What to do if your beard grows unevenly or is too thin?
Let's skip long introductions and get straight to the point. Yes, beards are trendy. Beards suggest influence and wisdom, masculinity, competence, and adventure. But that usually ends abruptly if the beard hair doesn’t grow evenly, the beard is too thin, or gaps reveal the skin beneath.
A beard should remind you of a jungle. Not of slash-and-burn. And not of a tree nursery either. When every fool points out the dirt on your upper lip at the first beard growth, many reach for the razor again.
Don’t do it. Really don’t. The path to a flawless full beard might take a bit longer if your beard grows unevenly or is a bit thin—but it’s not impossible.
Table of Contents
Reasons for uneven beard growth: Why not every beard wants to grow like its wearer
Testosteron ist ein entscheidender Faktor für einen ordentlichen Bartwuchs.
While testosterone levels are influenced by environmental factors, it is genetically determined how much testosterone the body can produce and how strongly the beard hair reacts to testosterone. Hair roots have receptors to which testosterone binds. If there are too few receptors, testosterone cannot properly support beard growth.
Besides the testosterone level, the general strength of beard growth is also genetically determined. If dad’s beard looks like a woman’s beard, usually the sons struggle too. This can affect the entire beard or only certain areas.
During puberty, it usually becomes clear how strongly the beard hair responds to testosterone in the body. Hair on the upper lip and chin usually react first and generally stronger. Beard growth becomes more regular over life. For some it happens faster, for others it takes seemingly forever. While some men can easily wear a full beard in their early twenties, others still hope in their mid-thirties.
Other reasons for uneven or insufficient beard growth can be nutrient deficiencies or illnesses. Besides alopecia areata, the circular hair loss on the scalp, there is also alopecia barbae. No pun, no joke. This is hair loss in the beard area. Especially the mustache and chin area are affected. If you notice circular bald spots in your beard, you should see a dermatologist for diagnosis. Alopecia barbae is not a serious disease but naturally has serious consequences for anyone wanting to grow a beard.
How to get a flawless full beard even if it doesn’t grow evenly?
Now comes what nobody wants to hear: patience. What you can't (or no longer) see with wild beards: many grow unevenly. Usually, the beard grows slower on the cheeks than on the chin. And it's not about the length of the hairs – they usually all grow at the same speed. On the cheeks, it just takes longer for all hair follicles to start producing hair.
What if the beard doesn't grow thick enough?
Most beards are not thick and full after just a few weeks. But in many cases, this can change on its own. Beard hair stimulates each other, so some late bloomers take longer to come out of their shell. Hair follicles on a clean-shaven face are more vulnerable to damage. Shaving and aftershave irritate the hair follicles. They feel unloved and misunderstood and stop producing hair. Protected by a beard, even seemingly dead follicles can regenerate, so the beard gradually becomes fuller. Newly growing hairs also take longer to penetrate the skin than their already cut counterparts.
Why do you often read that frequent shaving promotes fast and dense beard growth? It's simple: a newly growing hair is initially fine at the tip. The longer it grows, the thicker the base becomes. If you shave this hair off, it appears stronger when it grows back. That's how the myth arose, which is simply false.
So patience is also needed when it comes to beard density. If patience alone is not enough, or you simply don't have it, you can also turn to some products that can accelerate beard growth.
How can you accelerate beard growth?
Promoting beard growth is a science in itself and very individual. Primarily, your beard determines what it needs. Which product is right depends on the deficiency that hinders beard growth. Moreover, your own preferences will also play an important role. You will therefore have to experiment a bit until you find the optimum for you and your beard. This applies not only if you want to accelerate beard growth but also for normal daily care.
External beard growth products
Hair grows from the root. The better the blood circulation to the hair root, the better the necessary building blocks reach the hair. Most beard growth products therefore contain substances that promote blood circulation. The effect of minoxidil is probably partly based on this. A peeling not only promotes blood circulation but also prevents hairs from ingrowing. Beard oils, lotions, and sprays make the hair more supple and reduce hair breakage. They also contain micronutrients that care for the beard hair and root and supply the necessary nutrients from the outside. This is also supposed to accelerate beard growth.
But stronger blood circulation can also be achieved through very simple means: every time you stroke your beard, you stimulate the hair roots. Getting into the habit of a thinking gesture can stimulate beard growth just as much as combing and brushing the beard. The most elegant option here is probably to have your beard stroked. This will accelerate beard growth and also provide relaxation.
Give beard growth a boost with tablets
Where there is a problem, there is also a product, and of course there is a whole range of dietary supplements specially tailored to the needs of beard hair.
Biotin and silica have been proven to affect the appearance of skin and hair – but it is unproven whether they accelerate beard growth. There are no studies specifically on beard growth.
If you resort to such measures, you should first have a blood test to check if there is actually a nutrient deficiency. On the one hand, because the consequences of "overdosing" on many nutrients in supplements are hotly debated. On the other hand, because this stuff is damn expensive. And with a reasonably balanced diet, it's completely unnecessary.
Testosterone for beard growth
What applies to supplements applies even more to hormone preparations. Only a doctor can decide if there is a pathological testosterone deficiency. He can also determine whether reduced beard growth is caused by a testosterone deficiency or by a testosterone receptor deficiency at the hair roots. Then you can save yourself hormone therapy for the beard. Literally – because it is not exactly cheap and no insurance pays for therapy just because the beard won't grow.
The conventional way to increase testosterone levels is: reduce body fat, eat healthily, exercise more, get enough sleep, reduce stress, drink little alcohol. And (best of all) lots of sex.
Tricks to conceal thin beard growth or small holes in the beard
Styling
A thin or patchy beard quickly looks unkempt. The beard hairs have much more room to curl. This makes the beard look "messy" and exposes small holes clearly. The secret is to brush the beard regularly to shape the hairs as desired. If the less dense areas are favorably located, you can comb hairs from the surrounding area over them. The prerequisite is that the beard hair must be supple enough to be brushed into shape.
That's exactly what God invented beard oil for. It makes the beard hair more supple. This makes it easier to brush the beard into shape. Beard oil also reduces hair breakage, which is another common cause of gaps in the beard. Beard pomade helps you fix the beard in the styled shape for a certain time.
Trimming
It takes time until even the last hair root realizes that the trend is beard. If you feel that many late bloomers are lurking under your skin, the solution is as simple as it is annoying: trim your beard back to a three-day beard for a longer period. It best conceals the contrast between dense and sparse areas. At the same time, skin and hair roots no longer suffer from shaving and aftershave and can regenerate.
As soon as you notice the beard getting denser, start growing it out. If necessary, you can also add another phase where you trim the beard back to a certain length.
Up to a length of about 1 cm, you can usually manage yourself with a good beard trimmer. After that, you should find a barber who professionally shapes the beard. I only recommend the stylish self-experiment with scissors to seasoned pros. You can cut an ugly hole in the beard faster than you can shout "Shit!".
Straightening
The contours of the beard are an important factor to make it look fuller and more even. Clearly defined edges emphasize the beard and automatically make it look neater and denser. This becomes even more important if the beard grows asymmetrically. For example, if the natural beard growth edge on one cheek is higher, it should be brought to the level of the lower edge. This is best done with a straight razor.
Auch hier der Tipp: such dir einen Barbier, der dir die Bartkontur perfekt zieht. Er gleicht nicht nur Asymmetrien aus, sondern kann die Konturen auch so legen, dass sie dein Gesicht und deinen Bart perfekt in Szene setzen.
Those who prefer to create perfect beard contours themselves should get a beard template. With its help, it is easier to get the lines even.
What to do about holes in the beard?
In some cases, neither beard growth products nor good persuasion or clever concealing help. Where there is no hair follicle, no hair grows. On skin areas with very few or no hair follicles, no beard hair can grow. Scars are just the extreme example. If these skin areas are larger, gaps and waves appear in the beard.
Beard Make-Up and Beard Thickener
Large gaps are very difficult to conceal. There are some products on the market that supposedly let you "paint over" the holes in your beard. Some men, in desperation, even reach for their girlfriend's makeup bag. But after all, it’s a beard, not a coloring book. With serious gaps in the beard, the spots tend to stand out more if you try too hard. A beard thickening pen, for example, only really works well if applied evenly over the entire beard. So its use is more suited for a generally somewhat thin beard.
Besides the two-dimensional painting method, you can also fill the holes in the beard three-dimensionally. The hair fiber method was originally developed for thinning spots on the scalp. Nowadays, there are special beard hair thickeners. These are keratin fibers that are supposed to bond with the real hair. They allegedly provide a natural look – even in the rain. But if you look at the reviews, opinions vary widely.
So no beard for those with bigger gaps?
Bullshit! Ever thought about why there are so many different beard styles? Sure, they’re often explained with the most adventurous reasons that sound important and well thought out, like statements and lifestyles. But maybe – just maybe – Abraham Lincoln wore the chin curtain because his mustache didn’t cooperate?
If you look closely at the clean-shaven areas of bearded men, you often see... nothing. Not a single shaved hair is visible. Or a single one waving from the middle. Those who don’t wear a full beard usually chose a certain beard style because of thinning problem areas.
So if it turns out that despite patience, care, healthy nutrition, exercise, and encouragement your beard doesn’t grow full and dense, the beard project isn’t over yet. Let yourself be inspired by the different beard styles and find the one that suits you and your beard growth best.
But I want a full beard!
If you absolutely don’t want to give up on a full beard and have the necessary money saved up, you can also resort to the last option: beard transplantation.
Just like with a hair transplant on the scalp, hair follicles are taken from the back of the head and transplanted into the less dense beard areas. From thickening the beard to filling gaps to complete reconstruction, the method is applicable to almost all problems. However, it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes about a year for the transplanted hairs to settle in properly and produce a decent beard. So patience is needed here too.
And so the circle closes.