A popular question that comes up with newly bald people is whether or not they should grow a beard. On the one hand, a beard can help complete a very specific, popular look. On the other, a beard can sometimes draw a lot of attention, something newly bald people might not be too interested in. Either way, the choice is up to you.
So, should you grow a beard? Yes, you should! Growing a beard with a shaved head is a great way to create a new look. This is why a lot of people go with the classic bald head and beard combo. To break down the meaning behind this popular style, we’re going to take a look at the right way to grow a beard, why so many people grow beards, and how to maximize the look to its fullest potential. First, however, it’s important to make sure you understand your facial hair growth.
Learning your Facial Hair Growth
Growing facial hair is no easy task. A lot of people assume that you should just stop shaving and let biology do its business. In actuality, the right way to grow facial hair is a fairly tedious process. The difference between each individual is going to depend on a few variables that you’ll want to keep in mind.
Variables of Beard Growth
The first and most obvious variable to beard growth is going to be DNA.
DNA
Your specific DNA makeup is going to determine a lot of things about your beard, but an influential one is the actual growth. Everybody has facial hair grow at different speeds. Additionally, the thickness and color are going to depend on your DNA too. We’ll touch on those in detail after this. DNA is something that, no matter what miracle products say, you cannot change or alter. There are certain things about us, like height or eye color, that cannot be changed due to DNA. For a long time, beard product companies would promise better beard growth, but certain DNA types just are not going to lend themselves to a lumberjack thick beard. That’s okay: thickness is not everything when it comes to beards. That being said, it is an important variable.
Thickness
A beard grows from hair follicles on the face. The skin on the face is different than the scalp, so the thickness of your head hair does not determine your facial hair. That’s why so many bald people are able to grow great beards. The growth of a beard is determined by DNA, but so is thickness. Sure, a thick full beard is great, but do not be discouraged if you do not grow a thick beard. We’ll touch on this later, but thickness does not matter as much as how you style it. A thick beard is just as bad looking as a thin beard if both are styled and cut incorrectly. For example, neither looks good with excess neck hair. No matter the thickness of your beard, a great bald head and beard look is easy to pull off if you know what you are doing. That’s why you are reading this article, isn’t it?
Beard Color
The color of your beard is also determined by DNA. Unlike growth and thickness, color can be changed with artificial coloring. Many know hair dye for the head, but there are also dye kits for beards. Do not, under any circumstances, dye your facial hair with a head hair dye kit. The dye in a head hair kit is built to be sustained and handled with a much different canvas, if you will, than the face. Skin on your face is very sensitive, and can sustain much less chemically than your head. Likewise, the face builds up oil differently, so if chemically damaged, severe dryness or oily greasiness may follow with the wrong hair dye.
Self-Care
The last variable associated with the growth of a beard is self-care. A few things can come down to self-care that actually affect your beard’s growth. Stress is a huge detriment to beard growth. If a job or relationship is constantly causing you stress, your beard is likely going to grow slower and more unevenly. Likewise, diet is a big influence as well. If you are not receiving the correct nutrients, your beard is going to suffer. Making sure to eat a daily dose of vitamins through fruit and vegetable consumption is key. Likewise, many who grow a beard take a daily vitamin. Lastly, exercise is an important aspect to beard growth. If your body has too high of a fat content, the body is going to struggle to build up its proper functions. Not only does that include proper blood flow and muscle growth, but hair follicles suffer when there is too much fat in between the organs and skin.
Now that we’ve taken a look at the variables associated with hair growth, it’s important to know your facial hair. Here’s how to do it right in order to make sure the bald head and beard look is perfect for you.
The Facial Hair Test Drive
The best thing to do before growing out your beard is to let it grow and see what happens. A complete warning to those who do not know how their facial hair grows: this step could be rough. For example, in a week, your beard could be patchy, scratchy, and altogether upsetting. This isn’t a great sign at first, but give it time. Patience is key with a beard, no matter how it grows.
Give your beard one week and see where the hair is growing in fastest and fullest. After a week a few things might have happened.
Patches
If your facial hair is growing in uneven patches, there is a big chance that your beard is going to grow this way forever. It’s not the end of the world, it just means that the early days of the beard growth process are going to be rough. Make sure to give it a bit more time, and just prepare to endure a less than appealing look as the hair grows out.
Slow and Not So Steady
If after a week very little is coming up on your face, there is a big chance that your facial hair is going to test your patience. Facial hair grows as fast as its DNA is going to allow, so make sure not to get discouraged. Plenty of great beards grow slow, and it rarely has a direct connection to the thickness or effectiveness of the look overall.
Full and Even
If your stubble after a week is growing in full, thick, and even, that’s a very good sign. There is nothing easier to manage than an evenly growing beard. As it continues to grow out, however, the varying parts of the face may vary in the thickness and speed of growth. That means it is not time to stop reading, because we’re going to get into tips to growing out a great beard.
How to Grow Out a Great Beard
Making sure to follow these crucial steps to growing a beard make the process much smoother.
Give it Time
No advice about beards would be complete without the first and most important part of beard growth: patience. No matter how thick or full your beard grows, a great one takes time. There are going to be weeks where growth is through the roof, and others where it will look like nothing has grown an inch. Never stress over beard growth. As previously mentioned, stress is a major cause for improper growth. If a good beard is given the time to grow, the look is going to be impossible to beat any other way. There are a lot of great tips to growing a beard, but none is better than patience.
Fine Adjustments
It might sound counter-intuitive, but shaving your beard as it grows is crucial to a great look. You don’t want to do too much, so make sure to invest in a good pair of electric clippers. By doing this, you have a more fine tuned control with how your beard looks thanks to an easier time clipping specific hairs. Likewise, you can go ahead and buy a good set of barber clippers. These are a bit more time consuming to use, but make no mistake, great barbers do beards with clippers just as often as they do with electric clippers. If a patchy, uneven beard is giving you grief, go ahead and make sure to shave the parts that grow fast just enough to make sure everything look even.
Do the Important Things Now
Too often, new beard wearers do not understand the mess that comes with the skin underneath a beard. A lot of beards serve as covers for dry, unkempt skin. This makes beards itchy, flakey, and altogether gross. To avoid this, taking necessary precautions now can save from a lot of stress later. Things like a facial moisturizer used twice daily while the beard grows out can make a lot of difference. A good base layer of moisture everyday not only keeps the skin happy, but can aid in facial hair growth due to properly cared for skin. Making sure to use an SPF on the early stages of a growing beard is important too. Without a full beard to cover the face from the sun, there are too many threats of sunburn and UV ray damage.
Now that we’ve taken a look at the variables of beard hair growth and some tips of how to grow a beard out the right way, let’s figure out why so many like to pair a bald head with a beard.
Pairing a Bald Head with a Beard
Believe it or not, more people than ever are shaving their heads. As the stigma against baldness continues to wear thin, more and more people are comfortable with a shaved head. That’s great, especially for coming to terms with hair loss and thinning. Unfortunately, that also means more and more people have the same look. A great way to stand out is a good beard. So, why does this look work?
The Aesthetic of a Beard and Bald Head
Some see the look of a bald head and beard as unexplainably cool. There’s actually a reason for that, and it’s two major influences on the style.
Shaping the Head
A bald head can be very shapely. Depending on the size and shape of a bald head, the entire face can get lost in the baldness. There are a lot of things going for bald people. For one, they do not have to worry about hair styling, and that’s an easy way to cut some time out of the morning routine. They also do not have to worry about maintaining color or style. Bald is always in fashion, thankfully. What they do have to worry about, however, is becoming more of a bald head than a unique face.
The way a face looks is largely determined by the way it is framed. A bald head can be hard to frame. A beard helps with this by allowing the facial hair to show clear definition of face and head. Now, instead of a ton of bare skin, it’s beard and bald in perfect harmony.
Framing the Face
Not only does the head need a bit of framing with a bald head, but the face could use it too. No matter what hair, or lack of hair, is on your head, faces need a bit of something to help keep them shapely. For some, that’s a clear jawline. For others, that’s the benefit of great cheekbones or a sharp nose. Most people, however, have chubbier faces or no clear defining facial features. A beard changes that immediately. Instead of being the bald, normal looking person, a beard makes you unique and styled right away.
There’s one more key thing to touch on with a beard and bald head, and it might sound a bit harsh. Even mean, in fact. It’s true in some cases though, so it is worth mentioning.
Leaving Hair Where you Can Get It
Some have a hard time parting with their head hair. In fact, a lot of people who go bald grow a beard to have some sort of hair to manage. If for 40 years of your life, let’s say, have been spent cutting and styling hair, suddenly losing that is going to be tough. Not to mention, a lot of our self-image is built from how we look, and hair is a big part of that.
It’s not to say that somehow a beard fills the void of a bald person who has yet to come to terms with the look. It is important, however, to like the way you look. For many, a beard is a nice addition in a time of transition, and that’s an important thing. If a major change like a bald head is coming, why not also change something else? Facial hair is readily available for most to start growing and styling, so it makes sense to debut it with a new bald look.
Conclusion
A lot of bald people have beards. It makes it easy to frame the head and face, and adds a nice touch at a time where loss is on the mind. Hair loss is a tough thing, but a beard can help mend the process into something great and exciting. There’s nothing like a new look, and if a beard makes the process of being bald feel better when you look in the mirror, it makes sense to grow one.
Making sure to grow it right is key, however. If you are going to grow a beard, keep in mind your DNA and non-controllable features. Things like hair color can be changed, but a patchy beard is likely to be patchy until it is given the time to grow. Ensure that your beard is going to come with some growing pains, but make no mistake, the wait is always worth it.
When given time, a beard that starts rough and patchy can become something great. There are a lot of things to keep in mind with going bald, and growing a beard is one of the fun aspects. Whereas a bald head can feel limiting, a beard can help break open creative and positive feelings about one’s self. There are a lot of things to love about being bald, much like there is about having a beard. The combo is classic, and many are starting to rock it as bald heads become fashionable more and more each year. The beard fad is far from over, and more and more offices and places of work are seeing them as appropriate for the workplace. That means a lot of new openness towards beards. Pairing one with a bald head can be the new look you have been looking for to help break open a new chapter in your life.
