3 Essentials to a Happy Beard Growth Journey
3 Essentials to a Happy Beard Growth Journey
My name is Dr. Theron Douglas; I am a student, friend, father, and cofounder of Everyday Fresh Club with Dr. Derick McElveen. I have been growing, or wearing a beard off/on for the past 10+ years. I’ve struggled through “the ugly phase” patchiness. I’ve gone from no connection...to low connection...to filling in my current connection.
I’ve grappled with mustache shape, from pencil line to full lip with the 'lil tiny handle bars. I’ve worn chin straps, both thick and thin, I even tried out shadow cheeked goatees. Like most men, I've also experimented with “enhancement products” from cosmetic to holistic. No shame here!
The idea that my beard could always be better, fuller, and darker, while becoming more lush, became the impetus to pursue a perfection of beard that would also became a voice of criticism that couldn’t be escaped. In this space, I sat, patiently until I realized exactly where the blocks sat. Below are 3 ideas that radically my beard care and grow journey.
1. Love Yours. Accept The Beard You Have.
Understanding and acting in acceptance became the light illuminated my beard care path.
I use to get stuck looking at beards I thought were ideal as impossibilities. For one ,my beard cheek line wasn’t high enough, secondly it was never dark enough, and I when I finally could grow a beard, I couldn’t escape breaking.
The list was never-ending. And even when I had significantly more, fullness, length, and density, I was unsatisfied.
Chasing my ideal beard became the pursuit of what I couldn’t embody . Things changed when I thought to accept the limits of my own grow journey and to work with what I had.
Accepting my beard as it was, shifted my focus from the idea of chasing a dream to living a dream. This was the greatest shift in my journey, and the beginning of a greater “path!”
Comparisons and ideas of lack are both stumbling blocks to accepting and loving yours.
Accept your beard as it is. If it grows no fuller accept it. If it grows no longer accept it. If it grows no connection, nurture it kindly. The beginning of having a dream beard is realizing that you already posses it, we must simply accept and nurture intentionally.
2. Patience and Self Care
Applying acceptance, one will realize how the development of patience and self care blossom. Patience is necessary to reap the fruits of nurturing. Acceptance is the kindness that refreshes the patience of developing and committing to a self care regimen for your beard.
In the smallest way, cultivate a commitment to developing the process of tender caring for your beard. The first step is the last step in this sense. A committed patience to self care is necessary to unearth the beauty of what we already exemplify , the path begins and ends.
The desire to care speaks to the success that you have already achieved through kind affirmation of ourselves.
3. Understand Bread Growth vs. Fullness; and How They Relate.
Understanding follicle density versus beard length greatly helped me navigate where my perceived deficits were and how I could address them.
Through my personal journey, I’ve been stopped by men who ask tips and techniques for how they can “grow” their beards. I realized that they often were not disappointed with their ability to grow in length, but actually needed patchiness addressed. Patchiness is directly proportional hair follicle density. Hair follicle density in this use is the number (n) of active follicles over the surface area of expected beard coverage (length(l) x height(h). Hair follicle density =(n)hair follicles /(l)(h).
Think about a 5 o’clock shadow. Some 5 o’ clock shadows are fuller than others. Fullness then is proven to be less of a length issue and more directly related to the idea of follicle density. “Filling it in”, is much more of a process than one may know. Understanding follicle density is key to being realistic about what is achievable in your grow journey. If you want to connect your beard to your mustache by your cheek bones, but do not have any active follicles in between that space, it is not going to happen. It won’t just “fill in” (generally unless puberty or follicle stimulation methods are involved).
Rarely does a man with great follicle density have an issue with fullness, though they may struggle with length via breakage due to lack or care or misunderstanding of care.
Understanding follicle density pains versus hair length pains is essential to cultivating the healthiest, and fullest beard for ourselves. Learning to address a follicle density issue vs a beard hair length pain will guide the way we nourish or go about the self care.
Everyday Fresh Club has committed itself to addressing these issues via the intersection of pharmaceutical specificity and everyday usability.
