Do you feel like your facial hair grows at a glacial pace? Do you wish your facial hair grew faster but aren’t sure what to do?
Generally speaking, facial hair grows between 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm per day. On average, it takes two to four months to grow a full beard. So, if you’re expecting to grow a full beard overnight, it may just be that you’re impatient.
If it takes you longer than a few months to grow a full beard, there may be something else at play. Why does your facial hair grow slow? Read on to find out.
Related: Great Tips On How to Grow Your Hair: The Ultimate Hair Growth Guide for Men
Causes of Slow Growing Facial Hair
There are men who can grow a full-length beard in just a month. Many times, genetics plays a large role in how fast someone can grow a beard.
However, there may be things that you’re unknowingly doing that are stunting the growth of your beard. Here are some of the primary causes of slow-growing facial hair:
1. You’re Not Eating Enough
There’s a chance that your diet could be playing a role in your slow beard growth. A seven-year study monitored a group of men who followed a low-calorie diet and compared them to main who ate within calorie maintenance or in surplus.
The results showed that men who ate in a caloric deficit had significantly lower levels of testosterone than men who ate in maintenance or in surplus. What does this have to do with beard growth?
Testosterone is the primary hormone behind the rate of beard growth. If you’re not eating enough, your body won’t produce enough testosterone for your beard to grow fast.
To make sure you’re consuming enough calories per day, we recommend keeping track of your daily intake. The number of calories you must consume per day will depend on your size, activity level, and general health. You can use an online calorie calculator to figure out how many calories you should be eating per day.
2. You’re Shaving Too Much
One of the biggest myths in the beard community is that shaving more will lead to quicker beard growth. However, this is not the case.
While shaving your beard will keep it looking fresh, it doesn’t do much in terms of overall beard growth. That being said, you should still trim your beard on a regular basis to keep it in good shape.
Before trimming your beard, you should first wash it with a beard shampoo. Then, run conditioner through your beard to help soften it up.
You should also run a beard brush or comb through your hair before giving it a trim. When tripping your beard, we suggest starting with a clipper with a bigger guard to ensure you don’t accidentally cut it too short.
If you’re looking to play with your beard shape a bit, try using a number three setting for the temples and a number four or five setting for the goatee area. You should try to keep the mustache as short as the hair on your temples or cheeks.
Are you wondering if you should shave your beard? Click here to find out!
3. You’re Going Overboard On Your Beard Care Routine
If you’re trying to grow your beard, it’s very important to have a beard care routine in place. However, if your beard care routine is too aggressive, you’ll end up doing more harm than good.
For example, if you have a curly-haired beard, you may think it’s a good idea to blow dry it on a regular basis. But if you blow-dry your beard on high heat and your beard is wet, there will be large amounts of structural damage to your beard.
Overusing a beard straightener can also damage your beard, as too much heat can stunt the growth of your beard hairs. For the most part, we recommend keeping your beard care routine simple.
As we mentioned above, you should shampoo and condition your beard regularly. You should also brush it or comb it. We also suggest using beard balm and beard soap to help keep your beard healthy and help it grow.
4. You’re Not Getting the Right Vitamins and Minerals
As we mentioned above, not eating enough can stunt the growth of your beard. Eating the wrong foods can also have a detrimental effect on your beard.
There are all kinds of vitamins and minerals your body needs to function properly, and most of them you can get by eating a healthy diet. However, if you’re not getting enough vitamins and minerals through your regular diet, you should consider taking supplements.
Luckily, there are supplements out there specifically created for beard growth. Look for supplements that contain:
- Vitamin B, C, E,
- Biotin
- Zinc
- Calcium
- Selenium
- Pantothenic acid
- Copper
- Manganese
- Collagen
All of these vitamins are crucial for speeding up the beard growth process.
Related: What are the Benefits of Biotin for Beard Growth?
5. You’ve Reached Your Beard’s Terminal Length
There’s also a chance that your beard has grown as long as it possibly can. During the regular course of a day, most of your beard hairs are growing in what’s called the anagen growth phase.
This growth phase generally lasts between two to six years. When this phase ends, your beard hair transitions into the catagen resting phase. Then, it moves onto the telogen phase before shedding.
You don’t need to understand the specifics of each of these phases. Rather, what’s important to understand is that each of your beard hairs has a potential lifespan of six years. When your old hair sheds, the new beard hair will begin to grow.
So, if you’ve been growing your beard out for years, there’s a chance that it’s already reached its optimal growth length.
Related: How Long Does It Take to Grow a Beard?
6. Your Beard May Naturally Grow Slowly
According to your hereditary genetics, your beard hair follicles may naturally be slow growers.
The active phase of beard growth is called the anagen phase.
And the intermediary phase between the anagen and telogen phases is called the catagen phase. The hair strand will separate from the hair follicle and attach itself to the skin.
When your beard growth is temporarily paused or resting, it is called the telogen phase. As your hair continues growing through the telogen phase, a new anagen phase begins at the follicle base.
Eventually, the hair falls out due to shedding, and a new follicle takes its place. This is why your hair naturally sheds. Your hair has a continually regenerating life cycle.
Why do you need to know these scientific phases? Because based on your genetics, your beard hair will only grow a specific amount every day based on your body's natural growth phases.
The typical beard hair grows anywhere between 0.3 mm to 0.5 mm every day. Translated to inches, that is about 0.01 inches per day.
The average beard hair grows about half an inch every month. And your beard hair may grow slower than that, according to your hereditary genetics.
That isn't a good or bad thing. It is what it is. You have no control over your DNA or the rate of your beard's growth.
7. Ethnicity
Along with genetics, your ethnicity may be a significant factor in why your beard is growing slowly.
Medical studies may suggest that Asian men may not be able to grow beard hair as quickly as men of other ethnicities. Men from the Mediterranean region tend to grow thick beards quicker than different ethnicities.
Science could be wrong, and much more research must be undertaken on the subject. However, genetics certainly have a lot to do with beard growth rates.
And your ethnicity won't prevent you from growing a beard, but it may be a factor in why it is growing more slowly.
Time to Grow Out Your Beard
As you can see, there are many factors at play when it comes to how fast your beard grows. By following the above recommendations, you should see your beard grow at a faster rate.
Soon, you’ll have the beard of your dreams?
Do you have questions related to beard care? If so, contact us today!