With increased claims of sperm benefits for skin and hair care and growth. I did some digging to find out whether the same can be said about beards. Here are my findings.
Can sperm make your beard or hair grow? Applying sperm can help grow a beard. Sperm promotes facial hair growth through Spermidine, a constituent of semen that stimulates beard elongation, promotes keratin production, prolongs the growth phase, and inhibits the beard shedding phase.
Read on to find out how spermidine contained in the sperm can possibly help with beard growth.
Sperm and beard growth
The growth of facial hair is stimulated
by the two beard hormones (Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone aka DHT), plus your genes.
For a beard to grow testosterone is converted to DHT. DHT binds into beard follicles and promotes growth.
Low levels of beard growth hormones can be the reason you are not able to achieve your beard growth goals.
Secondly, genes aka androgen receptors that are not sensitive enough to beard growth hormones may be affecting your beard growth.
Whereas beard growth is entirely dependant on genes and beard growth hormones.
Anything that can prolong the beard growth phase and prevent the resting phase or even strengthen your beards can come a long way to helping you grow a beard.
Sperm for hair and beard growth
There are tons of anecdotal claims that sperm is beneficial to hair, teeth, and skin. But for a long time, there has been no scientific research to support these claims until 2011.
Given that the most regenerating cells need polyamines, researchers set out to investigate how polyamine would affect human hair follicles, given that they are highly regenerative cells.
One of the constituents of sperm is spermidine/ spermine, and spermidine is one of the polyamines.
This research published here was performed in situ, meaning in the hair follicles through topical application.
Given that, inhibiting the synthesis of polyamine was found to negatively affect hair growth in mice and the fact that polyamines play a crucial role in the growth of sheep hair.
The researchers hypothesized that spermidine a polyamine can also improve hair growth in human beings.
The results of the study were:
When spermidine was applied to human hair, it stimulated hair shaft elongation.
A spermidine treatment for 6 days continuously leads to hair shaft elongation.
At the same time, the 6 days spermidine treatment also led to a prolonged growth phase of hair follicles commonly known as anaphase.
The researchers also noted that the hair produced was also well pigmented.
Hair follicles entering the resting stage of hair (the stage where hair does not grow), greatly reduced. Which meant, hair entering telogen the shedding phase was also reduced.
This in simpler terms means that applying spermidine will greatly make you grow more hair and shed little hair, which is what we all want.
Researchers also realized that spermidine also increases the production of keratin, by stimulating, the cells that produce keratin known as keratinocytes.
Keratine is one of the proteins that is contained in hair, this means the increased production of keratin leads to increased production of more hair that is longer and stronger.
How sperm promotes hair growth
Sperm promotes hair growth by:
- Prolonging anagen phase (hair growth phase)
- preventing the catagen phase (hair resting phase)
- preventing the telogen phase (hair shedding phase)
- Promotes hair shaft elongation
- Promotes the production of keratin
These facts can help reduce hair loss caused by stress and androgens.
But how do these facts help grow a beard you may ask?
How sperm promotes beard growth
Well, as mentioned earlier, the growth of a beard is determined by genes and beard growth hormones.
What I did not mention is that the DHT inhibitors (one of the beard growth hormones), can actually affect your beard growth negatively.
Fortunately, spermidine is not a DHT inhibitor. Therefore, we can conclude that applying either spermidine on itself or sperm can help you grow facial hair.
Spermidine or sperm will prolong the growth phase of your beard, prevent the shedding phase, and ensure your beard grows longer and stronger.
How to use spermidine for beard growth
There are better and more efficient ways to grow a beard rather than using sperm.
These methods include Rogaine, which has been proven by research to help grow facial hair even in men who have not been able to grow a beard naturally.
However, if you choose to use sperm for beard growth, be sure to consult a doctor. Unsafe sperm can infect you with an STD.
You can also opt to buy synthetically made spermidine. You should apply spermidine on your skin for 6 days before you start seeing any change.
How can you stop excessive hair growth?
Based on the same research, the researchers found out that if you apply eflornithine topically it acts as an inhibitor of the biosynthesis of polyamine and can control excessive growth of hair or beard. eflornithine inhibits the growth of hair and decreases the production of keratin.
Does semen retention (SR) help in growing facial hair?
Based on several studies semen retention could help with growing facial hair. I did not find any research studies that were purposely focused on this topic.
However, I found a few studies whose findings can validate the theoretical part of the claim.
For instance, based on this research conducted to evaluate the characteristics of semen, based on how long a man abstained from sex.
The study found that when a man abstains for less than a day, the motility of the sperm is increased as compared to abstaining longer. Basically, this means that reducing the abstaining period results in increased sperm quality.
Another independent study conducted to investigate how abstinence affects the quality of testosterone revealed that a high period of abstinence resulted in increased concentration of testosterone in men.
Semen retention does help in growing facial hair by improving the quality of semen. High-quality semen has high-quality spermidine which has been proven to stimulate and promote beard growth.
A Word of Caution Using Sperm for Beard Growth
It is important to note that, semen can pass sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS. Therefore, utmost care should be taken before choosing to undergo this route for beard growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is sperm good for hair growth?
Yes, sperm is good for hair growth. Spermidine contained in sperm promotes hair shaft elongation, promotes hair growth by prolonging the active phase of hair [anagen phase], and inhibits the resting phase catagen phase. Consequently promoting the growth of hair.
How can I use use sperm for hair growth?
To use sperm for hair growth, you can combine it with a derma roller, Derm rolls your scalp thrice a week to stimulate blood circulation and activate your hair follicles. Then apply sperm or spermidine that has been proven to prolong the growth phase of hair, and prevent the shedding phase.
How do you apply sperm for hair or beard growth?
Sperm can be applied topically on areas that you want to grow a beard. That means that if you want to grow a beard on your cheeks all you need is to apply sperm on your cheeks.
The researchers observed an increase of hair in mice within a week of applying spermidine. You can also apply it to your scalp to treat telogen effluvium.
Does sperm make your hair soft?
I did not find research claiming that sperms can make hair or beard soft. However, there have been cases of women claiming that sperm makes hair soft.
If I can’t grow a beard does it mean I have a low sperm count?
No, not being able to grow a beard does not mean you have a low sperm count. There are several reasons that could be hindering you from growing a beard such as genes and their sensitivity to the DHT hormone.
Does putting sperm on your face make facial hair grow faster?
Facial hair grows at the rate of half an inch per month, therefore, putting sperm on your face will promote facial hair to grow but will not make it grow faster. Also, note that even sperm cannot grow hair where there are no hair follicles.
Can applying sperm on your face increase facial hair volume?
Applying sperm on your face can help increase the density of your beard or even help you fill in a patchy beard by stimulating dormant facial hair follicles and promoting elongation of the hair shaft.
How can one grow a thick beard at a faster rate?
First and foremost, you cannot increase the rate at which the beard grows, the growth rate remains at one-half an inch per month.
For you to grow a thicker beard, there are several techniques that you can apply. For instance, you can use a derma roller and a beard growth-promoting serum or Rogaine/Minoxidil to grow a thicker beard.
And as outlined in the research paper, sperm can also help you grow a thicker beard when applied topically.
Why does some boys get facial hair first before others?
The reason some boys grow facial hair before others are because they are early bloomers their genes are more sensitive to testosterone from an early age.
However, you should not worry that you are not able to grow a beard as a teenager. Be patient you could be a late bloomer and with time you will grow that beard you always wanted.
Are there any legitimate ways to stimulate beard growth?
Yes, there are several legitimate ways to stimulate your hair follicles to grow facial hair. Using a quality derma roller can actively stimulate the growth of your facial hair.
Also, increasing the sensitivity of your androgen receptors should also stimulate the growth of facial hair. Read more detailes on how to stimulate beard growth.
Will coating my face in semen help me grow a thicker beard?
Based on the research will reference, spermidine should activate your dormant hair follicles and boost the growth of your facial hair. However, you have to have hair follicles in the first place for you to grow a beard.
Is sperm good for hair growth?
Yes, sperm is good for hair growth as it prolongs the anagen phase (the active growth phase of hair) and inhibits the catagen phase (end of the growth phase of hair) however, using sperm to grow hair is not recommended since sperm can transfer dangerous diseases.
Does sperm/semen help or make hair grow?
Yes, sperm or semen do help with hair growth. Spermidine, a constituent of sperm has been proven to increase the active growth phase of hair and delay the end of the hair growth phase.
Conclusion
Sperm promotes beard growth by enhancing the growth phase and delaying the end of the growth phase and shedding phase. However, rogaine is far much effective to promote beard growth without putting you at the risk of infections.
