Beards are all the rage right now, which is great news for men who are sick of shaving daily and struggling with razor burn. But for men who have difficulty growing a beard, this beard trend can be a big bummer. Indeed, many men are embarrassed by their ability to not grow facial hair. Furthermore, even if you can grow facial hair, it does not always grow where you want it. So, for men looking for answers in the facial hair department, we have some answers for you on what works best for growing a beard.
Does Your Ability to Grow a Beard Come Down to Genetics?
The answer to this question is yes. In general, the thickness of your beard is primarily determined by your genes. Chances are, if your father and other male members of your family have thick beards, then likely you will too.
Genes help determine how your body responds to the different derivatives of testosterone. This male sex hormone is known for giving men their deeper voice, bigger muscle and bone structure, and facial hair. In particular, when testosterone is converted to DHT, it signals the skin in your face to grow hair. Intriguingly, while DHT helps thicken your facial hair, it actually thins the hair on your scalp. Because of this relationship, it is not uncommon to see men with great beards but balding on their heads.
Your ability to grow a beard may also depend on your age and your ethnicity. For example, men have an easier time growing beards in the 30s and up, and they are generally thicker in people from Mediterranean regions. Additionally, your ethnicity can also determine where you are likely to grow hair on your face.
Aside from genes, age, and ethnicity, some other factors that can affect your ability to grow a beard include low testosterone levels and hair loss conditions like alopecia areata.
Does Minoxidil Help with Beard Growth?
Minoxidil is a well-known topical medication that helps people regrow hair on their heads. However, minoxidil didn’t start as a topical medication for hair growth. It started as an oral medication to treat high blood pressure. People taking minoxidil noticed that they had thicker hair after a few weeks on the medication. Soon minoxidil was made into a topical solution so all people could have the hair growth benefits without the systemic effects of blood pressure control.
Because it helps grow hair on your head, it would seem that minoxidil may be effective in growing a beard as well. For some men, it does work, but often beard growth requires other topical ingredients, including adenosine and piroctone olamine.
If Minoxidil Alone Doesn’t Work, What Does?
Because it is unlikely that minoxidil alone will deliver the results you want with your beard goals, it is time to turn to other factors that may help with beard growth. Firstly, certain lifestyle habits can help improve your beard growth, including:
- Eating a healthy diet free of highly processed foods and refined sugars
- Decreasing your stress levels
- Give yourself more time to sleep
- Stop harmful habits like smoking
- Treat other health conditions like thyroid diseases and diabetes
- Wait to get older
You may feel a little bit defeated by reading this list, as you may have already adopted many of these habits. Furthermore, being told to wait for a beard until you grow older can be a tough pill to swallow.
Fortunately, the dermatologists and scientists at DS Laboratories have formulated the Spectral.BRD Breakthrough Beard Stimulating Serum. Whether you just want to get some stubble growing in new areas or you want to thicken the hair and improve the density, Spectral.BRD has been clinically proven to stimulate beard growth. It uses 3 key ingredients to deliver you your results:
Nanoxidil - A proprietary molecule discovered by the team at DS Laboratories to deliver hair stimulating compounds to your facial skin.
Piroctone olamine - Forces the hair to stay in the growing phase (anagen) for a longer time, leaving you with a longer and denser beard.
Adenosine - Like piroctone olamine, it also helps to prolong the anagen phase and increases the diameter of individual hairs in your beard.
Of course, several other ingredients work synergistically to help grow a healthy beard, including:
- Caffeine
- Rosemary oil
- Biotin
- Niacinamide
- Castor oil
- Hyaluronic acid
Is There a Place for Minoxidil in Beard Growth?
Minoxidil has been proven to combat hair loss on the scalp in numerous studies, especially when it comes to treating hereditary hair loss. Therefore, it stands to reason that it may also help with hair regrowth on other parts of the body. If you decide to go with minoxidil for hair growth support, you will need to use it for 2-3 months before expecting results.
Keep in mind that most minoxidil solutions are only meant to be used on the head, so you will want to look for a solution that is delivered in a container that lets you apply it to targeted areas. The Spectral.BRD product from DS Laboratories comes with a dropper which allows you to reach coat specific areas on your face so that you can control where hair growth occurs.
It is important to note that once you start using minoxidil, you will need to keep using it to maintain your new hair growth. Once you stop using it, you can expect your beard growth to recede to what it was before using it.
Not sure where to start in growing a beard or filling it in? Talk to a product advisor at DS Laboratories to see what product will best serve you and your beard goals.