By Sander - The Beardmen You may have noticed it like many other men: in the summer you seem to need to shave your beard more often. Once the warm season arrives, you find yourself with your razor or
-device in your hand. Does your beard really grow faster in the summer or does it just seem that way? Even science has pondered this question. And what turns out? It’s proven! Your body hair grows a lot faster in the summer months. How so? I’ll explain it to you!
Also read: tips to stimulate your beard growth.
The influence of testosterone on your beard growth
The faster growth of your beard has everything to do with testosterone. Yep: the male sex hormone. This hormone is responsible for many other things in your body, including the rate of beard growth. Testosterone is converted in your body into dihydrotestosterone (DHT). And that has a direct impact on the rate of growth, as well as the thickness of your beard hairs.
Vitamin D and physical activity
The fact that your beard grows faster in the summer can be explained by two things, both of which affect your testosterone production. One is that in summer, your body gets more vitamin D from sunlight. This vitamin, which incidentally is also a hormone, directly drives up your testosterone levels. Also, you tend to be a lot more active in the summer than in the winter months. Like vitamin D, physical activity also has a stimulating effect on your testosterone production.
The absolute peak is measured in the average man in July. In winter, your testosterone level drops because you are more indoors and less active. Thus, your body hair also grows slower. Scientists think this has to do with how our ancestors lived. After all, they too were a lot less active during the cold season.
Other factors
So is testosterone all-important? Well, it is not. There is no denying the influence of the season and the level of physical activity. However, other factors also play a role in the rate of beard growth. These include your diet, sex life and, of course, your genes.
A beard offers protection from the sun
When a healthy full beard is the goal for you, you’ll welcome summer with open arms. And is beard growth just a little too smooth for you? Then consider how functional it actually is. Your beard protects you from the sun’s UV rays. So your skin suffers less from this harmful influence. Full beards therefore have an effect similar to that of sunscreen.
Of course, beard growth depends not only on the sun, but also on proper grooming. Therefore, it is important to use natural beard care products such as a beard oil, beard shampoo and beard conditioner.