie is a huge advocate for CPSR compliance and has been known to be very vocal about the subject. With all of his knowledge and experience reviewing products, surely this will show with his own Beard Product company.
Wild Hare UK has 5 different scent profiles and they each have their own name and character. The only one that doesn’t is the fragrance free oil. The rest are Harold, Rose, Joanna and Brady with Peter on the way soon! Lets’ move on to the review of Harold beard oil by Wild Hare UK.
Scent
You don’t get hit with a powerful blast when opening the bottle, instead a delicate trace of apple appears as you apply the oil. It’s not a Granny Smith apple scent but more of a sweet shop apple drop or something similar. On trying to find out which of the Fragrance oils replicates this apple smell, I came up short.
The oil is supposed to have scents of aftershave and lime but I didn’t really get the aftershave at all. There was a slight whiff 
of Lime but nothing that stood out. Apple was the main fragrance there and it wasn’t as strong as I would personally like.
Using Alpha-isomethyl ionone, Methyl 2-octynoate, Hexyl cinnamaldehyde, Parfum, Geraniol and Citrus aurantifolia it took some research to find out which of the above brought about the apple scent.
It seems like Geraniol could be the oil that provides the apple fragrance, but here’s a rundown of the scent blend used in Harold.
Alpha-isomethyl ionone
This is a synthetically made and naturally occurring organic compound (See the link above for more detail). Its primary scent is flowery and secondary is violet. It can have a woody fragrance to it as well. Interestingly it is an ingredient in Chanel No. 5.
Methyl 2-octynoate
The odour from this is also similar to violets when diluted. In its concentrated form it has more of an unpleasant odour. It is often used in perfumes.
Hexyl cinnamaldehyde
Another common additive in perfume and cosmetics as aroma substance. It is actually found naturally in the essential oil of chamomile.
Geraniol
Geraniol apparently has a rose like scent and it is also commonly used in perfumes. It is also used in flavours such as red apple amongst others. This is where my Sherlock Holmes inspired deduction led me to this fragrance oil as the one that provided the apple scent.
Citrus aurantifolia
This essential oil is taken from Lime and is intended to be refreshing and revitalising.
I couldn’t find any details for Parfum oil but I presume this is where the aftershave scent comes from. It’s an interesting mix of fragrance oils with none of them seeming to add to the overall scent profile. As I said before, apple is definitely the overriding scent but, unfortunately, it is a weak one.
Staying Power
It really lacks any strength and the scent was gone in less than 2 hours. This was really disappointing for me as I do like a minimum of around 7 hours in an oil. I used the oil for just over a week and it never went past the 2-hour mark. In fact, when I went outside to grab some fresh air on a dog walk, the sea breeze made it disappear within 20 minutes.
I was extremely disappointed with how weak this scent was as I had heard some good things about it. It didn’t smell bad but it was more of a ghost scent. An example would be the smell in your kitchen the morning after cooking a curry. It’s still there but only just and it’s gone by the time you’ve boiled the kettle.
Benefits
This is where the oil comes into its own. There is a good use of carrier oils in the products and it does really benefit the beard. Ollie uses 5 carrier oils and they all do a very good job. Not surprising with his know how. Here’s’s a rundown of the carriers and their benefits.
Camellia Tea Oil
This carrier is actually green tea oil and is great for the skin and hair. It is a light viscosity which makes it absorb easily into the skin. It really helps to keep your skin mousturised and it is ideal for use as a baby oil. That tells you how good it is for your skin!
Grape Seed
Grape seed oil is rich in linoleic acid, a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid. Essential fatty acids are the building blocks of healthy cells. They hydrate, moisturize, and soften skin. It absorbs into your beard and skin quickly as it is very thin and doesn’t leave you feeling greasy.
The oil promotes healthy hair growth which doesn’t mean it will make your hair grow quicker! However, it will make your hair stronger and more healthy. Just like castor oil, it helps to reduce beardruff which can be a problem.
Castor Oil
Castor oil is rich in ricinoleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid. This really helps to mousturise and hydrate the skin under your beard which can be difficult to do, especially with a big beard. It can also help to reduce acne which can appear when you first start to grow your beard.
The main benefit for your beard is in helping to reduce beardruff. This is when your skin gets itchy and flaky, similar to dandruff. Castor oil will also lubricate the hair shaft which helps make it stronger and less susceptible to breakage.
Rosehip Oil
Another oil that is very good for your skin, rosehip is taken from the seeds of the rose bush. It’s a natural mousturiser due to the fatty acids and high water content. Apparently it can help treat wrinkles as well, maybe it can help with the old turtle-neck!
Rosehip is extremely popular within the beauty world and it certainly nourished my skin.
Jojoba Oil
Jojoba oil is derived from the seeds of the jojoba shrub, a perennial native to the North American deserts. The oil of the jojoba seed is extracted by cold-pressing, a process that helps maintain the rich nutritional value of the oil. The oil has plenty of antioxidants including vitamins A and E.
These help to stop or reduce itchiness of the skin. This is particularly helpful in the early stages of beard growth. It is also great for your beard hair as the oil molecules are similar to sebum. It can also help to make your hair stronger which is very helpful when you brush or comb your beard a lot.
Feel in the Beard and Skin
After a week of using Harold I could definitely feel a difference in the skin under my beard. It felt soft and highly moisturised. I didn’t use it sparingly and I was really impressed with the result. I even wore it with a mask on and didn’t suffer any problems at all.
The oil is a medium viscosity and it absorbed into my beard really nicely. The skin underneath soaked it up like a desert floor when it rains. There wasn’t any greasy residue left anywhere which tells me that the blend and percentages were spot on. Another bonus of the carrier oils was the fact my grey hairs felt soft as well, always a plus.
Originality
The fragrance oils themselves aren’t original as such and they could have been better. Rosehip isn’t an oil I’ve seen used in many brands and looking at the benefits of the oil I don’t know why it isn’t.
The originality of Wild Hare is in his packaging. With a different Hare for each scent, designed by Craft Monkey Design, they instantly stand out. The Hares themselves certainly look Wild and embody the scent profiles.
There is definitely scope to create more products with this and I’m sure there will be more Hares to join the family at a later date.
Value for Money
You would think that at £10.99 I would rate this oil as good value for money. Unfortunately, in my opinion it doesn’t represent good value for money at all. It isn’t a bad price and I think some of that is down to the design and the cost of the carrier oils.
However, for me personally I would put this in the £8-9 bracket. Wild Hare do run promotions with this price, but, I feel it should be priced around there as standard. The longevity and weakness of the fragrance and the lack of essential oils is what brings this down for me.
It is definitely more of a reasonable price when compare to poor quality oils such as Midas Beard Oil which is priced at £25 but nowhere near the top quality oils available.
Conclusion
There are some really good aspects to Wild Hare. The original looking design of the Hares and the great selection of carrier oils keep Harold above water. Unfortunately the scent lets it down in a big way. It is a very weak fragrance and really should last longer in my beard.
It is a shame but I’m sure Wild Hare will continue and improve as they grow. It’s not a bad oil but it is an average oil overall with some really good benefits. Sadly, it doesn’t stand up to some of the brands that have been around for longer but we have to remember, it is just in its infancy.
You can purchase oils from Wild Hare by visiting their website www.wildhareuk.co.uk.
Thanks for reading my Review of Harold Beard Oil by Wild Hare UK. Don’t forget to check out my review of Big Phat Beards Oriental Wiff and while you are here, have a gander at What is a CPSR and why is it important?
I’ll be back on Monday with a review of Thefall Clothing’s Death ll Death hoodie but for now, take care and keep growing
Tony
