How Does Facial Hair Grow?

Age

First and foremost, it is essential to realize that boys and men grow facial hair due to a male sex hormone known as testosterone, which causes its production. Testosterone encourages hair growth on a man’s jawline and neck, causing most teens to notice patchy beard growth during their teenage years. hair typically grows at an average rate of 0.1-0.5 millimeters each month, regardless of whether a man gets his haircut. However, lighter, fairer locks tend to appear less dense and grow slower than darker, thicker ones. Young men typically begin growing facial hair around the corners of their upper lip at about age 16-17, expanding into a mustache over time and spreading further across cheeks and under the lower lip. Eventually, however, this pattern continues, appearing even on cheeks or areas beneath it.

Genetics

Genes play a pivotal role in one’s ability to grow a dense beard. Men typically possess thousands of hair follicles, which may enlarge into beard-forming beard hairs or stay as fine, vellus hairs; those follicles with high testosterone levels usually result in fuller facial hair growth. Genes ultimately dictate where facial hair will first grow and when and why it becomes visible. At puberty, facial hair typically first appears at the corners of your upper lip (ages 11-15) before gradually spreading across cheeks and chin (ages 16-18). Genetic variations in androgen receptors determine how sensitive your follicles are to testosterone and thus determine how thick or sparse your beard will become. Stress can disrupt follicles’ growth cycle, causing hair loss; undesirable hair can be removed via tweezing, shaving, or depilatory creams, while more permanent solutions such as hair transplants may only be done once facial hair has reached an ideal length and density level.

Hormones

Hormonal levels play an integral role in men’s facial hair growth. At puberty, testosterone promotes hair follicle development, leading to a full beard, but if your genetics and testosterone levels are low enough, forming one might prove challenging. The female sex hormone estrogen helps keep your body’s hair fine and soft. But estrogen also interacts with androgens – male sex hormones responsible for coarse and facial hair growth – giving rough body and facial hair. Testosterone expands hair follicles, becoming darker, thicker, and more likely to produce facial hair growth, as well as dihydrotestosterone (DHT), an anabolic agent that stimulates linear hair growth. Other conditions, like polycystic ovary syndrome, can also trigger hormonal shifts that result in excess body or facial hair, including cysts forming on your ovaries, causing cysts containing fluid-filled sacs to grow on them. Certain medications — birth control pills with estrogen or drugs to block androgens — may increase facial hair, as can iron deficiency affecting the production of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen to all cells of the body, including your hair follicles, reducing hair growth.

Diet

Food choices significantly affect your overall health, including how quickly or slowly facial hair grows. Aim for a balanced diet of essential vitamins and minerals for best results. This will encourage thick, healthy whiskers. Try increasing your intake of foods rich in Vitamin A to promote facial hair growth by supporting healthy skin and scalp. Vitamin A can be found in carrots, apricots, and yellow and orange produce, as well as in fatty fish such as salmon and tuna. Consuming foods high in Vitamin B can also be an effective way to promote beard growth. You’ll find food such as oatmeal and whole grains packed with this nutrient, in addition to eggs, yogurt, nuts, and lean meats.