Slot machines. Pay-phones. The acceptance of crocs in modern society. According to my predictions, these are all things which will no longer exist within the next ten years. Beard growth products though - trust me - they’re here to stay. I’ve seen the future.
But why? We’ve rocked beards since we were mere caveman without the need for beard balms and essential oils. Is this just the latest fad? Another cupboard filler to squeeze money out of hipster millennials?
Easy, tiger! Turns out that there are beard growth products which work. Allow me to convince you - let’s take the tour...
Beard Growth Essentials: Key products like beard oil, conditioner, shampoo, and balm help nourish, moisturize, and stimulate healthy beard growth.
Beard Oil: Moisturizes skin, reduces irritation, and prevents dead skin buildup; essential for maintaining healthy, fast-growing facial hair.
Beard Conditioner and Shampoo: Strengthen hair, prevent breakage, and retain moisture; crucial for maintaining beard softness and overall health.
Beard Balm: Retains moisture, prevents beardruff, and provides light styling hold; complements other beard products for optimal care.
What Beard Growth Products do You Need?
Good question, young padawan. The rise of big, bushy beards has brought with it a plethora of different products. If they’re used correctly, many of them can help you grow a beard more easily - if you use them properly. On the other hand, a lot of products come with false promises.
As well as giving a quick definition and explaining how the following products go about stimulating hair growth, I’ve included top tips which will explain how and when to apply them. I’ve also put them in a rough order of importance, with the products that are most crucial for quicker beard growth listed first. Smart cookie, huh?
Beard Oil
What it is: The holy grail of beard growth! Seriously, I love this stuff.
How it helps growth: I totally rate beard oil and will never tire of explaining why it’s so great. In the early stages of beard growth you won’t need it - a good cleansing routine will do the trick. However, once your facial hair growth gets some traction you need to change your routine up a little bit.
In the pre-beard stage your face is pretty good at looking after itself. However once your beard starts growing, your face struggles to produce enough of the natural oil called sebum to go around. Your beard hairs kind of wick it away from your face, leaving you with icky dead skin cells.
Beard oil is specifically designed to moisturize the skin underneath your beard. It can be made up of thousands of combinations of carrier oils and essential oils. Carrier oils are to dilute essential oils, making them safe to apply to the skin - however they are beneficial. Argan oil in particular is excellent for softening the skin skin, making it healthier.
Essential oils (such as cedarwood and eucalyptus) have various functions including moisturizing and reducing irritation. This helps beard oil remove the unwanted dead skin cells and other impediments to fast facial hair growth. Never forget: nice healthy skin is the key to faster beard growth.
Our top tip: Use it daily! It’s so lush you’ll want to anyway.
Beard Conditioner
What it is: The best way to keep your beard in tip-top condition.
How it helps growth: Beard conditioner and beard oil live in a similar neck of the woods. However, whilst beard oil makes grooming your beard easy, conditioner softens and repairs damaged hairs themselves. Using beard conditioner is a long-term commitment - kind of like working out. You have to do it consistently to get the best results.
A good beard conditioner helps strengthen the hair itself, helping it grow faster and making it less likely to break. It also makes your beard feel wicked-soft - which is of course the best feeling ever.
Our top tip: For optimum results, you need to give your beard a proper shampoo and condition once or twice a week. Again - make sure you wash it out properly or it’ll do more harm than good!
Beard Shampoo
What it is: Normal hair shampoo is too harsh for your beard hair. Use dedicated beard shampoo!
How it helps growth: The ingredients in ‘head-hair’ shampoo are not beneficial for your beard. If you’re already using beard oil and conditioner, head-hair shampoo will just undo all your hard work! Your hard work will be stripped away, leaving you with a beard resembling one of those metal wire things I wash up with. Kidding - got a dishwasher.
The invention of beard shampoo is the answer to your prayers. It will lock in color and moisture, keeping your beard clean without disturbing the delicate balance of moisture and natural oils which you’re working hard to achieve.
You might have heard of DHT blockers. DHT is basically responsible for shrinking hair follicles - it’s what causes male pattern baldness. Therefore, if you can block it, you avoid hair loss. Remember, ketoconazole is the only active ingredient that blocks DHT - if you’re going down this route, make sure it’s on the bottle! Whilst other ‘essential vitamins’ create conditions which stimulate hair growth, they don’t necessarily block DHT.
Our top tip: Even though it’s subtler than normal shampoo, too much beard shampoo isn’t good for you. Stick to one thorough beard wash a week, during which you should shampoo and condition. If you play sports or get all muddy in some other way once a week (no judgement) try and time your wash for just afterwards!
Beard Balm
What it is: A waxy substance used for treating beardruff and ensuring your beard smells great!
How it helps growth: As I said, the products here are listed in vaguely in order of importance - so if you’re buying your first beard growth product, I wouldn’t necessarily go for beard balm. However, it does help!
Similar to beard oil, a good balm will contain natural oils which help stimulate beard growth. The main role of beard balm is to help your beard hair retain moisture. This kinda requires that your beard is healthy in the first place! Put it like this - beard balm is more of a complement than a fixer.
Beard balm is also about style. If you’ve got pesky flyaway hairs that are acting up. If you’re rocking a full beard but struggling to tame it then beard balm will help keep your shape in check. It also makes a sweet low-hold styling agent for your ‘stache and sideburns.
Think of the beard oil / beard conditioner combo as your go-to for moisturizing hair. Beard balm is the bearded bro’s way of locking that moisture in. In fact, if you haven't got one of these balms in your bathroom cabinet right now, you're missing out.
Our top tip: Beard balm is great for preventing beardruff and having a soft beard which smells like heaven. So use it every day!
Face Wash
What it is: Facial cleansers and moisturizing lotions - everything you need for great skin before growing a beard!
How it helps growth: Beard care begins before you’ve even got stubble! A facial cleanser is important for removing dirt, excess oils and dead skin from your face. If you don’t deal with this gunky stuff it’ll create a barricade which your hair follicles will struggle to break through.
We’d also recommend a good moisturizing lotion at this stage of the game. Cleansers are used to remove gunk build-ups and moisturizers will prevent them, by keeping your skin nice and hydrated. The yin-and-yang of preparing for the arrival of beard hair!
If you’re worrying about patchy areas, facial cleansers can help stimulate hair growth. Check out my article about growing out your patchy beard for more!
Our top tip: Use a gentle facial cleanser instead of standard soap once or twice a day, rinsing with warm water. You’ll want to make sure you was all of the cleanser off - any that is left will clog your pores, rendering all of your efforts useless! Pat your face completely dry before moisturizing.
Hagrid Pills
What it is: If you’re desperately researching ways to grow a beard more quickly, you might have read about supplement pills which promise super-quick facial hair growth. I like to call them ‘Hagrid pills’ after the beardy giant himself - because they don’t exist in the muggle world.
It’s up to us to try and fairly recommend the best beard products for all you beardaholics though, so enough Harry Potter chat - let’s be objective. There are a lot of beard growth supplements on the market. These little pingers often have names which feature the letter ‘x’ such as maxx beard, beard flux xl and beard grow xl.
Beard growth supplements contain the essential vitamins for stimulating hair growth - however, in our opinion you’re much better off getting these through improving your diet. It’ll be better for you and probably cheaper!
If you’re looking to help grow your beard more quickly, checking out the products we’ve suggested here is the first step. Our tips for faster facial hair are next!
Warning: Following these instructions too closely could have you looking like Gandalf pretty soon. Subscribing to our mailing list will have the same effect - check out the link below.
