According to beard facts by Gitnux, around 33% of Americans and 55% of men across the globe grow a beard. It also means there’s a ray of hope, and there’s nothing to lose unless you go off track. All it requires is patience and the right piece of information.
How to grow a beard is all about unfolding 4 different methods, making you aware of the phases and their challenges. Besides, it even takes a dig at some common mistakes that you should avoid. And not only you but others as well. So the next time you see your brother or father doing or repeating the same mistake, you are going to spend them.
So let’s start by knowing the time difference between no to full and glorious beard growth.
Table Of Contents
How Much Time Does It Take to Grow a Beard?
The studies say it takes 2 to 4 months to grow a full beard. During the said time, beard growth is influenced by several factors, such as genetics and testosterone levels. These are the same factors that, if remain low, can even delay the process of growing a full beard.
Fact:
Facial hair grows 0.3 to 0.5mm every day, summing up to ⅓ to ⅕ inch per month.
The facial hair growth pattern is as follows:
- Thin hair starts to sprout up on the upper lip also called the mustache
- Sideburns start to grow darker and longer
- Noticeable chin beard and soul patch
- Hairs on cheeks get bushier slowly
- Lastly, neck hair completes your look
The process of beard growth is slow and passes through several phases, which is important for you to know. So let’s get ourselves familiar with it.
Beard Growth Phases: Do Not Miss
Not only your facial hair but entire body hair growth passes through these 3 phases. So what they are and how they work is what you will get to know.
Anagen Phase
Do you remember the good old days when you were in kindergarten, growing and learning things? Similarly, the anagen phase is the growing stage of your beard follicles. The hair follicle cells multiply at a faster pace. The phases range somewhere between two years to six years. It may even extend depending on your DNA. All this happens during the phase, which eventually leads to hair growth by half to one inch per month.
Catagen Phase
This is the phase that we consider the turning point of hair growth. The reason is that hair growth stops during this phase. The hair strands get detached from the roots. The blood circulation stops and the hair follicles suffer from nutritional deficiency. The phase is not as long as the Anagen phase, and it only lasts for two to three weeks.
Telogen Phase
The last stage where the action happens; it’s similar to how you are in your 12th grade and soon going to leave your high school. The new hair strands grow, which forces the existing ones to detach from the skin and shed off. The amazing thing that happens in this phase is as soon as the hair strands are shed off, the hair follicles go back to the Anagen phase. Just like the first phase, this one also lasts longer, somewhere around three to four months.
We expect you to be in the Anagen or Catagen phase, which also comes with some hassles. These hassles provoke you to shave off whatever growth you achieve over the months. So let’s know what you might experience or have been experiencing now.
Resist the Shaving Urge
In the initial days of beard growth, you might have been experiencing some beard-related problems which provoke you to shave off your beards. Since shaving is not the solution, we have stated some beard care products as a solution to the mentioned problems:
Beard Itch
An itchy beard is the most terrible thing. You constantly have the urge to scratch, and there are several reasons for it.
- Firstly, the shaving makes the edges points, which pricks your skin when grown and folded towards your facial skin.
- Secondly, when your facial hair gets exposed to environmental pollutants.
- Lastly, dehydration can also contribute to the urge to scratch.
As and when the facial hair gets longer, the itchiness subsides. However, if it doesn’t, you can use beard oil to hydrate your skin and soften your facial hair. But do not shave off your facial hair throughout the growing journey.
Beardruff
Similar to scalp hair, the beard also suffers from dandruff. It is the result of poor or no exfoliation of facial hair. Flaking also comes with itching, which provokes shaving. You can use a beard wash to exfoliate dead skin cells.
Besides, you can even use a beard brush to straighten your longer beard hair. Lastly, the addition of beard balm would be a great way to incorporate a new beard style.
Bald Spots
A patchy beard happens because of genetics or low testosterone levels. And this is not a rare thing, which means you are not alone. Many men are suffering from the same problem. All it requires is time to fully grow. The longer facial hair grows, the fewer these patches will be visible. No matter how long a patchy beard lasts, you must not shave off your beard to make it look uniform.
Now that you know what can compel you to shave off and make you wait for another 3 to 4 months, let’s understand different methods on How to stimulate beard growth.
Untold Secret Methods Of How To Grow A Beard
We know beard growing is a slow and steady process, but what if patience doesn’t deliver sweet fruits? This means either you remain dimeric or grow a patchy beard. However, every problem comes with a solution, slow or no growth comes with 4 different solutions.
Grow a Beard Using Home Remedies – Best for Beginners
We start with the home remedies since it is budget-friendly and has no side effects. Besides, the items listed here are easily available. It not only promotes beard hair growth but also resolves several other issues, such as an itchy beard, dandruff, and dry skin.
The home remedies include:
- Coconut oil massage
- A blend of coconut oil and rosemary oil massage
- Amla oil massage
- Blend of mustard leaves and amla oil massage
- Massage with eucalyptus oil
Massaging any of the oils reduces stress and makes skin clearer. Besides, it stimulates facial hair growth and makes your hair thicker.
Want to know the right technique and quantity of these oils? Check out our blog on natural remedies to spike beard growth.
Grow a Beard By Intaking Balanced Diet – Best for Everyone
Another method on how to grow facial hair covers young teenagers to adults and the ones who are about to retire. Since young teens are fond of junk foods, they might miss taking a proper diet. It results in less nutrient volume in the body than required.
The food that is essential for the body are:
- Soybeans
- Cereals
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Milk
- Whole grains
- Nuts
- Kale
- Spinach
- Potatoes
- Avocado
- Leafy green vegetables
- Chia seeds
- Quinoa
All of the foods maintain protein, vitamins, zinc, and biotin levels in your body, resulting in proper beard hair growth. Lack of these foods in your diet makes your facial hair dry, brittle, and frizzy.
Grow a Beard Using Supplements – Best for the Late ’30s
As discussed in beard growth through diet, it is mandatory to maintain the balance of vitamins and minerals. For any reason, you miss out on having your regular diet and the streak continues, it will result in improper, slow, or no hair growth.
The essential vitamins and minerals are:
- Vitamin A, B, C, E
- B1, B6, B12
- Zinc & Magnesium
Now that you know there is vitamin and mineral deficiency, you must start taking supplements to fulfill your needs. There are ample supplements in the market that boast of making a healthy beard and strong beard follicles. You just need to pick the right one that matches your requirements.
The supplements include:
- Beard oil
- Beard balm
- Beard booster serum
- Beard growth pills
Beard growing supplements is an entirely separate blog through which you will get to know limited and effective facial hair growth products. If you don’t have time and want to quickly make a decision, you can go through Wild Willies beard supplements review.
P.S: Supplements aren’t your regular diet’s replacement. They just help to achieve the desired length.
Grow a Beard Using Transplant – Best for the Early ’50s
Lastly, the beard transplant is what you can ponder upon. We would not suggest you undergo it since there are many reasons. For instance, it is expensive, has fewer chances of successful and positive results, and requires a lot of time.
If you want to undergo the procedure, then you must try all the above methods first. Now let’s know how beard transplant works.
So basically, the surgeon takes hair follicles from the patient’s head and implants them on the facial area where the bald or patchy spots are visible. If the implantation is done correctly, the results will be visible and permanent. You can expect a full and thick beard.
Another option is infusing hormone-boosting injections. It is a quick way to increase testosterone levels that is responsible for awakening every single hair follicle and pushing it to pop out of the skin and grow.
The only condition is that the injections are only valid on subjects having testosterone levels below average. Most men who suffer sparse or patchy beards will benefit from such injections.
The disadvantages attached to this injection therapy are an enlarged prostate, liver damage, increased cholesterol levels, heart attack, infertility, and cardiovascular diseases.
Now that you know how to get a beard, let us get ourselves familiar with some mistakes that may waste your investment, and time, and make you feel disappointed.
Avoid Mistakes To Get Optimum Results
No matter what methods you would be opting for to grow a beard faster, your one single mistake can ruin all your efforts. So what are those methods to avoid and how to grow a healthy beard is what you can expect from the below section.
Smoking
It is not only bad for health but also for a healthy beard, too. It decreases your lifespan by 10 years on average. Besides, till the time you live, it starts shedding off your scalp and facial hair. Ultimately, smoking gives you painful death and horrible experiences till the time you live.
Unhealthy Diet
Another bad habit to avoid is taking too much unhealthy or junk food. It causes nutrient deficiency, resulting in hair loss, sparseness, and patchiness. A well-balanced diet is important for beards and the skin underneath them. A good bearded life is only enjoyable when you intake healthy food.
Improper Beard Care
Most men even neglect taking care of their beard hair. No use of beard oil, no beard wash, no grooming, and no trimming. All these habits may lead to beard itch, and dandruff, and slow down the beard growth rate. Incorporate a beard wash each time you wash your hair, which ideally, happens roughly every two days. Additionally, combs through your beard should occur daily following your shower, hydrate it with beard oils, and use moisturizer to moisturize the beard and the skin underneath it.
Drinking
Alcohol makes hair strands and the skin beneath dehydrated. A dry and brittle hair starts to shed off quickly, which eventually makes bald spots or you may completely go bald. Hence, you must stop drinking alcohol and start applying moisturizer to keep your skin hydrated.
Sleepless Nights & Stress
Sleep is a must for all of us. Not getting proper sleep can bring ample problems to your life. One of them is stress, and it is not good for health. Sleep elevates testosterone levels that ensure the supply of essential nutrients to hair roots. Therefore, the skin beneath facial hair will be nourished and ready to pop out facial hair.
Not Exercising
Growing a beard can still be a dream if you do everything correctly but not exercise. Exercising removes toxins from your body, while also ensuring blood circulation. The more blood circulates the better the beard grows. Also, it even boosts oxygen to beard follicles, making them healthier and stronger.
Shaving
Once you notice hairs on your face, don’t consider trimming or shaving. Once you trim or shave off your beards, you need to wait for them to grow longer like before.
So that’s how growing a beard becomes easy if you do everything with discipline and keep doing it. The best practices mentioned in the article ensure a healthy lifestyle and may even grow long beards.
FAQs:
1. When Does The Beard Start To Grow?
The ideal phase when a beard starts growing is during puberty age. As and when you turn 13, you start noticing hairs on your upper lips, soul patch, chin beard, and then cheeks. It continues to grow till you turn 18 or 19. By the end of 19, you will have fully grown, luscious beard hair. If not, then don’t lose hope. Many men even start growing a beard after their 30’s or 40’s.
2. What Are Beard Care Products To Achieve A Perfect Beard?
We consider beard oil, beard balm, beard wash, beard serum, and beard moisturizer as great beard care products. As a beard grower, we know the hassles you might be facing or may face in future, and that’s the reason we are suggesting the list of products. They are good at taking care of your facial hair.
3. How To Make A Beard Thicker?
Beard oil is one of the beard care products to make the beard grow thicker and duskier. It contains jojoba oil that replicates the body’s natural oils. It doesn’t increase the width of the hair strand, it just makes your beard look voluminous.
4. Does Shaving Make The Beard Grow Thicker?
No, this is a common myth and has no proof that shaving makes the beard grow bushier. The facial hair thickness depends on beard genetics. No beard product can alter the width of your hair strand.
5. What Does Beard Oil Do To Facial Hair?
Beard oil improves the health of your beard and makes it softer. A few drops every day make the beard soft and smooth. Besides, beard oil makes both the skin and facial hair long and strong.
6. What Stimulates Beard Growth?
Testosterone along with Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), plays pivotal roles in the facilitation and control of the growth of facial hair. Typically, a rise in Testosterone and DHT contributes to faster, and thicker beard growth. Conversely, a lack of adequate Testosterone can negatively affect the development of facial hair.
7. Can Eveyone Grow A Beard?
A majority of males possess comparable testosterone levels, this includes those who lack facial hair. However, not all males have the capability to cultivate a beard. In some instances, external aids might assist in beard growth. Nonetheless, if your genetic makeup doesn’t support it, or if you suffer from a condition like Alopecia, growing a beard remains an impossibility.
Conclusion
By now, you must know that growing a beard ain’t an overnight process. You are required to have patience, try some methods and then wait for the results. In only the rarest of rare cases, you are required to undergo beard transplants. The rest of the time, men tend to grow beards naturally or by opting for the other three methods.
Tell us your experience; how did you grow a facial hair? If opted for, then which method benefitted you? How long have you been doing this? Share your beard growth tips with us and get a chance to feature your story.
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.
