How Can You Grow Beard Faster? 10 Effective Ways
Have you ever caught yourself staring in the mirror at your stubble, wondering, “How can you grow beard faster?”
While growing a beard may seem as simple as putting down the razor, it actually requires patience, proper care, attention, and confidence to push through those awkward, patchy phases.
Even though genetics plays an important role in determining how fast your beard will grow, you can still aid the process by making a few lifestyle changes. However, it is important to remember that there is no magic trick to speed up beard growth overnight. It takes time and consistency.
In this blog, we will explore some pro tips to help you grow your beard faster and healthier.
Factors Affecting Your Beard Growth
Before we jump into ways to promote beard growth, you first must understand the science behind beard growth. Various factors can influence how fast or thick your beard will grow, such as:
Genetics: Your genes play an important role in deciding how thick and fast your beard will grow. If you notice that your father and grandfather had a quickly growing, thick beard, then there are chances that your beard will grow faster.
Age: Even though your beard starts growing during puberty or around the age of 16, full beard development actually takes place around your mid-20s and 30s. So if your beard is growing slower during your teenage years, there are chances that it will start growing faster once the hair follicles mature.
Hormones: Hormones such as Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) affect your facial hair growth. We have an enzyme in our body known as 5-alpha reductase that converts the stored testosterone into DHT.
DHT then connects to the receptors in the hair follicles, stimulating their growth. So the higher your DHT and testosterone levels are, the faster and thicker your beard will grow.
Diet: Consuming an unhealthy diet, which contains fatty, sugary foods, can affect your beard’s health and slow down its growth.
Skincare Routine: Not taking proper care of your beard and skin underneath it can lead to various complications, such as irritation, dryness, acne, clogged pores, beard dandruff, and ingrown hair that can hinder your beard growth.
Lifestyle: Unhealthy lifestyle choices such as consuming too much alcohol, smoking, and a lack of exercise can slow down your beard growth.
Stages of Beard Growth
After understanding the factors that affect your beard growth, it is essential to know that your beard has to go through certain growth phases. These phases explain why a beard may sometimes appear thick and healthy, while at other times, you may notice hair loss and a patchy beard.
Anagen (Growth) Phase: During this phase, the hair is actively growing at a rate of around half or 1 inch per month. This phase usually lasts for about 3 to 4 years. However, the longer this phase lasts, the fuller your beard will be.
Catagen (Transition) Phase: During this phase, the hair follicles start to shrink and detach the hair from the blood supply, which is essential for its growth. This phase usually lasts about 3 weeks. The hair stops growing at this stage.
Telogen (Resting) Phase: This phase lasts for a few months. During this phase, the hair follicles remain dormant and start preparing for shedding the old hair and growing new hair.
Exogen (Shedding) Phase: At this stage, the hair remains at a fixed length after which it naturally sheds off and is replaced with new ones that start off again with the anagen phase.
How Can You Grow Your Beard Faster?
Now that we have understood the science behind beard growth, let’s take a look at “How can you make your beard grow faster and thicker?”
1. Be Patient and Persistent
The key to a healthy and fuller beard is patience. No matter how fast your beard grows, it will always take time, especially if you are planning to grow a hipster, or Bandholtz beard. It takes around 6 to 8 months to grow a full beard.
However, it is essential that you remain persistent in your beard care routine to prevent issues like dryness, irritation, and beard dandruff that slow down the growth of your beard. If you are also one of those who are experiencing beardruff (beard dandruff), then treating it can help improve your beard growth.
The best way to get rid of beard dandruff is to use a medicated anti dandruff beard shampoo 2 to 3 times a week, or as prescribed by the doctor, to cleanse your beard and reduce the flaking, redness, and irritation associated with dandruff.
2. Maintain a Skin and Beard Care Routine
Maintaining a good skincare routine is what helps the beard grow faster. Most of us don’t consider it, but our skin can be a home to sebum, dirt, and bacteria, which can lead to different skin issues, from clogged pores to acne and skin infections.
Our beard also grows directly from the same skin. And your skin’s health can also have a great effect on your beard growth. This is why it is essential to keep the skin and beard both clean and provide the beard with a healthy environment to grow.
One of the first and most important steps that you must incorporate into your routine is to wash your face daily and shampoo your beard with the help of a fragrance-free beard shampoo at least 2 to 3 times a week to keep it clean.
Also, don’t forget to moisturize your skin after cleansing with the help of a hypoallergenic moisturizing cream and your beard with a beard balm.
3. Exfoliate Your Beard
Exfoliation has various benefits for your skin and beard. You can use a fine-toothed comb or a boar bristle brush to exfoliate your beard, and a water-based exfoliator scrub for the rest of the face.
Wondering how exfoliation can help your beard grow faster?
Here is how: when you brush your beard and gently massage it in circular motions at least once or twice a week, it helps stimulate the blood circulation to the hair follicles, making it easier for them to receive the essential nutrients and oxygen needed to grow faster.
4. Eat a Healthy, Balanced Diet
What you put inside your body can have a great impact on your skin, hair, and overall health. Your beard can only grow faster when the hair follicles and your body are receiving all the essential nutrients.
Having some deficiencies can actually hinder the growth of your beard. This is why you must maintain a healthy, balanced diet to promote faster and healthier beard growth.
Some of the essential nutrients that can stimulate beard growth are:
- Protein: Our hair is basically made of protein, which is why consuming foods rich in protein, such as eggs, fish, lean meat, nuts, and seeds, can strengthen the hair follicles and promote beard growth.
- Healthy Fats: We usually think that fats are harmful for the body, but a certain type of fat, such as omega-3 fatty acids, is essential to keep the hair hydrated and prevent breakage. These healthy fats can be found in salmon, sardines, avocados, chia seed, and olive oil.
- Zinc and Iron: Zinc and iron are both essential to prevent hair loss. Foods like oysters, red meat, pumpkin seeds, and cashews are a great source of iron.
- Biotin: Biotin, found in foods such as egg yolk, dairy products, and cereals, can help strengthen the hair.
- Vitamin D: Vitamin D helps activate the dormant hair follicles. It can be found in mushrooms, cheese, milk, and yogurt.
- Fruits and Vegetables: Fruits and vegetables such as spinach, kale, berries, oranges, and sweet potatoes contain vitamins like A, C, and E that help support the hair follicles, testosterone levels, and promote collagen production, which are all essential for faster beard growth.
5. Stay Hydrated
You must be wondering how staying hydrated can help your beard grow faster. Here is how water in our body helps deliver all the essential nutrients and moisture to your hair follicles to help the hair grow faster.
Our hair is made up of about 25% water, and dehydration can affect its thickness and growth rate. Also when our body is dehydrated, it starts providing the available water to the essential organs like the heart and brain instead of hair follicles, due to which the beard hair becomes brittle, dry, and more prone to hair breakage.
This is why it is essential to drink plenty of water during the day to keep your body hydrated.
6. Exercise and Reduce Stress
If you want to grow your beard faster, then hitting the gym and exercising can make a big difference. Most of us know that exercise can make us healthy, but did you know that strength training and high-intensity workouts can give our testosterone a natural boost that helps our beard grow quicker?
Also, regular exercise can help improve blood circulation and metabolism, making it easier for your hair follicles to receive the oxygen and nutrients that can speed up beard growth.
7. Get Enough Sleep
Lack of sleep can be more harmful to your beard than you actually think. According to experts, an individual requires around 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep each night in order to remain healthy.
Sleep deprivation can reduce testosterone levels in your body, which in turn can slow down your beard growth. According to a study published in PubMed found that teenage men who were sleep deprived for 48 hours experienced around 19% decrease in beard growth.
Lack of sleep also affects blood circulation, due to which the hair follicles are unable to receive the essential oxygen and nutrients. This is why sleep is very important not only for your health but also for your beard growth.
8. Try Dermaroller
Derma Rollers are small rollers that contain tiny needles in them. When you roll it over your skin, it creates tiny punctures in the skin, this process is also known as microneedling. It helps stimulate the blood circulation, collagen production, the body’s natural healing response, and nutrient delivery to the hair follicles.
And as a result it helps activate dormant follicles and speed up the hair growth. Even though there is not much scientific research done on it yet, many men claim that dermarolling has helped them grow a thicker, fuller beard.
However, it is essential to consult a doctor before using them.
9. Take Your Supplements
Eating a healthy diet can help you grow your beard faster, but sometimes staying on track with what to eat and how much to eat becomes difficult, especially if you have a busy life. As a result, the body often lacks the essential nutrients required for faster beard growth.
An easy way to fix the nutrient deficiency is to take supplements. However, it is important to consult a doctor before starting any supplements, and they should be taken according to the prescribed dosage.
10. Manage Stress
Managing or reducing stress can help you grow your beard faster and healthier. When you are under stress your body produces a hormone known as cortisol that can lower the testosterone levels in your body.
And lower levels of testosterone eventually mean slower, weaker hair growth. Additionally, chronic stress messes up your blood circulation, reducing the oxygen and nutrients from reaching your hair follicles, which can help the beard grow.
This is why managing stress, whether it is through meditation, exercise, yoga, deep breathing techniques, or by doing things that you love, can have a positive impact on your beard growth.
Incorporating these expert tips in your daily life and making healthy lifestyle choices is the quickest way to grow facial hair.
Does Shaving Help Grow a Beard Quicker?
Most people think that shaving their beard entirely can help grow it faster and thicker. But the reality is this is just a myth. There is no medical proof that shows that shaving will make beard grow faster.
The only way a razor can help your beard grow faster is when it’s out of sight.
Does Your Beard Ever Stop Growing?
This is a common question often asked by bearded men. Does the beard ever stop growing? The simple answer to this question is no. Your beard will continue to grow throughout your life.
However, the hair goes through a natural growth cycle due to which it will grow to a certain length during the terminal phase, after which it will shed off and will be replaced with new hair.
But in conclusion, your beard hair may fall out and regrow from time to time, as a whole, it will always continue growing.
Conclusion
Growing a healthy beard takes time and patience. It is not something that can happen overnight. While genetics plays an important role in how fast your beard will grow, incorporating these expert tips in your routine can help enhance the process.
A few things that you can do to make your beard grow faster are: follow a proper skin and beard care routine, take a balanced diet, exercise, manage stress, keep your body hydrated, and make healthy lifestyle choices.
You can also consult a doctor and use nutritional supplements or a derma roller to maximize your beard’s potential. Along with these, it is also important to use the right beard products that are free from harsh chemicals like fragrance, parabens, sulfates, and dimethicone.
If you are searching for skin-friendly beard wash, then try Facial Fortress Beard Shampoo. It can be used as a face wash, beard wash, and scalp shampoo at the same time and is free from skin-irritating chemicals.
It helps keep your beard clean and nourished, which prevents irritation and promotes a healthier, faster beard growth.
FAQs
How to speed up beard growth?
A healthy lifestyle can help speed up your beard growth. It is essential to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, manage stress, and regularly cleanse your beard with a fragrance-free beard shampoo like Facial Fortress.
Does beard oil help with growth?
Most people think that beard oil can help stimulate beard growth, however, the truth is that it only moisturizes the skin and has nothing to do with the growth. When the hair follicles remain nourished and moisturized, it can lead to better beard growth.
At what age does a beard grow fully?
There is no definite answer for it. However, for most men, their beard reaches its maximum potential between the ages of 25 to 35, because the hair follicles of the beard start maturing after the age of 20.
How long can it take for a beard to grow in?
It usually takes around 2 to 4 months for a beard to grow properly. However, this time span may vary from person to person depending upon their genetics and other factors that stimulate beard growth.
Does touching your beard make it grow faster?
No, touching your beard has nothing to do with its growth. In fact, it is actually harmful for your beard and skin. Our hands are often covered with bacteria that can transfer to the beard when you touch it and cause complications like skin infections.
Also, continuously touching your beard can irritate your facial skin and hair follicles, which in turn may slow down your beard growth.
