The 4 Stages of Beard Growth and How to Maintain Them

Knowing the stages of beard growth is an essential piece of knowledge for those who are about to embark on a beard-growing journey. This is especially helpful if it’s your first time growing your facial hair. You’ll discover a lot of things along the way that you wish you knew, so it’s better to know what you’re up against before you even begin. The following is what a typical beard growth cycle looks like, along with a couple of tips to help you manage your beard growth.

Stage #1: The Awkward Stage

Growing a beard isn’t exactly like riding a bike. You’re bound to encounter some bumps along the way, which usually happens during the first few weeks of growing a beard. It’s called the awkward stage for a reason. This is the stage where growing a beard feels weird and alien since you’re still adjusting to life without a razor. Stubbles will start to appear within days, and it will begin to itch like hell. It’s perfectly normal for your face to feel coarse like sandpaper at this point in time. 

Whenever you feel like scratching the itch, you should avoid doing it and instead keep your beard clean and well-hydrated by using a conditioner like beard oil. This should lessen the itchiness and dryness of the skin on your beard.

Stage #2: Growing Gains

When you’ve made it to about a month without shaving, this is where you really see some of the progress you’re making. While the itchiness is still there, you’re probably a lot more used to it than before. Right now, the biggest problem you have is patchiness or those little spots on your face that are less luscious than others. 

If your beard is patchy, you’ll be tempted to trim it to make it less noticeable. Don’t do it, or you’ll lose whatever progress you already have. Instead, keep hydrating your beard with beard oil and brush it regularly to cover up the patches. After applying the oil, you can also use a beard balm to add natural volume to your beard and make it look thicker. Don’t worry about the patches too much, as they will become a lot less noticeable in time.

Stage #3: It’s Time to Trim

About ten weeks after you’ve started your journey, you’ll finally see a semblance of a beard that’s starting to take shape. At this point, you should consider trimming your beard to give it a shape that conforms to your face shape or hairstyle. If you don’t trim your beard, it won’t look as stylish as you want it to be, and it’ll come off as shabby or unkempt. Unless that’s exactly the look you’re going for, you should start trimming and cutting some of the stray hair strands. You can also go to local barber shops and have a skilled barber tidy up your beard for you.

Stage #4: Full Beardsman

After four to five months, you’ve finally reached the peak of your journey, and you’re now sporting a full beard like many others before you. All that’s left to do is maintain your beard by washing it regularly and conditioning. Just keep up your beard grooming routine until you decide to shave it all again should you want to in the future.

Conclusion

The four stages of beard growth just show how delicate growing facial hair really is. It requires a lot of effort and meticulous care for you to achieve a full beard that you’ll be proud of wearing wherever you go.

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