The 21 Most Effective Ways to Grow a Beard Faster

Anyone who’s watched a movie in the past 10 years will understand why men are suddenly so interested in learning how to grow a beard faster.

Whether it’s Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Chris Hemsworth as Thor or even Chris Evans as Captain America in Infinity War, nowadays every other superhero – and the handsome celebrity who plays them – seems to have a manly mane.

Screenshot of Avengers Infinity Game with quote from Thor about Captin America's beard

And beards aren’t just advantageous to Avengers.

As the UK’s Sun newspaper reports, “bearded blokes are one of the most attractive physical features according to women, with 73% saying their best sexual partner donned some fuzzy facial hair.”

(And let’s be honest – that fact alone probably accounts for 73% of the reason why guys want their beards to grow faster.)

But while growing a beard may be easy for Norse Gods and super soldiers, many of us weren’t blessed with quick hair-growing genetics.

Fortunately for us mere mortals, there are a number of things we can do to grow a full beard faster.

Check out our comprehensive guide on how to grow a beard faster below to find the quickest path for going from Leo DiCaprio in Titanic to Leo DiCaprio in The Revenant (but hopefully with better grooming).

How to Grow a Beard Fast

The Definitive Guide on How to Make Facial Hair Grow Faster

First Up:

How to Grow a Beard Fast Naturally ↓

There are a lot of great beard products (and even supplements) on the market that can help you stimulate hair growth.

But in beards, as in life, there are no shortcuts.

If you want to achieve the best results and grow a hearty and healthy beard fast, you need to make sure you’re living an active, healthy lifestyle.

Here are the most important steps to implement to help your beard hair grow fast naturally.

1. Improve Your Diet

Of all the natural ways to get your beard growing, having a healthy and balanced diet is arguably the most crucial.

That means any guy wondering how to grow a faster beard will benefit from eating clean and sticking to the types of healthy foods that contain the nutrients you need to encourage your hair follicles to grow.

Testosterone

For instance, testosterone is one of the leading agents in growing any facial hair, and certain foods have vitamins and minerals that can boost your testosterone levels.

Zinc is a mineral that can potentially increase your testosterone levels, so eating zinc-rich foods like oysters, beef, spinach and lentils is a good place to start.

Protein

Try also to get about 56 grams of protein each day, which is the recommended daily intake for men.

Hair is essentially made up of protein, so you’ll definitely need your lean meats, fish and seafood, eggs, dairy products, nuts and lastly legumes and beans.

You can also consider supplementing with a clean, sugar-free protein powder, and there’s some scientific evidence suggesting omega-3 fatty acids may speed up hair growth, so it’s also a good idea to consume fish, walnuts and chia seeds, all of which are rich in omega-3s.

Vitamins & Minerals

Men's vitamins — It’s better to get your vitamins from food, but a good multivitamin like this one from Vimerson Health can help fill in any gaps in your diet

Getting all your vitamins and minerals from whole foods is always the best route.

For instance, if you’re trying to load up on vitamin C (which you should, because it’s one of the best vitamins for mitigating hair loss and promoting hair growth) it’s better to eat an orange than to pop open a pill bottle.

But sometimes getting your recommended daily intake of these nutrients can be difficult, so you may want to supplement your diet with a multivitamin.

By taking one a day, you can compensate for any nutrients your diet may be missing.

2. Stay Hydrated

There’s a correlation between being hydration and having a healthy layer of skin that provides the best conditions for your beard to thrive.

The U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recommends about 15.5 cups of fluids per day, and following their guidelines could potentially help you grow a beard faster.

But while hydrating sounds easy, it’s one of those habits that often gets neglected.

To stay on top of getting your fluids in, always keep a bottle of water near you, and try setting an alarm to nudge yourself to drink a glass of water.

There are also plenty of mobile apps that can remind you to stay hydrated.

3. Get Enough Sleep

Your parents always told you to get a good night’s rest so you can grow taller and stronger, and that same slumber can help you grow your beard faster.

Not shockingly, most of your hair grows during the night. That’s why when you wake up in the morning, you’re almost always greeted with tiny hairs growing, even if you shave the night before.

A hormone produced by your body called melatonin sparks a reaction for your hair to start growing.

So for night owls trying to grow a full beard, you might want to reconsider your sleeping schedule.

Try to aim for at least seven to eight hours of sleep for optimal facial hair growth.

4. Exercise Regularly

This one may seem a little counterintuitive.

But if you want your hair to grow faster, one of the best things you can do is hit the gym regularly and focus on strength training, which helps improve everything from your muscle development to your blood flow and blood circulation.

Lift Heavy, Grow Quickly

Muscular man with beard on beach — Want a faster beard *and* a better body? Hit the weights—hard

When you lift adequate weight you force your body to undergo hypertrophy, which sends a signal to your body to raise your testosterone levels.

Again, the more testosterone, the closer you are to growing that perfect beard.

Todd Schroeder from the University of Southern California says that after exercise your testosterone levels can elevate for 15 minutes, and in some cases may last for up to an hour.

Although these inflated levels are just short spurts, enough exercise throughout the week can add up to make a big difference on your beard.

Less Stress = More Facial Hair

Another good reason to exercise is that it manages your stress, and stress is one of the leading contributors to a reduced level of testosterone.

With enough consistency, you’ll likely encourage faster beard growth.

For optimal growth, aim to hit the gym three to five times weekly.

As an extremely advantageous perk, by the time you’ve developed a beard you’ll likely also have a chiselled body to go along with it.

And if you’ve never trained before and you’re not sure where to start, don’t worry: we got you.

You can check out our guide to getting over “gymtimidation” if you’re nervous about hitting the weight room.

Alternatively, we’ve also put together a list of the best at-home workout equipment if you prefer to keep your sweat sessions private.

5. Implement a Skincare Regimen

Cleanse

In order for you to grow a full beard, you need to have fresh, healthy and clean skin.

The good news is that this can easily be achieved by adding a gentle skin cleanser to your morning and evening routine.

Great face washes are dermatologist recommended, non-comedogenic (doesn’t clog your pores) and hypoallergenic.

One that we love is Lumin’s Charcoal Cleanser.

It topped our list of the best face washes for men because it’s specifically designed to help unclog your pores, and remove the excess oil and dead skin cells that can accumulate on your face.

Your beard will appreciate having a clean canvas (i.e., your skin) to grow on.

Exfoliate

Besides cleansing, exfoliating your skin is a good way to dig deeper into your pores.

By removing that dead layer of skin, you create a cleaner environment for hairs to grow and potentially stimulate hair growth.

Try investing in an exfoliating gel that doesn’t contain any beads, which can be abrasive and actually harm your skin rather than help it.

For a start, lactic acid exfoliants are best for dry skin while salicylic acid exfoliants are good for oily to acne prone skin.

Lumin makes a great lactic acid exfoliating rub, while Dr. Brandt’s exfoliator is one of the best-reviewed salicylic acid exfoliating products on Amazon.

It’s recommended to only exfoliate two to three times a week, so don’t overdo it.

Moisturize

After cleansing and exfoliating, the last thing you need to do is moisturize your skin.

If you don’t moisturize your face, growing a beard will be an uncomfortable and itchy process.

By keeping your skin hydrated, you’ll make sure that your skin is healthy overall, and keep those itches at bay.

When you buy a moisturizer, you can either take your specific skin type into account, or pick up one that works for all skin types.

We like Brickell Men’s Daily Essential Face Moisturizer, which is designed to work for all types of skin and contains a lot of healthy ingredients, including vitamin E, jojoba oil, hyaluronic acid and aloe vera.

And remember that for all these products, it will be a trial and error process. Find what works for you and stick with it.

6. Watch Out for Ingrown Hairs

After incorporating a proper skin care regimen into your daily routine, you’ll also want to keep an eye out for ingrown hairs.

These bumps formulate when your hair grows back into your skin, causing inflamed bumps on your face.

When you run into these painful bumps on your face, you’ll quickly realize how these hairs can hinder the progress of your beard.

Tube of benzoyl peroxide — A good benzoyl peroxide ointment can help heal ingrown hairs (bonus: it can do the same for acne flare ups)

To keep ingrown hairs at bay, always try your best to stay on top of your skin care regimen.

Keeping your face clean will prevent these irritating bumps from constantly popping up.

But if you do get the occasional ingrown, consider using a benzoyl peroxide spot treatment.

It’s an over-the-counter cream you can gently rub onto the ingrown hair, which will help them heal faster. And generally speaking, the earlier you catch it and apply the ointment, the faster it goes away.

Next Up:

Grow Faster With Beard Products & Supplements ↓

Collectively, the six steps above are the best way to help your beard grow faster naturally.

Some of the steps involve using facial products that will help you maintain healthy skin, which leads to a healthy beard.

But none of them require you to apply anything to your hair, or ingest anything that would affect your physiology.

But if you’re not progressing from patchy beard to a full, luscious thicker beard as quickly as you like, the steps below can serve as supplements that might help you get there a little faster.

7. Choose the Right Beard Care Products

When you start growing your beard you will most likely run into itchiness.

To combat this, you might want to invest in some quality beard products to keep your facial hair nice and soft.

Oils and balms are great because they usually offer a nice shine to show off your luscious beard, in addition to helping stimulate the healthy growth of facial hair.

While it boils down to personal preference on which one to use, they each have their own advantages.

Beard Oil

During the early stages of your beard growth, you’ll most likely want to use an oil because of how absorbent it is.

One of our top picks for the best beard oil option is Honest Amish’s Classic Beard Oil.

This beard oil consists of seven organic oils, including avocado oil, virgin pumpkin seed oil and sweet almond oil.

The oil also has a refreshing liquorice fragrance to it, so you won’t be dreading the smell upon application.

The oil is designed to not only hydrate your beard, but also promote some hair growth.

Beard Balm

Beard balms, on the other hand, have more of a viscous texture and can provide moisture and hydration to your beard over a longer period of time.

Generally speaking, balms are recommended for people with longer beards and people with dryer skin.

Try looking for one that uses natural ingredients, which tend to be gentler and less irritating to your beard and skin.

One to try is Viking Revolution’s Beard Balm.

It uses all natural ingredients and consists of argan oil, jojoba oil, mango butter and beeswax.

Apply this balm to prevent that flakey beard, and remember that you only need about a pea-size amount to be effective.

The balm also has a light citrus scent, which keeps your beard smelling fresh.

Beard Brush

Another great tool to make sure your beard is neat and tidy is a beard brush.

Using a brush helps evenly distribute the products you apply to your beard, in addition to helping you style it.

A great option is a boar brush, because the bristles are much thicker than your average brush, and can even exfoliate the skin under your beard.

You might want to consider using BF Wood’s Boar Bristle Beard Brush.

This particular brush has thicker bristles, but will still be comfortable to brush through your beard.

It’s also ergonomically designed, which especially helps as your beard gets thicker and requires more pass-throughs.

Beard Growth Kits

One way to get all the beard care products you need is to pick up a beard growth kit that provides everything in one package.

Fulllight Tech’s beard kit topped our list of the best kits for beard growth on the market because it comes with everything you need to grow and groom your beard.

It includes beard balm, beard shampoo, beard oil, a beard comb and brush, stainless steel scissors for trimming, and even a storage bag to keep everything in.

8. Try Beard Supplements

If you’ve taken all the above steps and it still seems like nothing’s really working to get the fuller beard you want, you might want to try some beard supplements to help your body physically stimulate growth.

But there’s a reason why this step appears at the end of our list.

It’s worth noting that the efficacy of beard growth supplements varies, and there are definitely no promises here.

We should also mention that you should consult your doctor before ingesting any supplements to make sure there are no unforeseen risks to taking them.

But with that said, many beard supplements are plant-based and generally considered safe, as they’re often packed with vitamins and other ingredients like biotin that promote facial hair growth.

Biotin stimulates keratin production and allows for hair to grow from the follicles.

One of the top rated beard supplements on Amazon is Beard Grow XL from Delta Genesis.

In addition to biotin, it contains vitamins A, C, E, B1 and B6, along with a number of other ingredients designed to help stimulate growth.

It has a 4/5 star rating on Amazon after more than 5,000 reviews, which suggests some pretty good results.

But it’s worth noting that supplements don’t require government study or approval in the U.S., so any claims made by this or any other supplement haven’t been evaluated by the FDA.

A Quick Word On

How to Grow a Beard Faster at 18

Teenaged man with beard and mustache — Image via marymarkevich / Freepik

Whether you’re wondering how to grow a beard faster at 18, 17, 16 or any other teenaged year, trust me when I say I get it.

Your teens are the time when facial feels the most important, since it can make you look more mature and grown up.

But (rather annoyingly), it’s also the toughest time to grow facial hair, since you’re just getting started.

There’s good news and bad news for younger guys who want to grow a beard (or at least some stubble) fast.

The good news is that all of the natural methods we’ve listed above should help give your facial hair a boost.

The bad news is that growing a beard fast is more or less the same at any age, so there aren’t too many other tips or tricks to try.

How to Increase Blood Flow to Beard

With that said, the blog MomJunction points out that massaging your face can help improve blood circulation, which might further promote facial hair growth.

I know it can be frustrating to feel like your facial hair isn’t growing fast enough, but sticking to the steps listed above is really your best bet for going from slow, patchy facial hair to a fast and full beard.

And whatever you do…

Don’t Trim!

Man trimming his beard with clippers — DON’T. YOU. DARE. (image via stockking / Freepik)

As stubborn human beings our natural tendency is to fix things prematurely.

Resist that urge.

While everyone’s hair grows at different rates, on average most guys who follow the steps outlined above will see about 1/3 to 1/2 an inch of growth within a month or so.

So even if your beard isn’t perfectly groomed in those first few weeks, resist the urge to trim or cut it, because doing so will only prolong the growing process.

Once you have roughly half an inch of growth, you’ll have enough hair to start thinking about how to shape, form and style your beard.

Until then, keep the end goal in mind, and focus on working the steps each day to keep your beard coming as quickly as possible.

FAQ ↓

How do you grow facial hair faster?

The best way to grow facial hair faster is by living a healthy lifestyle: eat clean foods rich in vitamins and nutrients, get enough sleep, workout often and stay hydrated. If that doesn’t work, you may want to try some beard supplements.

How can I grow my beard faster naturally?

The best way to grow your beard faster naturally is to eat healthy foods that are rich in vitamins and nutrients, which encourage growth. Try zinc-rich foods like oysters, beef, spinach and lentils, lean proteins and fruits and vegetables for vitamins.

What stimulates beard growth?

Beard growth is stimulated by all of the things mentioned above – a healthy diet, lots of hydration, muscle-building exercise and a good night’s sleep. In addition, you can try massaging your face to improve blood circulation, or trying supplements.

Can I grow a beard in 2 weeks?

Everyone’s physiology is different, but if you’re starting from a clean shaven baby face, you probably can’t grow a full beard in two weeks. Generally speaking, it takes about a month to see 1/3 to 1/2 an inch of facial hair growth.

Does rubbing your beard help it grow?

Possibly. There’s some evidence that massaging your face can improve blood circulation, which promotes faster hair growth. This is where a good beard oil can be handy: massaging it in makes the hair you do have softer, and the massage helps encourage more growth.

Do beard oils work?

Beard oils work to hydrate your hair and skin, and soften the facial hair you currently have. While the beard oil ingredients themselves may not promote too much growth, the act of rubbing the oil in regularly can help improve blood flow and lead to faster growth.

You Know How to Grow a Beard Faster

Now Learn How to Look Your Bearded Best

Now that you know how to grow a beard faster, you’ll be well on your way to growing a healthy, thick beard in (relatively) little time.

But while a full beard can certainly make a man look more masculine, a long beard alone won’t be enough to help you stand out.

If you want to look like the most polished and put together version of yourself, you need to know how to nail the seemingly small but vitally important details that help a man stand out from the crowd.

Fortunately, you don’t need to look very far. We’ve put together a nine-point checklist that covers the most important aspects of your look from head-to-toe.

Just enter your email address below, and we’ll send the (totally free!) guide to stepping up your style straight to your inbox.