Jump to:
Beards have made a significant comeback over the last few years as more men are sporting them. However, knowing how to grow a beard is not necessarily easy. Growing a beard requires patience, consistency, and a great beard care routine.
How Do You Grow a Beard?
You’ve probably tried growing a beard before but have given up along the way because it grew too slow, developed patches, or looked sparse. But with this guide, you’ll find out where you went wrong and how to get back on track.
Here are the steps on how to grow a beard:
- Eat a well-rounded diet
- Boost testosterone levels
- Take care of your skin
- Shave regularly to get even hair growth
- All the hair to grow for two months
- Moisturize your face to manage the itchiness
- Get enough rest
- Trim the edges
- Style your beard
While you likely want to get straight to styling your beard, you’ll need to ensure your face and body have all the necessary elements to grow hair successfully. Now that you have a general overview of what it takes to grow your beard let’s explore each step in more detail.
Read Next: Are Mustaches in Style in 2024?
How to Grow a Beard in 9 Steps
Growing a beard no longer needs to be a painstaking process. Following the nine steps in this guide will help you develop a full beard in two to three months.
1. Eat a Well-rounded Diet
Any hair-growing regimen begins with taking care of your body, which means eating a well-rounded and nutritional diet. The diet must contain vitamins, proteins, and minerals to keep the beard healthy while maximizing its growth potential. A protein-deficient diet, for example, makes the whiskers weak and brittle.
2. Boost Testosterone Levels
High testosterone levels increase one’s chances of growing facial hair quickly. There are a few testosterone-boosting options for men whose testosterone levels aren’t as high.
For starters, exercise a few times weekly, focusing on cardio, strength, and intensity training. Moreover, boosting vitamin D levels increases testosterone levels, ultimately boosting facial hair growth.
3. Take Care of Your Skin
Taking care of your skin is necessary when growing a beard because it accelerates hair growth. Besides keeping your skin clean and moisturized, addressing some skin problems like acne, rosacea, or dryness, which inhibit hair growth is necessary.
4. Shave Regularly to Get Even Hair Growth
You don’t stop shaving to grow a beard. If you do so, the beard comes off thin, patchy, and uneven, which won’t give your face the best look. As such, you must continue shaving until your facial hair grows evenly.
Shaving also stimulates the hair follicles, promoting growth while reducing ingrown hairs once hair starts growing. It also gives your hair a full reset, especially if your facial hair is really short. If you still don’t know how evenly your facial hair is growing, shave your face and check if there’s any stubble growing.
If it grows as fast as the hair at the chin, lip, and under the neck, you’re ready to grow a beard. Remember that the journey of growing a beard depends on one’s age and genetics.
Typically men begin to develop facial hair at age 13, but the most abundant and fastest hair growth happens at ages 25-35 and slows down as men age. Your genes determine the rate at which beards grow, color, and texture.
Use a new blade and shave along the grain, making smooth, even strokes. Then rinse off the shaving cream and apply moisturizer to hydrate your skin. Once the hair grows, you must stop shaving.
5. Allow the Hair to Grow for 2 Months
Beards can appear a little rusty and itchy after a few weeks of growth, and most men tend to give up at this stage — you shouldn’t. Like any other body hair, beard hair grows at half an inch every month.
So it might take two to four months to grow a full beard. A good rule of thumb is to allow as much hair growth as possible so your barber has many options when styling the beard.
Read Next: How Fast Does Hair Grow in 2024?
6. Moisturize Your Face to Manage Itchiness
The beard may feel itchy a few weeks into growing, which might be uncomfortable. Many men give up at this stage and shave their beards prematurely. The good news is that the itch and discomfort are manageable.
Applying a beard oil, moisturizer, or balm significantly reduces the irritation and softens the short beard hair. Be sure to consult your barber about the best beard oil or balm to apply when growing a beard.
7. Get Enough Rest
Getting eight hours of sleep improves a beard’s growth rate and quality. The body increases cellular activity when asleep allowing proper blood circulation to the individual hair follicles and roots and enhancing beard growth.
8. Trim the Edges
It’s a good idea to trim your beard after approximately one month of growth. Trimming helps your facial hair get into shape early while giving you a clean look. It also allows you to determine where the neck and cheek lines should fall.
Some men love lower lines while others prefer growing their hair an inch above the Adam’s Apple. A good rule of thumb is to set the neckline where the head and the neck meet.
Avoid trimming it too high because the bulk of the beard’s shape comes from the neck. As for the cheek lines, allow the beard to grow for at least three months before trimming. Cheek hair takes longer to grow hence the need to give it ample time for growth.
When it’s time to trim, keep the cheek line higher than it should be to avoid looking like you have a neckbeard. If it’s too low, it’ll look like a chin strap. Be sure to use the right tools to get the best results.
Electric trimmers and hair clippers are the best for trimming growing beards; you only need to pick the right size. With the right setting, you can trim it in even strokes, tapering the neck, chin, and cheeks for a nice, clean look.
Read Next: How to Trim a Beard in 2024
9. Style Your Beard
A month of hair growth gives you ample hair for styling. Choosing a beard style largely depends on your sense of style, hair length, preference, and facial features. Men with fuller cheeks should keep it shorter on the sides, while those with narrow faces should maintain a considerable length to fill it out.
Similarly, men with fuller and thicker hair have more styling options than those with sparse and patchy beards. Here are some pointers to help you choose the best beard style:
- Round face: Men with round-shaped faces should go for beard styles that add some length to their faces
- Square face: You must avoid beard styles that make your face appear wider if you have a square face. It would help if you also kept the beard well-trimmed.
- Rectangle face: Men with this face shape must avoid beard styles that make their heads appear skinnier and longer. They should choose shorter beard styles, i.e., slightly below the chin. However, if the beard is thicker and fuller, allow it to grow. The extra thickness adds the much-needed width to one’s face, making it look more oval.
- Oval face: Men with oval faces can rock many beard styles. From short, to long, to full beards
- Diamond face: Diamond-shaped faces are wider at the cheekbones and narrow at the jaw and brows. Fuller beards look great on them because they expand the thin jawline. When combined with haircuts that increase the width of the forehead, the face takes on an excellent oval shape.
You may also choose unconventional beard styles like:
- The pharaoh beard: You shave all your facial hair, leaving out the chin for this style. Some men braid or bead the chin hair as it grows
- Goatees: You trim the cheeks and leave some hair at the chin and the mustache
- Wizard beard: It’s also known as the American Civil War-type throwback beard. You grow out the beard as long as possible, trimming hair at the neck and the mustache to get it out of the way of your lip
- Pencil-line beard: You shave all the facial hair leaving a thin line along the jawline. This beard style is the best for bald men and those with short facial hair.
Read Next: The 15 Best Beard Styles to Wear in 2024
How to Take Care of a Beard
beeboys/Shutterstock
Beards need some TLC after growing them out. You need to follow a grooming routine religiously using the right beard products. A simple routine involves:
Washing the Beard
Beards need cleaning at least twice a week. Washing the beard softens the hairs, prepping them for trimming. Be sure to use special beard shampoo and avoid regular soaps which dry out beard hair. Follow a beard conditioner to remove the run-of-the-mill dirt buildup and soften the beard.
Combing the Hair
Most beard trimmers come with combs, but it’s best to use the boar’s hair beard brush. It stimulates the sebum in the skin and distributes it to the hair shafts keeping hair shiny and healthy.
Moisturize the Beard
The next step is to apply a beard balm or oil on the hair to moisturize the beard follicles. The balm keeps the skin underneath healthy, softens the beard hair, and adds shine and vigor to a fully healed beard.
Look for a Good Barber
Even with a few trims every few weeks at home, a visit to the barber’s comes in handy. A beard barber understands how to style your beard, making it look as good as possible. Be sure to look for one experienced in working with beards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Body Stock/Shutterstock
Do you still have questions about how to grow a beard? Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions.
How do I manage itchiness during early beard growth?
The best way to minimize itchiness is to apply a moisturizer, beard balm, or beard oil on the hairs to soften them. The itchiness usually disappears four weeks into growing bead hair, so you shouldn’t worry.
When is the best time to grow a beard?
There’s no perfect time to grow a beard. You can grow one in the cold or hot months. Most men prefer growing them out during winter due to their insulation benefits, but they also protect the skin from the hot sun during warmer months.
How many times should you brush the beard?
It’s best to brush it twice daily — in the morning when preparing for work and at night. Brushing the beard at night helps exfoliate the skin beneath by lifting the dead skin cells and preventing flaking. It also distributes natural oils produced in the skin, reducing hair breakage, split ends, and frizzing.
How long does a beard take to develop?
A beard takes two to three months to grow. You must avoid trimming it with a razor or trimmer during this period to allow it to achieve considerable length and fullness.
So, How Do You Grow a Beard?
Without a doubt growing a beard is a process that requires time, patience, and discipline. You start by shaving to get consistent hair growth, then allow the hair to grow out for two months.
Then moisturize to reduce itchiness before proceeding to trim and style the beard. You must also develop and follow a good beard care routine to keep it healthy and glowing. Do this and you’ll have a manly beard in no time.