Growing a thicker beard can be a challenge for many men for a variety of reasons.
The problem for most men is that once the beard reaches a certain point, itchiness can become so out of control that they shave or trim a beard too early.
Combine this with a poor diet and improper skin care techniques, the beard looks thin and weak, to say the least.
Men believe that the beard is associated with masculinity, power, leadership, and wisdom, the thicker the beard the more respect it commands.
Before going through all the reasons why some beards grow thicker than the others or tips on how to make your beard thicker, it’s essential to outline the qualities of a great beard.
Those qualities are:
- Thickness – the number of hairs you have within your beard
- Liveliness – a beard that looks full of life and it can be achieved with proper beard care and commitment
- Length – the length of your beard
Most men particularly struggle with the first one – thickness.
If there is someone to blame for this, it’s genetics. After all, genetics is responsible even for the growth of the hairs on your hair.
Some men simply have a higher testosterone level and can develop a full, thick beard. Others are, unfortunately, left with some to no facial hairs at all.
Hairs on humans grow about half an inch per month. So unless you have some problem with your skin, your beard will grow at a similar rate too.
Let’s say the thickness depends 85% on your genes. That means that you’re left with just 15% to help your beard grow thicker.
This being said, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do anything at all. Quite the opposite, there are a lot of tricks you can apply to have the lustrous beard you desire.
What Makes Beard Thicker
Often it feels like some men’s beards grow thicker and fuller in just 2, 3 weeks, while you have to wait for yours to become thicker the whole eternity.
The reality is that those men’s beards don’t grow faster than yours. They grow at the same rate as yours.
What happens here is that you get the illusion that someone’s beard is thicker, based on 3 factors:
1. Beard color – darker beards look thicker and fuller
2. Beard density – thicker facial hair seems fuller and gives the impression that the beard is growing faster although it’s not
3. Diameter of hair strands – some men have thicker hair follicles, and that’s why their beards look thicker
Although significant, genetics is not the only factor that determines how thick will your beard be.
Other factors are your age and overall health.
When it comes to age, teenagers are often disappointed when they experience a patchy beard.
The truth is that the older you get, the thicker your beard will grow, and some patches you may be experiencing will start to fill in over time.
In the matter of fact, only a few men can grow a thick beard for the first few years they start producing facial hair, even those with good beard genes.
The critical thing at this stage is patience because your beard needs time to develop its density properly.
In the twenties, beard continues to develop, reaching its full potential.
Up until the thirties, the beard should be fully developed and thick. If not, that means the beard is not in your genes.
Don’t get discouraged with this just yet. Although you can’t affect how fast your beard grows, you can make it appear and even grow thicker.
Here are some simple tips you can implement today that will grow a thicker beard in less time than you might think.
The Four Week Beard Rule
The four-week rule means one thing, grow thicker beard consistently instead of missing out on the full potential.
The sad truth is most guys do things to impede the growth of the beard long before it reaches its full potential.
For many men, the beard begins itching around the two to three-week mark, and they let this consume them to the point they either shave or trim before the hair reaches thick status.
The reason the hair is itching is a combination of two things. The first is poor grooming habits, basically, the skin is not being moisturized so it can withstand the hair follicles piercing through.
Secondly, as new hairs grow, they cause slight irritation in the skin that will subside in a few days, but most guys can’t get to that point. Here you can read how to deal with the beard itch.
The trick to growing a thicker beard is to be able to get past that four-week mark.
Even if you see patchiness and believe the hair will never fill in the gaps, you need to learn to be very patient when it comes to beard growth.
It is at the four-week mark that most beards will start to connect and fill in better, then you are in the best position to evaluate your unique condition.
The bottom line here is growing a thicker beard is a commitment on your part, you must get past the stubble phase to allow the beard to take shape and grow more rapidly.
If you start trimming and shaping too early, you stop the growth process and never attain that truly thick beard. Because not all beard hair grows equally.
Steps Before Starting to Grow Your Beard
A couple of things can be done at the very beginning of your beard growing journey to help your beard become thicker later:
Wash your beard regularly, but make sure you don’t over-wash it. If you do it every day, chances are your beard will soon start to dry out and become more prone to damaging. (we recommend Beard Wash by Mountaineer)
Apply beard oil since the first day. This way you will prevent excessive itching, and your beard will grow softer and healthier. (we recommend Beardoholic Beard Oil)
Noticing glaring patches or a lack of density in a few spots requires a little boost from your side.
You may find it hard to believe, but there is also good news in having a difficulty to grow a thicker beard from a young age.
Studies have shown that men who can’t develop a thicker beard when they are young won’t have to worry about going bald as they get older.
The Next Steps
If you’ve survived the first month of bearding without shaving, congratulations.
After you have made it to the four-week mark, you will have two choices when it comes to growing a thicker beard.
You have one option of simply letting it grow on its own, letting it reach its full potential. The other option is to begin to sculpt, shape, and groom the beard.
Good To Know: Top 9 Grooming Mistakes that You Must Stop Making
Letting it grow more naturally will earn you man points, but grooming helps to give you a more polished appearance.
Now comes the part of making your beard look more polished by grooming it.
Some men tend to groom the beard from the start, but in that case, there’s a risk. You can easily misjudge how your beard grows or its natural lines, and mess things up.
If that happens, you’ll have to regrow an area that you may have trimmed or shaved by mistake.
Trimming with scissors and with best beard trimmer is ideal, but consider utilizing a beard oil to help keep the skin below moisturized too.
The beard oil will soak into the beard and skin, and help it grow thicker.
Grow Thicker Beard Faster
The following tips are designed to help you grow that thick beard after you have made it to the 4-week mark:
1. Take Care of Your Skin
Healthy skin is the foundation of a healthy, thick beard. That’s why you’re going to need a good moisturizer.
Cleaning and washing your face regularly will stimulate circulation, exfoliate the skin, remove dead skin cells that are causing ingrown hairs, and open up your pores.
A good moisturizer keeps your skin healthy. In return, you’ll notice increased beard growth, which leads to thicker beard over time.
We recommend Leave-In Conditioner by Honest Amish
2. Start Exercising
The first thing you can do to improve the quality of your beard is exercising on a regular basis. This is the solid foundation in which you need to build upon to grow thicker hair, so start by losing some of that excess weight you have.
Although all exercises help your beard grow thicker in one way or another, some of them are more helpful than the rest.
Cardio workouts, brisk walking, running, cycling, and dance are proven to make your beard thicker in a faster manner.
This will in turn increase testosterone, which promotes healthy follicles and hair growth. The exercise also increases blood circulation which provides all the nutrients the hair needs to grow thicker and stronger.
With more exercise, you’ll not only increase testosterone, but also DHT (dihydrotestosterone).
This is testosterone’s product, which is also crucial when you’re trying to get a thicker beard. DHT promotes the linear growth of each hair, resulting in curlier and thicker beard.
When adding exercise to your daily routine, you should be careful and start slowly, especially if you haven’t done it before.
A personal trainer can help you perform exercises correctly in the beginning while reducing the possibility of injuring.
3. Reducing Stress
When you are stressing about everything in your life, you increase the cortisol in your body. This will have a negative impact on testosterone development.
The stress also can constrict the blood vessel, making it more challenging for the nutrients in the blood to get to the hair follicles.
Stress can be divided into short and long-term stress. Everyone often experiences daily or short-term stress.
Men who are trying to grow a thicker beard may find it especially harmful because it disrupts their sleep pattern. Not getting enough sleep directly affects your beard, making it more challenging to grow thicker.
Long-term stress lasts an extended period and can be even more harmful in disabling your beard to grow thicker.
Start with meditation and let that stress simply melt away. You will be amazed at how much your facial hair will improve after you work at eliminating any stress from your life.
4. Getting Your Rest
In order to increase testosterone in the body, your body simply needs to sleep. Sleeping helps the body to regenerate testosterone, especially if you are getting at least 8 hours sleep a night.
If you are getting enough sleep, your stress will decrease, and your facial hair will benefit.
Getting 5 hours of sleep can reduce your testosterone production by a staggering 15%, which in turn can result in those patchy areas throughout your beard that never seem to fill in.
5. Improve Your Diet
A vitamin-rich diet consists of eating more vegetables. These vegetables are packed with all the minerals and vitamins that your body needs to stay healthy.
Your hair is a protein filament, so the more protein-rich foods you’re consuming the healthier your beard will look.
Some of the foods you should incorporate into your diet are eggs, nuts, and kale. These will increase testosterone production and give your beard that luxurious thicker appearance.
6. Taking Supplements
Stimulating the growth of facial hair can be as simple as taking supplements in addition to a well-balanced diet.
It is important to know that copper, zinc, magnesium, vitamin B, iron, vitamin D, and vitamin E all play crucial roles in growing thicker hair.
Along with these supplements, experts recommend taking biotin every day to grow your beard thicker. (check out this bestseller by Sports Research)
Other supplements that can increase your beard’s thickness are vitamins B6 and C, as well as beta-carotene, nettle, and flaxseed oil.
The sad truth is most men do not get enough of these in their diet. Incorporating supplements into the diet will have a positive impact on your facial hair, as you will begin to see the quality of the hair improve after changing your diet.
Supplements are great for filling in some patchy spots and making a beard fuller and thicker in just a couple of months.
However, vitamins can’t grow a beard for you, if you don’t have it in your genes.
Some men have successfully grown their beards faster and thicker with the help of supplements, but these results should be taken in stride as they will not work for everyone the same way.
Whats more, supplements shouldn’t be taken without consulting with the doctor first on the appropriate dosage for each of them.
Our pick: Multivitamin by Centrum or read more about beard vitamins here.
7. Apply Beard Oil Regularly
Every man serious about growing a beard will start using best beard oil from the first day. Good beard oil moisturizes your beard and skin underneath while eliminating beard itch and dandruff along the way.
Bonus tip – when choosing a beard oil to grow your beard thicker, go for the one that includes jojoba oil. Jojoba oil is similar to sebum that your skin produces, thus making your beard appear fuller and thicker over time.
Beard oil made with natural ingredients are always the best choice if you want to grow your beard healthier and thicker.
It’s especially important if your beard is exposed to harsh weather conditions or chemicals.
To avoid damaging your beard, you should apply a light layer of beard oil which then locks in moisture and prevents the loss of natural oils in your beard.
Perfect for getting this job done: Beardoholic Beard Oil – All Natural
8. Trim Your Beard Properly
If you insist on shaping or better said trimming your beard before the 4-week mark, you might want to consider going to a professional barber with significant experience in dealing with beards.
After your beard grows to a certain point, you can start trimming it yourself. Although, this requires a little practice.
You’re going to need a reliable beard trimmer. Good thing to remember is that you should first define your neckline, and then shape the rest of the beard.
Depending on how fast and thick your beard grows, you can trim it two or three times a week.
Avoid trimming your beard after the shower. Trimming as soon as you get out of the shower can confuse you to cut far more of your beard than needed.
Facial hairs are much longer and thicker when wet and you’ll later feel regret if you make this mistake.
We recommend: Philips Norelco Beard Trimmer
9. Stay Hydrated
Drinking enough water daily, which is about half your weight in ounces, will help you flush out toxins from your body.
This will make your skin hydrated, and healthier skin means healthier and thicker beard. This one may seem obvious to some, but you will be surprised how many men are not doing it.
10. Shampoo and Condition Your Beard
You know how the hairs on your head benefit from using a good and natural shampoo and conditioner? The same goes for your beard.
Our shampoo recommendation: Beard Shampoo by Zeus
After applying the conditioner thoroughly through your beard, leave it for a couple of minutes to do its job. Sliding your hand through the beard will help you determine when is the time to wash it off.
When you notice that your beard feels smoother and silkier, and your hands effortlessly glide through your beard, the conditioner can be removed.
Using quality conditioner from time to time will strengthen your facial hair and make your beard look fuller and thicker.
Our conditioner recommendation: Leave-In Conditioner by Honest Amish
11. Ignore The Myth That Shaving Makes Beard Grow Thicker and Faster
From time to time you can see the question: Will shaving make beard thicker?
There is no truth in this theory. Don’t fall for this myth. Shaving removes your beard, leaving your beard alone and letting it grow makes it thicker.
When you shave your beard and start growing it again, it will appear to be thicker at the beginning (small optical illusion).
The hairs which are nearest to the root will be darker and coarser than the ends and that’s why you will feel like your beard is thicker after you shave it. Once the length of your beard increases, you will no longer notice this difference.
How to Grow a Thicker Beard When Older
By your 30’s you should have developed a thick beard you were dreaming of. However, if that wasn’t in your genes, and you still want to have fuller and thicker beard there are only three options left.
Before going into details about each of them, have in mind that it’s always better to embrace the beard you already have.
There are plenty of beard styles to choose from even when your beard is not as thick as you would like it to be.
Still insisting on knowing how to make your beard thicker? Your options are:
- Minoxidil (Rogaine)
- Beard implants
- Hormone therapy
All of these come with their pros and cons, and it’s important to know them before going further with trying to make your beard thicker with their help.
How Does Minoxidil (Rogaine) Work
A lot of men claim that Minoxidil helped them grow a thicker beard. On the other hand, there are a lot of others claiming entirely the opposite thing.
Logically, this implicates that Rogaine doesn’t work the same way for every man.
Those that swear in its effectiveness should know the way it works.
Rogaine doesn’t stimulate any new growth as it does on your head. What it really does is stimulating follicles already existing on your face.
Your hair cells pass three phases of growth: Anagen, Catagen, and Telogen. Anagen is the one that promotes hair growth, and Rogaine simply prolongs this period.
To use Rogaine, you should have in mind his cons too.
For example, it is proven that Rogaine effects diminish once you stop using it.
Also, like any other drug, there are a few more drawbacks. Some men have witnessed that Rogaine caused them dry skin, redness, itching, and irritation. Others experienced lower blood pressure.
Just a few of them noticed a slight weight gain after taking Rogaine, although there is no evidence that Rogaine is the one that caused this
Have in mind all the possible side effects that come with the use of Rogaine and consult your doctor before taking it to make your beard thicker.
Do Beard Implants Work
Putting beard implants is often considered an extreme option to get a thicker beard. To answer the question, beard implants do work, but there are a lot of things you should take in consideration first.
Beard implants lead to thicker beard, but the hairs needed for transplant are taken from the patient’s head. The surgery takes several hours, and it’s done under the local anesthesia.
Pro when choosing this option is that hairs which fall out will always grow back.
Having to go through surgery is a con, as well as the price. With beard implants, you’ll find the cost to be pretty expensive.
This shouldn’t be the method you get yourself into easily. Better go for more natural ways of growing your beard thicker, or simply embrace what your genes gave you.
Is Hormone Therapy Safe
The last resort for men who want to grow a thicker beard is hormone therapy. It can be taken in pill form, hormonal cream, or via hormonal injections.
Men who have tried hormone therapy reported that they have noticed their beard became thicker afterward, although the percentage of them isn’t that high as for beard implants.
More importantly, dealing with hormones always poses health risks. Thick beards are great, but consider if it’s worth risking your health to get one.
After all, there are so many safer ways mentioned here that can get your beard thicker.
Photos: improvisor © 123RF.com, Gleb TV © 123RF.com and shmelevideo © 123RF.com, ronstik / depositphotos.com,
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