# Facial Hair Growth **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245 "2005-10-21T13:04:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thrash\_the\_Almighty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/90ced4/32.png) [@Thrash\_the\_Almighty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thrash_the_Almighty)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/1 "2005-10-21T13:04:26Z")
How long should it take me to grow a goatee? I currently trying to grow one. Its been a week and a half and while its growing I’m far from happy with it. Its just not full and thick enough. So how long should I give it before giving up on it? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/2 "2005-10-21T13:21:04Z")
It depends entirely on how thick your beard growth is; if you’re still unhappy after a month though, I think it could be time to call it off. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/3 "2005-10-21T15:16:20Z")
It should take as long as it takes. Every man has his own growth rate. We all know a guy who can shave on Monday and be bearded again by Thursday night, and we all know a guy who looks clean shaven two days after shaving. The rest of us are somewhere in between. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/4 "2005-10-21T16:09:07Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > It should take as long as it takes. Every man has his own growth rate. We all know a guy who can shave on Monday and be bearded again by Thursday night, and we all know a guy who looks clean shaven two days after shaving. The rest of us are somewhere in between. Heck, I went to High School with a guy who had to shave twice a day when he was a Freshman. ---
**Author:** ![Stringer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Stringer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/5 "2005-10-21T17:13:56Z")
I’ve never been able to grow a goatee. I only get hair on my upper lip and lower chin/throat, so the goatee doesn’t even come close to connecting on the sides. My cheeks are patchy and look terrible if I don’t shave them. So unfortunately, the answer might be that you can never grow one. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/6 "2005-10-21T17:42:28Z")
> [@micahjn](#): > > I’ve never been able to grow a goatee. I only get hair on my upper lip and lower chin/throat, so the goatee doesn’t even come close to connecting on the sides. My cheeks are patchy and look terrible if I don’t shave them. > > So unfortunately, the answer might be that you can never grow one. Ditto ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Jibby\_Jabbish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Mr.Jibby\_Jabbish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Jibby_Jabbish)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/7 "2005-10-21T18:00:09Z")
I can grow a full, massive beard, but it still takes time for all the bits and pieces to fill in. Give it at least a month. If all of the parts required for the goatee haven’t at least _started_ by then, it’s probably not gonna happen. Anyone remember the beard contest on Cheers? Cliffy sprouted only about fifteen long wispy hairs. He claimed it would fill in, and miraculously, it did. Of course, he’d glued on a beard and then couldn’t get it off. Please don’t try something moronic like a false goatee. ---
**Author:** ![EnderWay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d26b3c/32.png) [@EnderWay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EnderWay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/8 "2005-10-21T19:46:56Z")
> [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](#): > > Ditto And ditto here too! And I can’t grow a beard. If I try I end up with peach fuzz on my upper lip and chin. My cheeks only end up with a few long hairs and I’m 39. So it’s clean shven look for me 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/9 "2005-10-21T20:04:13Z")
Mine comes in pretty thick and fast. In a week it’ll look a lot better than the long time efforts by those that probably shouldn’t be growing one and in 3 weeks it’s completely full and needing regular maintenance to keep it looking groomed and from getting out of hand. It wasn’t always that way though. If you’re young a couple more years of regular shaving might help. Just don’t do [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=340837). ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/10 "2005-10-21T20:34:31Z")
I can fill in the lower beard in about 4 days, but it takes much longer to fill in my mustache. I can get a good goatee in a week, but it looks better the longer I have it. Since I’m in the military, I only grow facial hair on leave, but I had 2 1/2 weeks of leave a bit ago and grew a pretty good goatee. I still would have liked more on the mustache, and especially more connecting the mustache to the chin hair, but overall it looked good. When I’m out of the military (just a few months to go), I’ll wear a goatee permanently, as it looks pretty good on me, and makes my face appear much longer, especially as I have very little left on top now. The lower beard (everything but the 'stache) grows VERY quickly on me, and I end up with about a 10 AM shadow, rather than a 5:00 shadow. If I want to look clean shaven, I have to shave twice a day, but I don’t bother…it’s just not worth it. It also looks thicker because my beard is black. ---
**Author:** ![Phantom\_Dennis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/51bf81/32.png) [@Phantom\_Dennis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phantom_Dennis)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/facial-hair-growth/327245/11 "2005-10-21T22:25:55Z")
My facial hair is relatively fast-growing and thick, but when I first let my goatee grow, I was disappointed at how patchy it was, even after several weeks of growth. The good news is, after sticking it out for three or four months (and trimming it weekly with an electric beard trimmer), all the hairs got a chance to catch up with each other. Now it looks great.