Does Shaving Help Beard Growth? Myth or Fact?

Long story short, there is no scientific evidence that talks about does shaving help beard growth.  It’s just a myth that has been passed from generation to generation.

Facial hair growth depends on several factors, and razor shaving is not accountable for growing a full beard.  In fact, you get a coarser skin layer post-shaving, which was actually soft when not shaved.

Since shaving has nothing to do with growth, this article will let you know everything about:

• What shaving does do to the skin?
• Reasons for no or slow growth
• Ways to awaken hair follicles

Besides, we will also put forward some other shaving myths so that next time you don’t need to even open an article.

So let’s unveil what is stopping new growth.

Causes of Slow or No Beard

If shaving could have grown a beard, then no men on the earth would have remained imberbic.  Certain reasons pertain to undesired or no growth at all.  We are here to discuss that because we believe a problem well defined is a problem half solved.

Heredity

The traits that you see in your parents would also be visible in you.  One of which is hair growth.  If your father or grandfather has thicker hair strands, you can expect the same.  Contrary to this, if they have had no growth throughout their life, your efforts in growing a beard may disappoint you.

Testosterone Levels

Another major factor hindering growth is low testosterone…  The low levels of testosterone result in patchy or no beards.  Other signs that indicate low levels of testosterone are:

• Erectile dysfunction
• Increase in body fat
• Tiredness
• Mood swings

Skin Issue (Alopecia Areata)

According to the research, around 2.5M people in the USA are suffering from Alopecia Areata.  This is an AutoImmune condition wherein the body tends to make your beard follicles weak, leading to hair fall or shedding.  It’s an incurable disease. You can simply switch to:

• Rogaine (Minoxidil)
• Topical Immunotherapy
• Corticosteroid Creams
• Oral Immunosuppressants
• Dritho Scalp

Unhealthy Diet

An unhealthy diet leads to a decrease in protein, resulting in a low level of keratin production.  Facial hair follicles require keratin to grow and pop out of the top layer of skin.  You can increase your protein intake by adding fish, eggs, meat, and nuts to your diet.  Failing to do so could make you suffer from sparse, patchy, or no beards.

Low Vitamin Levels

B-Vitamins or Biotin are also responsible for hair growth.  Most beard growth supplements include Biotin and consider it as one of the active ingredients.  Having a sufficient source of B-Vitamin would wildly grow beard and body hair.

Geographical

Geographics also contribute to hair growth.  For instance, people from the Mediterranean area have a bushier and thicker beard, while Chinese people are not able to grow a full beard.  On the other hand, Caucasian men are blessed with fuller beards.  However, this point doesn’t carry much weight since facial hair growth majorly depends on genetics and testosterones.

Now that you know one side of the problem (causes), let’s know how to grow and what time it takes to grow.

Get Yourself Familiar with Hair Growth Cycle

Facial hair grows about one-third to one-half inch per month, which takes around 3-4 months to sport a full beard.  During the time and after, the hair follicles (residing under your facial skin) pass through three different phases.  So let’s know what happens during these phases:

Anagen Phase

The first phase wherein most activities like rapid division cells, forming of new hairs, and pushing the existing follicles out takes place.  The facial hair grows around 1 cm a month.  If you are facing a problem growing long beards, then the active phase is shorter than normal in your case.

Catagen Phase

What if we tell you that around 5 percent of your scalp hairs remain in this phase throughout life.  The phase no longer extends than three to four weeks.  During this phase, there is no growth and hair starts to detach from follicles.  However, the detached hair shafts remain stuck to the pores.

Telogen Phase

This one is also known as the resting phase which accounts for about 8% of hairs.  During this phase, there is no growth but shedding takes place.  Around 50-100 hairs are shed on a daily basis, and this phase lasts for about 2-3 months.  If you pull out hair, you will notice dry, hard, and white material at the bottom of the hair shaft.

So that’s how hair grows, rests, and is shed during a lifetime.  Now let’s know the ways to grow facial hair.

How to Accelerate Beard Growth?

If not shaving, then what else can stimulate facial hair growth.  Well, there are several home remedies for facial hair growth factors to consider for making hair grow faster and better.

Inculcating Healthy Diet

As unhealthy food leads to no hair growth, intake of healthy food can make facial hair grow faster.  You should not overly add nutrients nor should you miss out on anyone.  It may lead to micro or micronutrient deficiency.  So basically, whatever you eat should be healthy and qualitative.  Make sure you intake:

• Vitamin B6
• Vitamin C
• Beta-Carotene
• Vitamin E
• Flaxseed Oil

Drinking Plenty Water

Not only hydration water also helps to grow facial hair rapidly.  Drinking plenty of water promotes blood circulation and this blood flow transfers oxygen to cells and tissues, resulting in enhancement of the overall health of your skin.  A good skin condition leads to good facial hair growth.

Quit Smoking

Smoking is injurious to health so is to beard.  It affects blood circulation that transmits oxygen, vitamins, and nutrients to hair follicles.

Beard Moisturizing

Facial hair dryness could lead to shedding and hair fall.  Another reason for hair shedding could be split-ends, which require proper nourishment. Moisturizing keeps dry skin at bay, making your beard appear fuller and thicker.  Beard oil is one of the men’s grooming products that moisturizes your beard and the skin underneath it.

Facial Hair Conditioning

Growing a beard also requires shampooing and conditioning.  Failing to do so can cause build-up, leading to ingrown hairs and beardruff.  Once you are done with beard shampooing, apply a beard conditioner to your facial hair softer and fuller.

Applying Rogaine

Rogaine (Minoxidil) is scientifically proven to grow a beard.  It ensures a sufficient supply of nutrients, DHT, and testosterone flow.

Using Derma Roller

Using micro-needling or derma roller for facial skin is another way to boost hair growth on the face.  The roller comes with hundreds of needles equipped on the roller head, piercing your skin to activate the healing process.  If you are facing trouble growing a beard or want an effective solution for a patchy beard, you must try this method.

Reducing Stress

Stress is another factor that hinders hair growth.  Stress is one of the reasons behind constricting blood flow.  Facial hair grows in an environment where there is a good flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients.  You can reduce stress with regular exercise and meditation.

Beard Transplant

Lastly, a beard transplant is another reason you can start growing a beard.  However, it is expensive and should be the last option to consider, if everything else fails.

So that’s how you can grow a beard, but don’t you want a thick beard?  Well, the next section is all about how you can add thickness to your hair strands.

What Makes Facial Hair Growth Thicker? Does Shaving Help Beard Growth?

A fast-growing beard doesn’t mean it is thicker.  For adding thickness, you need to inculcate a few best practices to gain desired results.  It’s just a myth that shaving your beard can grow it back faster and thicker, this is just a widespread belief. This section is the answer for does your facial hair grows thicker and faster when you shave.

Control the Urge of Shaving

Shaving isn’t the solution for a temporary beard itch. It is temporary because the itching goes away within four weeks.  The beard grows thicker only if you resist the urge of gliding razor on your face.  Instead, you can use a beard brush to make facial hair uniform and apply beard oil for nourishment.

Exercise A Lot

Exercise leads to sweating that spikes testosterone, resulting in a fuller beard.  It pumps blood vessels to your scalp and clears out your skin pores.  This way, you are making a way for new hair shafts.  Besides, sweat also removes toxins from the body.

Reduce Stress

Stress leads to the release of cortisol, which is known for constricting blood vessels.  It leads to restricting nutrients to beard follicles.  Another pitfall of stress and released cortisol is it hinders testosterone growth.  That’s the reason you must keep an eye on stress levels.

Add Growth Supplements

Biotin is one of the supplements to add for growing a beard.  It boosts keratin production that ensures volume and thickness.

Use A Beard Balm

Beard hair thickness is associated with genes.  But there is one grooming product that ensures thickness.  You can use a beard balm for long beards to keep them in shape.

Now that you know the ways to grow a beard and that too thicker, let’s unfold how a shave can bring a change.  But before that let’s know both sides of shaving.

Advantages & Disadvantages of Shaving

A clean shave look is good while a bushy beard boosts confidence.  There are many pros and cons attached to beard shaving.  Let’s unveil them.

So these are the benefits and pitfalls of shaving.  Since shaving has nothing to do with the beard-growing, you should still know how to shave so that you do not accidentally cut yourself.

The Right Way to Shave Your Facial Hair

Step 1: Wash Your Beard

Razor burns and irritation are just a shave away if not taken care of pre-shaving.  That’s the reason you must wash your beard to prepare it for a smooth shave.

Step 2: Lather Your Facial Hair with Shave Cream

A clean-shaven is only possible when you use a quality shaving cream.  It makes your beard softer and allows the razor to easily glide down the skin.  Besides, it doesn’t even cause irritation and redness.

Step 3: Use Shave Brush

When you wash your beard, the facial hairs tend to stick to the stick.  It becomes necessary to lift those hairs to achieve a close shave.  That happens when you use a shaving brush because the bristles life those lying hairs on your facial skin.

Step 4: Use A Quality Razor

No razor burn, irritation, ingrown hairs, and rashes are only possible if you begin shaving with a good quality razor.

Step 5: Keep Rinsing off the Razor

Rinsing off the razor between shaves is necessary to get the best performance from the blades.  Before you start shaving and in between this practice should not be stopped.

Step 6: Shave & Re-Shave

A newbie might cut himself since he is unaware of the technique.  But as you are reading this, you know a stepwise process.  Make sure you don’t shave again since it can cut your skin.  Besides, keep the hard and stubborn hair coated with the shaving cream and shave the soft hairs first.  A clean shave look might require multiple passes, which is you need to reshave the same area again.

Step 7: Apply Aftershave Lotion or Balm

Shaving is a process wherein you lose hair and moisture.  Hair comes back within a month or two but for moisture, you must apply aftershave.  It restores and rejuvenates your skin while keeping it moisturized.

That’s how you execute a successful shave without bleeding.  Now let’s take a look at some of the jaw-dropping and eyebrow-raising facts related to shaving.

Unknown Facts About Shaving

FACT-1: Military soldiers aren’t allowed to wear beards since it becomes an obstacle in wearing oxygen or gas masks when needed.  Plus, it is considered to be the weakest point since enemies could grab and pull beards.

FACT-2: A man’s face carries more than 15000 hair follicles.

FACT-3: Before blade, clamshells, shark teeth, and flint were used for shaving off whiskers.

FACT-4: Olympic athletes are not required to wear stubble.  It’s either long or no beards.

 With this, let’s end our article.  If you still have questions, you can go through the next section, it has answers to all the questions people mostly ask.

Conclusion

Does shaving make the beard grow faster is a myth that we have cracked down in this article.  No scientific proof and no word of mouth evidence come up ahead to support the century-old claim that a shave causes hair to grow faster.  Since it all depends on genetics and lifestyle, it is advisable to modify your diet and exercise plan.

With this, we wrap up our article and allow you to decide which way you can grow a beard.  Do everything stated in the article and you will be able to sport your beard.

Reet Patel

As a college student, I understand the value of a polished appearance. My dedication to a well-groomed beard signifies the importance I place on self-presentation and consistency in my personal and professional life. My commitment to a well-maintained beard reflects my broader attention to detail. Whether in my studies or my appearance, I strive for precision and quality.