Daccanomics
Growing facial hair can be bliss for some men and for some it can be frustrating. Beard is not just a fashion accessory to complement your looks. It is a style statement.
A well-groomed full beard is never out of style. Especially now more than ever. But growing a full beard can be quite difficult for some men. While most men can have facial hair under the chin or can grow a savvy mustache, some men might struggle to grow a beard on the cheeks.
Your cheeks and the area under your lips are the slowest to grow facial hair. Growing facial hair on your cheeks is the most difficult part of growing a full beard.
A well-groomed beard can give your face an edgier look and give you a stronger-looking jawline. But most of the time when growing a full beard most men end up with patchy beards on their cheeks.
So why does this happen and how can you grow facial hair on your cheeks.
Here we have explained why you might have patchy facial hair on your cheeks and how can you grow a beard on your cheeks.
Why Some Men Don’t Have Facial Hair on Cheeks
Growing a beard is a lot similar to growing your scalp hair. You can’t grow a beard overnight. Apart from your genes, there are a lot of other conditions that influence the growth of your beard.
All the hair in our body goes through the same phase till we grow old. When you get old, new hair follicles stop growing altogether. Till then all of your hair grow and then fall out and eventually regrows.
Facial hair is a type of hair called “the androgenic hair“ which is different from scalp hair. The growth of our facial hair mostly depends on “Androgens Hormone Testosterone”.
This is the hormone that is responsible for the growth of facial hair & muscular traits while estrogens slow the production of new hair.
Facial hair that grows on your cheeks also depends on the androgens hormone testosterone.
There is a common perception that the growth of facial hair in men depends on the amount of testosterone. Yes, it is true that testosterone has a lot to do with the growth of your beard but it is not the only factor that affects the stimulation of facial hair.
An enzyme in your body called 5-alpha reductase triggers the growth of facial hair by converting Androgens into another hormone called dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
The DHT binds itself to receptors on each follicle of your beard hair to make it grow.
Men with less facial hair on cheeks have follicles that are less sensitive to DHT. This is the reason some men can’t grow a full beard and some men don’t have facial hair on cheeks.
So What Affects Facial Hair Growth?
So even if you have a proper diet with all the necessary nutrients you might have a hard time growing a beard because your hormone levers are low. There is a common misconception that men with a fuller and thicker beard have a higher level of testosterone. The androgen receptors in your body are responsible for beard growth.
Some men have more androgen receptors in their bodies which decreases the sensitivity of hair follicles. Due to lower sensitivity, DHT fails to bond with hair follicles and promotes less facial hair growth in your cheeks area.
This is the reason why your facial hair, body hair, and pubic hair will all start to grow after you’ve hit puberty.
After you hit puberty your androgenic hormones will spike up and your hair follicles will be more sensitive to DHT.
Here are few factors that affect the growth of beard and facial hair on the cheeks
- Genetics
- Ethnicity
- Age
- Levels of Androgens
- Level of DHT
- The sensitivity of follicles to DHT
What’s Stopping You From Growing A Beard?
The growth of your beard is mostly determined by your genes. Our facial hair and other physical attributes are passed from our parents. If your father or grandfather could grow a beard you are also likely to grow a beard. But if your father had a problem growing a full beard you will probably have the same problems.
On the other hand, if your predecessor had facial hair but you are struggling to grow one, the problem might not be purely genetics. It might be because your hormone levels are probably low and you have more androgen receptors in your bodies. Having more androgen receptors decreases the sensitivity of hair follicles which makes it difficult for DHT to bind with the receptors on your hair follicles.
Here are some common reasons for sparse facial hair growth:
- Alopecia areata – This autoimmune disorder causes your body to attack hair follicles and leads to patchy hair loss on your head or in your beard. Even though there is no cure, you can use minoxidil to minimize hair loss.
- Your Age – Growing a beard takes time. Most men find their beard continues to get thicker into their 30s. If you are in your teens or early 20s you should not worry about growing your beard because as you age your beard will get thicker and fuller.
- Nutrient Deficiencies – Our beard is mostly made of protein. Lack of protein and other essential minerals and vitamins can limit the growth of your beard and make your hair weak.
- low level of testosterone –Clinically low levels of testosterone may inhibit your beard growth. If your testosterone levels are low, you’ll likely have other symptoms such as irritability, low sex drive, and erectile dysfunction.
- Race – Your race is a genetic factor that might affect the growth and thickness of your beard. Research has found that Chinese men generally have sparser hair growth on their cheeks while black men have patchy beards and Indian or Caucasian men tend to have a full beard.
However, if you have patchy facial hair growth on the cheek area then most likely your hormone levels are fine and the receptors also appear to be doing their job.
Now if you are looking to grow a full beard, you may be wondering if there’s anything you can do to fill in your cheeks area where your hair may be sparser.
Unfortunately, there is little you can do to boost new facial hair growth. But you can make your beard look fuller by giving it more volume and making it look thicker. You can also make some lifestyle changes to maximize your genetic potential & grow new facial hair on your cheeks.
How Can You Boost Beard Growth
There are few ways you can promote new facial hair growth and make your beard thicker. Growing a beard can take some time. Especially, if you are looking to have new facial hair on your cheeks and areas where hair may be sparser.
You probably know all the basics of growing a beard. Sleeping more, changing your diet with nutritious foods, exercising regularly, keeping your face moisturized, and exfoliating your face are some of the home remedies that can help you grow new facial hair and help you grow your beard faster.
Apart from that, there are some lesser-known beard-growing techniques that might help you get a thicker beard and stimulate new facial hair growth on your cheeks.
How To Grow Facial Hair On Cheeks
There are few things that might help you stimulate bead growth and make your beard thicker.
These beard-growing techniques are quite controversial and have been debated a lot by many dermatologists and experts.
Following these tips might help you grow a beard on your cheeks and areas where your facial hair may be sparser.
1. Use Minoxidil To Stimulate Beard Growth
Minoxidil might be the miracle drug that you were looking for to grow a beard. It is the best over-the-counter hair loss drug that has been medically proven. Minoxidil is used to stimulate hair growth in men. It is primarily used to grow scalp hair delivering more oxygen-rich blood to the hair follicles. Minoxidil also helps increase the size of hair follicles, which promotes the growth of thicker, stronger hairs.
Although the effectiveness of minoxidil to grow facial hair is not proven, but many dermatologists suggest that using minoxidil can promote new facial hair growth and make your beard thicker and fuller.
Some people even say that minoxidil works on facial hair, chest hair, and even on the eyebrows. But there is no medical proof of minoxidil working for beard growth.
The most commonly used brands of Minoxidil men use for beard growth purposes are the original 5% Rogaine.
How Minoxidil works to regrow hair is still unknown. But many researchers & medical experts suggest that it widens the blood vessel to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to the hair follicles.
According to some medical experts, minoxidil might work to grow a beard by:
- Increasing blood circulation
- Widening the blood vessels
- increasing the actual size of the hair follicles
Minoxidil is used to enhance the growth of your hair. If you have little to no facial hair, then it might not be the best product for you.
Even though it is an over-the-counter drug there are some potential side effects of using minoxidil. So make sure to consult with your doctor before using minoxidil to grow a beard and do not use it carelessly.
2. Use a Derma Roller To Increase Blood Flow
A dermaroller is a skincare tool that is used for rejuvenating the skin, treat acne scarring, reduce signs of aging and most importantly promote facial hair growth.
Derma roller is a microneedling tool that was originally used by dermatologists to increase blood flow and rejuvenate skin. Nowadays, it is also commonly done at home with little training. It is a skincare device with a handle on one end and on the other end is a roller with lots of small, fine needles on its surface. It is a painless process that tricks your body into sending fresh nutrient and hormone-rich blood into your face.
Derma Roller is used to create tiny pores in your face by puncturing tiny micro-tears into the skin surface. It also increases the production of natural collagen in your skin. Micro-needling can stimulate new hair growth and make your beard thicker. You can massage your face with a derma roller to grow facial hair on your cheeks.
3. Apply a Mixture Of Peppermint Oil & Castor Oil
Applying a mixture of peppermint oil with castor oil can promote new facial hair growth and make your beard thicker.
In a study by Young et al, the researchers applied four different solutions to the shaved skin of mice and monitored them for four weeks to see how it would impact their hair follicles and fur growth.
The substances tested were:
- Peppermint oil diluted down to 3%
- Pure jojoba oil
- Saltwater solution
- Minoxidil 3% solution
While saltwater and jojoba had negligible effects on the growth of the fur and on the follicles, the big surprise was the peppermint oil. It performed exceedingly well and outperformed all the other substances. While Minoxidil stimulates growth by 55%, peppermint oil showed growth of 92%.
This happened due to the increase of IGF-1 growth hormone inside the hair follicle that was triggered by peppermint oil.
4. Get a More Nutrient Based Diet
Changing your diet plan to a more nutrient-based diet might help with new facial hair growth. Adding more vitamins to your diet plan might promote facial hair growth by helping your hair follicles that stopped growing become active again.
Our hair is mostly constructed of protein. A lack of protein in your diet can cause hair loss. Biotin is essential for the production of a hair protein called keratin. Studies show that deficiency of vitamin b can cause hair loss. Biotin is available in most foods. You can also get vitamin b supplements.
Also, add more vitamin D to your diet plan. Vitamin D can reactivate receptors in follicles that no longer grow hair. Low levels of vitamin D can cause alopecia and hair loss.
Vitamin C is also important for facial hair growth as it creates a protein known as collagen which is an important part of the hair structure.
Getting a more balanced diet with extra protein can help you restore healthier hair and help you grow new facial hair on your cheeks.
5. Take Supplements To Promote Hair Growth
Taking supplements like multivitamins and carnitine can help boost beard growth. These can be helpful for growing new facial hair and grow a beard faster.
Multivitamins can fill the gaps missing in your nutrition and thus indirectly helps to boost beard growth and help you from hair loss and prematurely greying hair.
You can also take carnitine supplements as it can help shift more hair follicles into the anagen growth phase and makes the androgen receptors more receptive towards hormones.
Conclusion
The growth of your facial hair is mostly determined by your genetics. Even though there are few tricks that can enhance the growth of facial hair, it is best to wait and let your beard grow.
If you are determined to grow a beard, follow these tips and make sure to eat healty.
Even if you can’t grow hair on your cheeks, there are many other facial hairstyles that you may be able to maintain, such as a goatee, mustache, or soul patch.
