It’s all too common – especially for first-time beard growers – to hear someone say…
“Wow dude, did someone glue pubic hairs to your beard? Haha.”
Either they say that because they’re envious of your beard and can’t grow their own (in which case your beard probably looks good already).
Or there’s also a small chance that they’re not wrong, and that your facial hair actually does resemble pubic hair.
You see, the pube beard is a real thing, and it affects millions of men globally.
And today, we are going to teach you how to eliminate the issue for good and make your beard look like a real beard, not a bunch of hairs from down there.
What is a Pube Beard Anyway?
It’s no wonder some men grow beards that look like bundles of pubes, because the hair on your face is androgenic, as is the hair down there.
The androgenic-hairs like your body hair, pubes, and facial hair, grow in response to androgenic hormones testosterone and DHT.
Your head hair on the other hand just needs good circulation to the follicles and it’ll grow, no hormones necessary.
In this sense, your beard is actually less like your hair, and more like your pubes, at least in terms of what makes it grow.
This is why your pubes and facial hair never start to grow until after you reach puberty, as this is when the hormones start to rise and your body becomes more responsive towards them.
What separates proper beard from pube-looking beard?
- Men with proper beards have high testosterone and DHT levels.
- To grow “real facial hair” you need coverage (no beard bald spots).
- Proper beards have large hair shaft diameter (grow a thicker beard).
- Beards with light pigment and tendency to curl, look more like pubes.
Lastly, you need to understand that many of your beard hairs can still be what is called “vellus beard hairs” which means that they do grow, but they’re not receiving enough hormones to fully convert to thicker and darker terminal hairs.
Does this mean I’m doomed? All of the above look like something only genetics can fix…
No, don’t worry, there are still many things you can do to make your beard less pube-like, and also some tricks to make it appear thicker, denser, and darker visually.
How to Make your Beard Look Less Like Pubic Hair
1. Start Using a Derma Roller
If you could supply more nutrient and hormone-rich blood to your beard hair follicles, they would inevitably grow stronger and with a larger diameter.
Well, yes. And how do I magically supply this circulation to the area Mr. wise-guy?
With microneedle therapy, aka. Derma Roller, of course!
This little wheel with hundreds of tiny needles can be used to puncture tiny holes into the skin surface, just small enough to trigger a “healing-response” from the body.
What the body then does is that it increases the circulation to the area to fix the damage, and with it, also your natural production of collagen and keratin are increased.
This is why it’s claimed that Derma Rollers can be used to grow facial hair.
And it’s not only a claim made out of thin hair. You may legitimately be able to get less of a pube looking beard by doing this.
There is a scientific study which tested Derma Rolling on the scalp for hair re-growth. What they found was that the device was insanely effective at increasing the growth of new hairs, the hair shaft diameter, and even hair growth rate.
In order to stimulate the circulation, you would need a Derma Roller with a needle size of 0.25mm, but if you want to stimulate the collagen and keratin production as well, you need to reach the epidermis, and this is best done with 0.5-0.75mm Derma Rollers.
2. Trim your Beard to an Even Length
Some of your beard follicles pump out hair slower than normal, while others can spew it two or three times faster.
This results in uneven growth which can make your beard look like pubes.
An easy fix would be to invest in a good beard trimmer, some beard scissors maybe.
Then find a suitable length for you and maintain it there so that all of your beard follicles can catch up.
I’m not saying you need to shave the beard, just keep trimming it to an even length.
This will slowly lead to a much thicker looking non-pube kind of beard.
3. Fuel the Health and Growth from the Inside
Someone smart once said that you are what you eat.
(This would make me 95% meat and potatoes, by the way).
Jokes aside, the food we consume plays a big role in the health and growth rate of our beards.
This is because you need energy (calories) to produce the hormones that maintain your facial hair growth.
And almost all of the minerals and vitamins we know about, do contribute in a way or another to the health of our beards.
Eat a nutrient-poor diet for a long time and your facial hair will start losing volume and looking more and more like pubic hair.
Eat a nutrient-rich diet with plenty of calories and beard nourishing micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) and you’re setting your beard up with everything it needs to grow to its strongest version.
To name a few important nutrients and micronutrients, make sure you are at least getting enough carbohydrates (which fuel the beard hormones) and vitamin D3 (which contributes to the natural vellus -> terminal hair conversion).
I’m gonna leave you off with a link to our article about the beard growth promoting foods, and this post about beard supplements which talks about a good multivitamin that should help.
4. Use Beard Care Products that Add Volume
Okay, I’m sure we can all agree that beard oil rarely does anything else than maybe gives your beard a bit of moisture.
But products like heavy beard balms and beard waxes, on the other hand, can significantly add volume to your beard hairs.
This, in turn, makes each isolated beard hair fiber look much thicker with larger shaft diameter.
Two ingredients to look for in particular would be beeswax and castor oil.
The former hardens on your beard and increases it’s total weight (making it look denser immediately).
The latter has such a thick consistency that it helps you in achieving the same result.
As an added bonus, some products have a matte finish. This can make the light-pigmented beards less like pubes and more like terminal hairs.
If your favorite balms and waxes lack the matte finish part, you can always just melt them in the tin and mix in some activated charcoal powder to give your beard a little bit of a DIY tint.
5. If All Else Fails, Try Minoxidil
If you feel like the above tips are not bringing enough results in fixing your pube beard, then consider doing something a bit more extreme.
I’m talking about the hair loss drug minoxidil – the only proven beard growth product – which tens of thousands of men use on the face. This helps them to grow thicker and stronger beards (and yes, the results appear to be permanent).
You may think this is some insane stuff to rub a balding-drug on your face, but it has been done by many men ever since the early 2000s.
Only recently has the mainstream media caught up and started writing about the use of minoxidil in fixing pube-like beards.
(I’m talking about places like the Daily Mail, The Sun, and Men’s Health).
The hype has got to the point where a group of Thai researchers actually ran a scientific study, only to conclude that minoxidil is effective and safe for beard enhancement.
Sure, the stuff is not completely side effect free, and there is a proper routine you should follow to get the most out of your use…
But these questions are all answered in our article about minoxidil beards and in our other article that answers the 10 most burning minoxidil beard questions.
Conclusion
If your beard looks like pubes, don’t worry, as the above information can revolutionize the hair growth of your face and top lip.
So be prepared to say goodbye to that thin light and curly hair, and welcome the new real beard gains.
(note: this ain’t our only guide like this, don’t forget to check out our post about the 9 ways to speed up beard growth).
