If your beard has patches and bald spots in it, you might be on the lookout for a solution to make your beard thicker or at least appear less wispy visually.
And that’s where beard fillers step in. They are a painless and quick method of hiding beard patches, all while adding more volume and thickness to the weak areas of your facial hair.
Using a beard filler is a quick fix but also a temporary solution. Unfortunately they do not actually make your beard thicker, it’s just all a visual trick to enhance your facial hair when you need it the most.
There are many different types of beard fillers out there and they all work through different mechanisms, but it’s important to note that beard fillers are not the same thing as beard dyes.
Some of them do deliver similar results that a beard dye would, but fillers are far easier, safer, and faster to use on your facial hair than actually dyeing it.
What are Beard Fillers
Beard fillers can really be divided into three different categories:
- Beard pens
- Beard pencils
- Beard building fibers.
For natural looking beard filling results, it’s recommended that you only use one or two kind of beard filler at a time, but with that being said some men do combine all three types of them together (the results are extremely good, but may end up looking kind of unnatural).
Here’s a closer look at all the different beard filler types:
Beard Pens
The beard pen is like a mascara for facial hair, and it even looks just like mascara with its small bottle and the brush applicator.
How it works is that it helps you brush in the color straight into the pre-existing beard hairs you have, and also into the non-pigmented light vellus beard hairs which you normally wouldn’t see.
The end result is a visual impression of a fuller thicker beard. For best results, it’s recommended that you combine the beard pen with a beard pencil.
How to use a beard pen:
- Roll off the cap at the end of your beard pen to expose the brush.
- Start stroking the beard pen/brush into your beard with downwards motion.
- Try to make sure that the color sticks to your beard hairs, and won’t smudge the skin.
- Finish off with a mini brush for a more natural looking end result.
Beard Pencils
The beard pencil is kind of like a contouring pencil for facial hair. It’s typically made from natural wax materials like beeswax, and blended with color such as light brown, dark brown, or black.
It can be used to literally draw on your beards bald spots and patches, and to create the hard edges on your cheekline for a fuller look.
It’s important to remember that using beard pencil alone is not the best decision, as the end results can look somewhat unnatural if you don’t combine it with a beard filling pen or keratin fibers.
How to use beard pencils:
- Open the cap on your beard pencil to expose the waxy colored end.
- Gently “paint” your cheekline and the most prominent bald spots.
- Finish off with either using a beard pen or hair fibers for more natural look.
Beard Building Fibers
The hair and beard building fibers were originally designed to hide thinning hair on the scalp, but it was quickly found that these types of keratin fibers can also latch into your pre-existing beard hairs, creating a fuller looking facial hair.
When using beard fibers, it can look as if you just nozzle some air into your beard and magically it fills up. But in reality, each press of the nozzle releases tiny keratin hair fibers into your beard which stick to it thanks to natural static charge.
When enough of these fibers are applied to your facial hair – and if the color matches your own – the fibers will eventually start blending in with your real beard, making it look fuller and thicker.
How to use the beard building fibers:
- Apply small amount of moisturizer or beard oil to your facial hair.
- Take your bottle of keratin fibers and add the spray nozzle on it.
- Spray the fibers on your beard from roughly a distance of 7-8 inches.
- Keep doing that until your beard looks fuller, but also remains natural-looking.
- To make sure the fibers stay in place, apply a coating of fiber hold spray.
Beard Fillers Quick Summary
 | Toppik Texturizing Hair & Beard Building Fibers |
| Check On Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toppik Texturizing Hair & Beard Building Fibers |
| Check On Amazon |
 | Boldify Beard & Hair Building Fibers |
| Check On Amazon |
 | Beard Pencil & Blending Brush by Void Homme |
| Check On Amazon |
 | The Dual Beard Pen & Pencil by FollicleBooster |
| Check On Amazon |
 | Instant Beard Brush-in Dye by Blackbeard |
| Check On Amazon |
 | The Beard Pen by Chris Lieck |
| Check On Amazon |
 | Beard Filler by Pacinos |
| Check On Amazon |
Do Beard Fillers Work?
For the intended purpose of temporarily making your beard look fuller, yes.
Beard filling pens, pencils, and the hair building fibers can all effectively make your beard appear thicker and stronger, and when used properly the results are natural looking and nobody will know whether you have used them or not.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at these beard filler before after results then:
What to Look for when Buying a Beard Filler
- How much beard you need to fill: Ultimately the choice of beard filler should be made based on your beards patchiness. If you have a lot of gaps and bald spots, then use beard pens over hair building fibers, as the fibers need something to stick into.
- What is the price: Beard fillers are typically not that expensive,but if you want to keep the costs as low as possible, consider getting a beard texturizing powder like Boldify which lasts for months and costs little over $20.
- What kind of filler suits your daily life: Filling your beard temporarily means you’re applying something external into it, a wax pen, brush-in dye, or powder. All of these can potentially rub off during exercise, if it rains, etc.
- How long do the results last: As temporary fillers, you shouldn’t expect a beard filler to last long time in between applications. Typically 1-3 days is the absolute max, with the keratin fibers lasting for about a day and beard pencils up to three days.
- Choose the right color: Beard fillers vary a lot in their color selection, with the keratin fibers offering up to 23 different shades, and some of the beard pencils only having two colors to choose from.
The Best Beard Fillers of 2024
1. Toppik Texturizing Hair & Beard Building Fibers
Toppik is by far the most effective beard filler there is, and in most cases the best option for temporary beard boost.
It’s a special kind of hair and beard filling product made out of keratin protein fibers that tightly bond with your pre-existing beard hairs thanks to the static charge.
Since it’s natural keratin, Toppik fibers also look exactly like real beard would, and with its 23 different color options, you are surely going to find one that closely matches with your beard to further enhance the natural look.
Even though the product was designed to be a hair filler for men and women struggling with hair loss and baldness, many barbers quickly started using Toppik on their customers beards with positive results.
Here’s one video for example from Caesar Cinema, where Toppik is used to fill a beard, and the results speak for themselves:
The downside of these types of hair building fibers on the beard is that if you rub your hands around your face enough, they will move and shift around a bit.
Breaking a sweat or swimming with them is also not recommended. I mean think about it, you’d practically go into the pool with a full beard and come out of it with a patchy one, wouldn’t that raise some questions?
To combat this, Toppik also has their special “fiber hold spray” which does make the fibers stick significantly better, and even makes them water-proof to some extent.
2. Boldify Beard & Hair Building Fibers
Boldify is another hair building fiber that can be used as a beard filler.
It has exactly the same mechanism of actions as Toppik does: the keratin fibers tightly bond to your pre-existing beard hairs with static charge, and create the visual impression of a fuller thicker beard.
Boldify is slightly cheaper than Toppik, but it does come with less color choices, as Boldify “only” has 15 of them.
What is different is also that Boldify lacks their own fiber hold spray, which means that the keratin fibers in your beard can easily shift around and flake off if you’re not careful (luckily you can still use a fiber hold spray from another company to prevent this).
I would say that Boldify is the second best beard filler there is when it comes to natural looking results and effectiveness, right on the heels of Toppik.
3. Beard Pencil & Blending Brush by Void Homme
The Void Homme Beard Pencil & Blending Brush combo does what it claims to do, and that is; it fills a sparse beard and neatly covers the bald spots, while still keeping your beard natural looking.
On one end there is a contouring pencil, it can be used to draw sharp lines on the skin and underneath the beard skin to match with your beards natural color.
On the other end is the actual blending brush which will be used to apply the color/wax into your pre-existing beard hairs and the light non-pigmented vellus beard hairs that reside in those patchy areas.
When used properly, the results are insanely good (as you can see from the before-after picture above), but when used without caution or with wrong color shade, it can be very very easy to make your beard look unnatural.
The downfall of this beard filler is the lack of color choice. It comes with only four shades (light brown, dark brown, black, and grey), so it can be really difficult to find the perfect or even close to perfect match to your natural beard hairs.
4. The Dual Beard Pen & Pencil by FollicleBooster
Follicle Booster’s Beard Pen & Pencil is a great alternative to the hair building fibers and definitely one of the most effective beard filling products there is.
If you know what a brow contouring pen is in women’s makeup, this is basically the same thing but for filling a man’s sparse beard.
There are two ends on this beard filler, one is the actual beard filling pen which is used to literally draw lines on your beard, and the other end is the beard filling pencil/brush which is used to add the color directly to your pre-existing beard hairs.
When the beard filling pen and pencil are correctly used, the results can be absolutely insane, but it’s crucial not to overdo it or you can quickly make your beard look completely unnatural.
Where this type of beard filling pencil is better than the hair building fibers, is that it lasts longer on the beard and doesn’t come off quite as easily. Although it’s temporary, it’s still water-proof and sweat-proof, and will last typically anywhere from one to three days.
The downside is that there are only three color options (light brown, dark brown, and jet black) so it can be difficult to find just the right shade to match with your natural facial hair color.
5. Instant Beard Brush-in Dye by Blackbeard
Blackbeard for Men has been on the market for a long time. In fact, it was the first beard filler ever sold.
It looks like a regular mascara for women with the bottle and the brush-cap, and it’s actually used in a similar manner, just not on your eyelashes, but on your beard instead.
The result is a temporary dye effect that lasts for a couple of days and doesn’t brush off easily. It makes your beard look fuller because it adds color to the non-pigmented vellus hairs and peach fuzz.
The color options are limited, with just the following ones being available:
- Black
- Jet Black
- Brown/Auburn
- Dark Brown
If you can match any of the above colors to your natural beard hairs, then the Blackbeard for Men Dye Brush might be the best temporary beard filler choice for you.
6. The Beard Pen by Chris Lieck
Chris Lieck’s Beard Pen is an all-natural organic beard brush in color/dye alternative that was designed as alternative to the harsh chemicals in most beard fillers and dyes.
It’s a good choice for some subtle hiding of grey hairs in the beard and light beard filling, but you really won’t get similar results with this product as you would with something like Toppik or or other hair & beard building fibers.
Still, it’s a great choice if your beard has only few small patches or if you’re just looking to distinguish some of the weak or grey parts.
Here’s their video that explains a bit about the product:
7. Beard Filler by Pacinos
The Pacinos Beard Filler Pencil is a simple product, that does what you would expect.
The package comes with the actual filling pencil and a mini brush, and the idea is to first use the pencil to “paint” more beard on the weak areas, and then follow up with the brush which helps to evenly spread out the filler into the beard for a natural looking end result.
What we like about the Pacinos beard filler is that it doesn’t smudge the skin quite as much as some of the other fillers do.
Does it make your beard look fuller?
Yes of course it does, roughly as effectively as the other beard pens do on this list.
Still there are some negative aspects to this filler, like the fact that it only comes in two colors (light brown or dark brown), so you really can’t even use it if your beard is blonde, ginger, or black. There simply isn’t a shade for you.
Conclusion
Nobody likes a weak patchy beard filled with gaps and bald spots.
While it takes a lot of time to actually make your beard grow out thicker and stronger, you can use temporary beard fillers as a quick fix solution.
Simply brush your beard with a beard pen, apply some waxy color to the hard lines and bald skin spots with a beard pencil, or apply natural looking keratin hair fibers directly into your pre-existing beard hairs.
It’s also possible to do all three for the best results, just make sure to choose a color that either matches with your own, or is one shade darker.
