If you are looking for ways to grow beards on the cheeks then this guide will help you achieve a full thick cheek beard. These tips are backed with science and anecdotal evidence (evidence from real people).
If you have not been able to grow facial hair on the cheeks, you must be wondering why yet you have grown a mustache and a goatee right?
The reason you have a grown a goatee and mustache and not cheek beard is because of the androgen receptors in the chin and upper lip are more sensitive as compared to the ones on your cheeks.
Here are tips on how to grow facial hair on the cheeks
- Boost testosterone and DHT levels
- Increase the sensitivity of your androgen receptors on your cheeks
- Improve blood circulation in your cheeks
- Use peppermint oil or derma roller, Rogaine and castor oil
- Get enough sleep and avoid stress
- Be patients and let it grow
Table of Contents
Why do beards not grow on cheeks?
There are several reasons why you cannot grow facial hair on your cheeks and we will cover them all.
Genetic Factors
For some time, people have believed that the genes that control the growth of hair come from the mother’s side. This has even raised debates in various beard forums
. However, as revealed by this case study and these genes can come from either or both parents. That means you can predict the pattern your beard is going to take by observing your family line.
Low levels of facial hair growing hormones
Beards are classified as androgenic hair, their growth is affected by two hormones, namely testosterone and dihydrotestosterone (DHT).
This means that if your levels of these two hormones are not at par, you will not be able to grow the beard you want.
According to this mini-study, both testosterone and DHT control the growth of facial hair independently. Testosterone primes your hair follicles whereas DHT promotes linear growth (simply means having the same growth rate over a specified timeline). This means that if your levels of testosterone and DHT are at par you can probably grow a fuller beard.
Unresponsive or insensitive Androgen Receptors
Well here where it gets funny… You can have the right amount of the two beard growth hormones you still cannot grow facial hair on your cheeks.
The sensitivity of your androgen receptors is to blame for this.
What are androgen receptors you may ask? Well, androgen receptors are the means through which beard growing hormones bind in order to enter into the DNA of the facial hair follicles.
Poor circulation of blood in the cheeks
This one is pretty simple… Blood is the main body form of transport right? Your body uses blood to transport various nourishment to where they are needed.
Testosterone and dihydrotestosterone are not produced in the cheeks. Therefore if blood circulation has low blood circulation, these hormones may not reach their intended destination.
Or they may not arrive at their destination in substantial amounts. To make it even worse, your mouth and chin area have better blood circulation as compared to your cheeks.
Poor lifestyle practices and nutrition
There is a saying that goes like this “your beards are what you eat”. In a way it holds some truth.
Poor nutrition leads to insufficient vitamins, proteins, and minerals. There are some foods that are known to increase the levels of testosterone and DHT.
Some will even increase blood circulation in your body such as onions. Lack of these foods will not help your levels of testosterone and DHT at all. Poor sleep pattern or not getting enough sleep also reduces your levels of testosterone.
According to this study over here, healthy men were found to have a 10-15% decrease in testosterone levels after being restricted to 5 hours of sleep a day.
You should have at least 8 hours of sleep per day. Stress is also known to reduce the levels of testosterone in your body, cortisol classified as a stress hormone affects how the gonads function as revealed in this study over here.
Now that we have discussed possible reasons you could not be growing facial hair on your cheeks.
Let us get into details about how you can fix that.
How to grow a beard that covers the cheek
Boost testosterone and DHT levels
The first step is to increase the levels of facial hair growth hormone. There are several ways that you can achieve this goal.
First, there are foods that you can include in your diet that will help you achieve just that. These foods include:
Sorghum- Sorghum is one of the best natural boosters of DHT. A study revealed that extract from the sorghum plant boosted the levels of 5alpha –reductase enzyme levels.
The 5 alpha-reductase enzyme helps in the conversion of testosterone into DHT which is what you need to grow facial hair.
Sorghum is popularly found as flour, mostly consumed as porridge in Africa. Jobelyn packs these precious plants in capsule form of 250 mg of 100 capsules per bottle.
Zinc- zinc is one of the essential macronutrients that our body requires, zinc regulates about 100 enzymes in our bodies.
Let me set the record straight here, you might have come across a study or claim that zinc lowers your levels of the DHT hormone.
A mini-study conducted on topically applying zinc on the skin proved that zinc blocks the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT. However, and here is where it gets interesting, this study conducted on humans proofed otherwise, oral consumption of zinc led to increased levels of DHT.
One of the best natural sources of zinc is oysters. Therefore, we advise you to consume zinc orally rather than applying it on your cheeks.
Olive and Argan Oil- when consumed orally olive oil has been found to increase the levels of testosterone in men by about 17%.
Additionally, argan oil also increases the levels of testosterone by about 19.9% based on this study. Argan oil also helps reduce cortisol hormone which is known to reduce the levels of testosterone.
Coffee- several studies have proven that oral consumption of coffee goes a long way to boost the levels of testosterone in men, not forgetting that coffee is a natural antioxidant and magnesium source.
Pomegranate juice- based on this study pomegranate juice helps in boosting the levels of facial hair growth hormones. It will also improve the circulation of blood in the body.
Alfalfa sprouts – eating alfalfa sprouts have been proven to increase the level of beard growth hormones considerably as revealed in this case study.
Vitamin D- based on this study conducted in 2011, the consumption of vitamin D on a daily basis may help increase the levels of testosterone in men.
How do you use these foods to boost testosterone you may ask?
Well, you will need to establish a diet plan for each one of them to reap maximum benefits and see results.
Now that we have covered ways to increase the levels of facial hair growth hormones let us get into the next step of increasing the sensitivity of your androgen receptors.
Get enough sleep and rest
I know we have talked about getting enough sleep and avoiding stress. Just to drive the point home, lack of enough sleep will greatly affect your levels of testosterone in your body.
Stress associated with cortisol hormone will also reduce the function of your gonads reducing the production of testosterone in your body.
After working hard to boost your levels of testosterone this is the last thing that you want pulling you back.
Boosting androgen receptors
Intermittent fasting
This simply means eating during an 8 hour period within 24 hours. You are supposed to fast for 16 hours.
Study shows that as a result, this strategy has been shown to increase the level of androgen sensitivity. The study showed when men observe this 16/8 diet rule the level of testosterone in their blood decreased due to improved androgen receptors.
Vitamin D
Vitamin does not only help boost testosterone levels its receptors are located close to the androgen receptors.
Lack of enough vitamin D has been closely associated with decreased reception of the androgen receptors to facial hair growth hormones.
Resistance training
Research suggests that adopting resistance training goes a long way in boosting the overall number of active androgen receptors in the body of men.
Resistance training has also been found to increase the levels of testosterone in the body. This means if you are looking to grow beards on your checks you should defiantly get into resistance training. I mean a great fuller beard and some muscles to compliment the look.
L-Carnitine
Carnitine necessitates the process of converting fat into cellular energy. Research has revealed additional functions of carnitine in that it boosts the levels of androgen receptors and improves their sensitivity. According to the research taking about 2g of carnitine a day will boost androgen receptors in 3 weeks.
Now that we have covered how to boost testosterone and androgen receptor sensitivity for facial hair growth. Next, you need to boost the circulation of blood on your cheeks to make sure these facial hair growth hormones reach the intended receptors.
Improving blood circulation in your cheeks
There are several techniques that you can use to improve blood circulation in your cheeks which is lower as compared to your upper lip and chin. This is one of the reasons why you will be able to grow a mustache and a goatee faster than growing beards on your cheeks.
One of the well-known ways to increase blood circulation in your skin through massage.
Even better – based on this study, facial massage rollers improve blood circulation in the face by about 27%.
The researchers found that after using a facial massage roller, blood flow in the cheek increased for about ten minutes in the massaged cheek more than they had anticipated.
Use peppermint oil, derma roller combined with Rogaine and minoxidil
When you google search how to grow a beard, chances are you will always come across anecdotal pictures of before and after of people who have used Rogaine or minoxidil to grow a beard.
A case study was conducted using peppermint oil and Minoxidil to try and find out which one among them stimulates faster hair growth.
The research found that peppermint oil produced a far much better results than minoxidil on the experimented rats.
Peppermint oil works by increasing the levels of IGF-1 hormone which is associated with activating the dormant hair follicles. When compared against jojoba oil, Rogaine peppermint oil achieved the best results.
So, how do use peppermint oil to grow facial hair? You will need 100% concentrated peppermint oil, jojoba oil for dilution, and an amber bottle for storing the mixture.
You only need about 3% of peppermint oil to grow a beard. That means 97% percent jojoba oil which will act as a carrier oil and just 3% of peppermint oil.
To achieve 3% fill a 10ml syringe to the third mark with peppermint oil and then fill the remaining part with jojoba oil.
Apply the mixture twice or thrice a day.
How do you use Rogaine and derma roller combined with castor oil to grow facial hair on the cheeks
Well Rogaine by itself has been proven to grow a beard but combined with a bead roller it has been found to show even much better results.
Derma rolling your cheeks helps stimulates and activate dormant hair follicles. This is achieved as a result of increased blood circulation increasing the amount of beard hormones.
Testosterone will prime your hair follicles and DHT will promote linear hair growth. Another reason associated with derma roller improving beard growth is the production of collagen to the derma rolled area.
Based on this case study men who used derma rollers and Rogaine achieved better results of regrowth of hair on their scalp. Derma rolls once or twice a week with a 0.5-0.75 mm derma roller needle length. After derma rolling your beard apply Rogaine after 2-3 hours.
You can also use castor oil combined with 30% alcohol which acts as a carrier to penetrate into your hair follicles much better.
Be patient and let it grow
Nothing good happens overnight, there are tons of products on the market that will promise to help you grow a beard on your cheeks.
Most of these products have got no idea of what is required to grow a beard, they are made of ingredients that will never help you achieve that bearded look you want.
Follow our steps carefully, Rogaine can help you achieve beard growth much faster.
Here is a recap of the steps to follow to grow facial hair on cheeks naturally at home
- Boost testosterone and DHT levels
- Increase the sensitivity of your androgen receptors on your cheeks
- Improve blood circulation in your cheeks
- Use peppermint oil or derma roller, Rogaine and castor oil
- Get enough sleep and avoid stress
- Be patients and let it grow
Frequently Asked Questions
How to grow a beard that covers the cheek? Follow the tips outlined above to achieve a full thick cheek beard. Alternatively, you can also use Minoxidil to grow a full thick beard that covers your cheek.
Why am I unable to grow a beard on my upper cheek but I have a mustache and goatee? The reason you cannot grow facial hair on your cheeks yet you have a goatee and mustache. This is because blood circulation is better at the chin and upper lip as compared to the cheeks. This means that your upper lip and chin androgen receptors receive higher levels of beard growing hormones.
