Are you a young man growing his beard for the first time? Perhaps you want to upgrade it to have the full goatee experience, or you could be an older man who’s always had a beard but no matter how much you’ve tried it’s just never fully connected to your mustache.
Regardless, the burning question is “How do I connect my mustache to my beard?” Fear not my avid beard growers, for there is a reason for this and solutions to enable you to grow that full mane that you’ve always desired.
Why Won’t Your Beard Connect To Your Mustache?
Whether we like it or not genetics is one of the main contributing factors to beards not growing the way we want them to be. Whether it’s the bald patch on the side of the mouth preventing the connection between the beard and the mustache, or the patchy uneven growth of facial hair; for most men, it is all down to genetics.
Facial hair grows from the hair follicles on our faces, but from birth, it is our genes that determine how many follicles we have. This can be seen in things like ethnicity as many men of Asian descent tend to have less facial hair than those of European or African descent. Other reasons that can contribute to the way beards grow can be age and not looking after your facial hair.
Men typically begin to see beard growth during their teenage years. The reason is due to two hormones Dihydrotestosterone and Testosterone. These hormones allow for the growth of facial hair and new facial hair growth can continue well into the thirties for some men. This will generally be the peak of new facial hair growth, after which, new growth will slow down.
Many men also do not look after their beards. Men spend ages looking after and styling their hair, they wash it, style it and go to the barbers yet don’t always give the same attention to their facial hair. Our beards need to be looked after too! They need washing, conditioning, styling, and oiling. All these things will help your beard to grow!
It can seem like there are quite a few things at play here when it comes to looking after your beard and the biggest factors are genetics and lifestyle. However, even though genetics are important, do not lose hope as there are still things that can be done to build that connecting mustache and beard for that full mane look!
Eight Solutions To Connect Your Beard To Your Mustache
1. Microneedling
Microneedling is essentially using a beard roller with microneedles to create tiny punctures in the skin under your beard. This stimulates follicle and hair growth by increasing blood flow and the production of collagen.
This is helpful for those stubborn bald patches that prevent you from having that rich full beard, so invest in a beard roller or two to increase hair growth in these areas and connect your beard to your mustache.
2. Diet & Nutrients
As the saying goes “you are what you eat” and if you want a healthy beard, being healthy yourself goes a long way! Ensuring you are consuming a balanced diet with key vitamins or supplements will help with hair growth.
Essential vitamins include things such as zinc, vitamin D, biotin, and protein to name a few, and of course water, water, and more water. These will help with increasing the growth of your beard.
3. Beard TLC
Are you looking after your beard? To get anything to grow successfully, whether it’s children or plants, you must give it tender loving care and that’s the same for beards. Exfoliate and moisturize your skin! Condition, brush, and comb your facial hair to stimulate follicle growth.
Invest in some premium beard oils, wax, and balms to give it the final sheen to nourish your beard. Putting in place a routine to look after your beard may seem challenging at first, but once you’re into it, it may become something that you enjoy, after all, everyone deserves a bit of pampering.
4. Exercise & Fitness
Healthy blood flow stimulates follicle growth, and nothing gets the heart pumping like good old exercise. Working out can also increase testosterone which helps with beard growth; whereas bad habits like smoking can reduce blood circulation and can often stunt beard growth.
Cut out these bad habits and ensure you increase your fitness and get enough sleep to increase the chances of healthy hair growth whilst boosting testosterone production where possible.
5. Patience
Hair grows at different speeds for different people and can change at different times throughout their lives. Many men when growing a beard wait 3-6 weeks to see if their beard grows how they want it to, when really and truly they should be waiting 3-6 months.
In addition, if you’re reading this and you’re below the age of 16, it’s highly like that you will have to play the waiting game to see that full connecting beard. Remember to take your time with beard growth, it doesn’t grow as quickly as the hair on our head (besides the hair on our head had a head start to the hair on our face). Take care of your beard, be patient with it and watch it grow and evolve over time.
6. Growing Longer Facial Hair To Cover Up Gaps
Many men with fully grown manes don’t have beards that connect when they are low cut. However, by allowing the hair to grow out, the full-fledged beard covers up the gaps, giving the illusion of a fully connecting beard when it’s just a long bushy beard.
They often can have mustaches that are thicker than the rest of their beards and sometimes allowing the mustache to grow can often result in it covering those small annoying gaps. Many men utilize styling tools and products to control the direction of the mustache too – it works a treat!
7. Beard Fillers
Not necessarily the most popular option but it does work! In today’s age, many men are spending more time taking care of how they look and using cosmetics to help with their image. Beard growth pens can give the impression of a fully connected beard and is a lot more common than you would think!
There are plenty of beard fillers, beard enhancers, and micro-blade beard pens that can be used to help perfect the masterpiece that is your facial hair, and they are often reasonably priced. They can make your beard appear thicker and fuller to the naked eye, but remember it is only temporary and will have to be reapplied.
Typically, a beard filler lasts for about 1 -3 days but is a good temporary solution if you choose to take this option. Remember to pick the right color and try not to jump in the pool or get your face wet otherwise coming out of the pool with half your beard missing might raise some questions!
8. Minoxidil, Microblading & Transplants
These options can give very positive results however they are often much more costly and require a lot of research and investigation before deciding. Minoxidil (more commonly known as Rogaine) has received some great feedback for hair loss resolution. However, it can have some not-so-fun side effects and symptoms which you may want to consider before using it.
Microblading and transplants are costly and require a trusted cosmetic professional, so we recommend doing your due diligence before deciding to use one of these approaches.
Whatever you decide, remember you are amazing, and a bit of facial hair doesn’t change that! Beard maintenance can be frustrating for many men, even for those who can grow a fully connecting beard and mustache. You are by no means alone when it comes to some of the beardgrowing challenges, but they are surmountable.
Do what’s best for you and try to accept some of the quirks you may have in your beard or mustache. Don’t overlook rocking a style where the beard doesn’t connect, there are plenty of celebrities who sported beards that don’t connect including Johnny Depp, Lebron James and Orlando Bloom to name a few.
Popular styles will always change and it’s good to embrace and love our differences. Remember to look after your beard and enjoy the journey as both you and your beard continue to grow and evolve.
Conclusion
Ultimately, you are in control of your beard style and if you really want that beard to connect, a large part of it will be genetics and lifestyle. It’s important to ensure that you have the right diet, exercise, and beard-care routine, plus micro needling is also a great solution to stimulate facial hair growth.
If you’ve tried all these solutions and are still obsessing about filling the beard-mustache gap, then microblading, transplants, or Rogaine treatment are other options that are costly yet successful. However, as mentioned above, ensure you do your research to find the right professionals to help.