Why You Have A Patchy Beard
Let’s face the cold truth. A lot of guys have patchy beards. Beards that they are not exactly pleased with. Beards they wouldn’t write home about. Now, I have a deep love for all beards, thick and thin, but having a patchy beard is a huge deterrent to growing one for a lot of guys.
In an effort to find biological reasons for your patchy beard, and hopefully a nice natural fix, I researched many scientific articles that frankly were a bit over my head. But I’m a pretty smart guy, and I was able to take away some info and distill it down to the essential reasons why your beard is lackluster compared to the norm. Hopefully you will take away a better understanding of your frustrating situation and also some hope that the rapid progress in genetic research will someday create a solution.
To the science!
Beard hair growth, unlike the growth of head hair or other facial hair, like eyelashes, depends on compounds called androgens. Androgens are responsible for what are considered masculine features. The most famous androgen is our old friend we learned about in middle-school health class, testosterone.
Testosterone fueled your conversion from a boy to a man and took you through those hellish emotional changes and awkward physical changes we all had to suffer through. Now that you are an adult, your manly hormone keeps your muscles firm and useful and keeps your sex drive at a normal level. It is also beard food.
Inside each of your follicles is a structure called the dermal papilla. The dermal papillae are kind of like the “brains” of your hair follicles. The ones in your beard follicles respond to the messages that your androgens send and cause the surrounding parts of the hair follicles (called the hair matrix) to do their thing and make some damn beard hair. Guess what androgen tells the beard hair follicles to activate the hair matrix? Yep, testosterone.
So why not simply partake in some extra testosterone? Number one, it’s a controlled substance in the United States. Number two, there are other factors at work here that are sabotaging your beard growth.
When the dermal papillae of your beard follicles utilize testosterone, they actually metabolize it and create another androgen as a byproduct called dihydrotestosterone. This substance is like the bigger, stronger brother to testosterone. It contributes to male characteristics, just like wimpy old regular testosterone, just a lot more. It didn’t just kick start your pubescent transition to an adult male, it is pretty much the reason that you developed as a male in the womb.
To utilize testosterone and create dihydrotestosterone, your beard follicles need yet another substance, an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase. This enzyme is necessary for this conversion, and if you have low levels of it, then you have low levels of dihydrotestosterone. More importantly to the topic at hand, if you don’t have enough 5-alpha-reductase, the dermal papillae of your beard follicles can’t properly use testosterone to tell your hair matrices to make hair. And if your beard hair matrices aren’t making hair, you aren’t growing a beard.
In case you got a bit lost in the science back there, let me summarize.
Each beard hair is like a little plant whose “seed” is buried within each follicle. Your beard seeds need testosterone and an enzyme to grow. The testosterone is like the water and the enzyme is like the germ inside the seed that takes the water and uses it to grow. Too little water means too little growth, but more importantly, if there’s no germ inside the seed, there’s no way anything is sprouting.
So what’s a guy with too little 5-alpha-reductase to do? The good news is that it is already the subject of much pharmacological effort. The bad news is that those efforts are currently working toward the goal of reducing the 5-alpha-reductase levels in normal men. Why in the world would they do that? Because of the dihydrotestosterone that it helps produce. You see, in the crazy mixed-up world of hair, too much dihydrotestosterone causes male pattern baldness! Yes, the more likely a man can grow a beard, the more likely he will eventually go bald. Elevated dihydrotestosterone levels may also contribute to an enlarged prostate and even prostate cancer. Hence the current 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors on the market today.
But take heart, you patchy-bearded soul. If a medicine can reduce the level of an enzyme, then there’s no reason one couldn’t be created to increase the levels instead. Maybe an intrepid reader of The Beard Coach will one day start a foundation to fund the development of such a drug. Until then, don’t fret. Your patchy beard doesn’t make you less of a man. You lack no testosterone man fuel. You simply suffer from a medical condition that one day in the glorious future may be cured. Then you can gladly take your beard pills and finally grow a one you can take home to Mom.
Sources:
http://www.nature.com/jid/journal/v98/n6s/abs/5612065a.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9804329
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119302972/abstract
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-alpha_reductase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrotestosterone
(Note: I am not a dermatologist and there may be giant errors in my understanding. If any real dermatologists read this, please comment below with your insights. Thanks!)
16 Comments
This entry is filed under Beard Science and tagged with biology, dermatology, patchy beard.
You can also follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Or perhaps you're just looking for the trackback and/or the permalink.
Hi,am buzzard from NIGERIA. Am 24 and… i’ve got no beards on my face,that really sucks when i see my younger ones with lot of beards. Pls,i really need a help to this predicament. What can i do? *crying*
I have the exact same problem as Mike. I’m 20 and I can grow a full beard except for the middle of my chin and I can only grow on the sides of my chin. I keep a full beard year round (I’m kinda chunky and it makes me look good in a “rugged” sort of way) but I feel as if I look like a complete idiot because of this damned bald spot in the middle of my chin. ANY HELP!?!?!
Hey there Beard Coach, consider me subscribed!
Just wanted to share my thanks for this interesting bit of insight. Many transgender men like myself view beards with a certain reverent awe, and eagerly look forward to the day when we too might pursue the noble facial fuzz.
Even those of us who have been voluntarily introducing testosterone to our bodies and studying its effects for years never cease to be amazed by the diversity of results men experience! (One wonders what wondrous revelations may lie in the study of female-bodied beard-growers.)
Patchy beard is definitely a regular complaint for many of us, and the brutal reality of how fickle genetics and biochemstry are can really land a blow on a guy who expected to give Grizzly Adams a run for his money after just a few months. It’s good to know even “cisgender/bio-men” commonly experience this kind of anxiety!
I am 33 and I grown hair only on my chin, mustache and side burns and cant grow it on the rest of my face. Has anyone else experienced this? Is there anything out there that can be prescribed for this? At 33 I would think that I should be able to grow a full beard. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Adam
Hey Adam,
I am 33 too and I have very less moustache and worse, only along the jaw line. Nothing seem to grow in the area right below my nose and above my upper lip. I really don’t know why it is so. I also feel in no way this should be any deterrent to my happiness level. If there is lesser face hair, i end up shaving faster
Weird, I have this exact same facial hair pattern. Anyone have any input as to how it looks after fully growing in? Moustache, chin, neck, mutton chops… Arrrrrgh!
Oh, how I wish I could grow a beard. Ever since I was a kid, I’d waited for the day when I could finally grow a beard. I’m 21 now, and that day still hasn’t come. Due to my shitty beardless genetics, the most I can get is a bit of stubble on my neck and a light pedo-stache. Remember, some of us are not beardless by choice, but rather the cruel hand of fate.
Don’t fret too much… 21 is still pretty young in beard terms! My own beard was certainly not as good at 21 as it is now that I’m 33. There’s a reason beards are symbols of experiential wisdom, my friend.
Take heart from the Coach’s words, Bearless! I’m not much older than you, 24, and while my beard still has some developing left to do it still gives what I could grow at 21 a run for it’s money.
I’m 20, nearly 21 years old, and have always lacked hair in the middle of my chin, (like where the cleft is), but the corners of my chin grown hair fine.. (I may have a couple bald patches, but aren’t too big of a deal) What are some recommended ways of filling in my stubborn patchiness on my chin other than just shaving a lot or waiting a while to shave??
Well thats an interesting read. Im 29 and finally decided to try a bit of a beard on for size after a lifetime of shaving.
The stubbly beard look suits me well, and im already noticing people treating me in a more manly and serious fashion, almost like im walking around with a large pair of balls hanging out of my pants.
Anyway the only problem with my stubbly beard is that either side on the jaw line i have a small area of limited growth, i am somewhat perplexed by this refusal to conform from these areas of my face but i am happily enlightened now as to the reasons for such rebellious behaviour from these lazy hair follicles.
For this i must thank you, and remember people…the beard is mightier than the tash!
Thanks for the information. You write very well for the common man.
Thanks, man. That’s a really nice compliment! Hopefully I’ve earned a repeat visitor…
The same thing happend to me a few weeks ago, great beard since the late teens, now all of a sudden a patch came sort of overnight, i have split up with my gf recently and am going through some issues at work and am thinking it is related, but can’t be sure. I also read somewhere that it can be caused by a sexual desease called syphullus.. not sure if i spet that correctly, but also worth bearing in mind for some readers.
Hey Beard Coach~
My beard is extremely thick and has been from about the time I was 18. However, Im now 35 and over the last few months I’ve noticed I’ve slowly started to develop some bald patches in my beard? It’s occuring on either side of my chin. Any suggestions on how to prevent this? Will it stop? Will it grow back? Thanks.
-JJ
Hi JJ – Sorry to hear about your beard bald spots. Your questions led me to do a bit of research on the topic, and I wrote up a summary of what I found out in this post:
Have you developed a beard bald patch?
Hope the information helps!