There have been some people claiming that alcohol can benefit beards growth. I did some research to understand the subject much better, here is what I found.
Can alcohol or beer help grow a beard? Drinking alcohol or beer can not help with beard growth at all. Drinking alcohol or beer will lower the levels of testosterone (beard growth hormone), and also lead to the loss of some nutrients that help in facial hair growth. Drinking alcohol also increases estrogen levels a hormone that suppresses beard growth genes.
While drinking a little alcohol can help beard growth hormone levels, in the long run, alcohol will cause more harm. I would recommend avoiding alcohol altogether if you wish to grow a beard.
Try rogaine or minoxidil
, a cream that has been proven to help grow a beard even to those people struggling to grow a beard.
Table of Contents
Alcohol and beard growth?
The growth of facial hair is solely dependant on three factors: the levels of beard growth hormones name testosterone and DHT, genes, and how your genes are sensitive to beard growth hormones.
If you are looking to grow a beard you should strive to either boost the levels of testosterone in case you have clinically low levels or boost the sensitivity of androgen receptors.
Generally, all men have the same levels of testosterone whether Asian, Caucasian, African-American, African or even Native American.
Unless you have been diagnosed with low clinical levels by a doctor, boosting your levels of testosterone will not improve beard growth at all.
Below, we go through how drinking alcohol in beer or applying the alcohol can affect your beard growth.
Does alcohol kill dandruff?
The kind of alcohol we are talking about in this case is not the one contained in beer, but the one you can buy as a spirit. Mostly used for disinfection.
Alcohol has strong anti-microbial properties that have been proven to be very effective against viruses, bacteria, and viruses among other microbes.
Therefore, alcohol can kill dandruff and even help treat the dandruff problem. However, there are better options to treat dandruff such as tea tree oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil, and castor oil since tea tree oil will not leave your skin dry and chapped like alcohol.
How can alcohol help in beard growth?
Act as a carrier
Study shows that topical application of alcohol penetrates into the skin and hence alcohol have been used to manufacture cosmetics such as hair sprays.
Some of the products that have been used and proven to help grow a beard from scratch even for those who have struggled to grow a beard such as rogaine.
Use alcohol as one of their ingredients, since rogaine is applied topically. It is safe to assume that alcohol is used due to the fact that it penetrates the skin hair follicles easily.
Alcohol is also used in the extract of some of the best natural oils that can help with beard growth and thickness such as peppermint oil.
When mixed with castor oil which is a good natural oil for promoting beard growth alcohol enhances the delivery of castor oil to the roots of the facial hair follicles.
However, alcohol can dehydrate your hair strands especially if you do not hydrate them after applying alcohol or methylated spirit.
Boost the levels of testosterone
A small study published here shows that the consumption of alcohol in little amounts can actually boost the levels of testosterone in men. Testosterone is one of the hormones that stimulate the growth of facial hair.
However, it should be noted that excessive drinking of alcohol reduces the levels of testosterone in the body and this will have a negative effect on your beard growth.
Negative effects of alcohol towards beard growth
Nutrient loss
The growth of a beard requires some proteins, drinking alcohol will greatly reduce the amount of protein absorbed in the body and at the same, the consumption of proteins since drunk people rarely have time to consume a balanced diet.
Based on this study, the lack of some groups of proteins can lead to several issues in your hair growth, nail, and skin such as weak and thin hair and brittle nails.
Other nutrients that drinking alcohol affects include zinc and copper and iron all of which have been proven to be important towards the growth of facial hair.
Are there alternatives for growing a beard?
Yes, there are way better alternatives to help you grow a beard instead of using alcohol or beer.
The very first thing that you ought to understand is that the growth of the beard is solely controlled by your genes and how sensitive they are to testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.
To help or boost the growth of your facial hair you should aim either to boost the levels of testosterone or boost the sensitivity of your androgen receptors aka your genes or the delivery of the hormones to your androgens receptors in your facial hair follicles.
Anything that promises to grow you a beard and does not help achieve any of that is just lying to you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can methylated spirit grow beards? No, the methylated spirit cannot help with beard growth, the growth of beard is stimulated by testosterone, DHT, and beard growth genes.
Does rubbing alcohol help grow facial hair? On its own rubbing alcohol will not help you grow a beard, however, when applied with natural oils such as peppermint oil or castor oil alcohol helps deliver them into the hair follicles. Consequently, helping with beard growth.
Does Whiskey help beard growth? Drinking whisky will not help you grow a beard. Generally, whisky will lower testosterone levels a beard growth hormone. Barley one of the products used in making whisky increases estrogen hormone that affects beard growth negatively.
Is beer good for beard growth? Beer is not good for beard growth, drinking beer will lower your beard growth, hormones and affect your facia hair growth negatively. Keep of beer and smoking if you want to grow a beard or maintain one.
Conclusion
Is drinking alcohol or beer to grow a beard worth it? well, in my opinion, no. It will get hard to determine when you have had enough alcohol to promote beard growth. So, instead of drinking alcohol to help you grow a beard, I would recommend using rogaine or minoxidil, as they will help you achieve beard growth faster than alcohol will ever do.
