Like you should already know, the internet is chock-full of beard growth products. You got the serum, the supplements & vitamins, the growth oils, and a bunch of other stuff.
The big question is…
“Does any of that stuff actually work?”
99% of the time, the answer is a big fat; no.
But what about beard growth cream and balms, are they legit, or should they also be dumped into the same snake-oil category as most of the other beard growth things?
Let’s examine. ↓
What the Heck Even is Beard Growth Cream
Think about beard growth oils and then think about the beard growth balms.
The oil is – well – oily and usually comes in a dropper bottle, and the balm is firm and comes in a metal tin.
(Neither of those things works, by the way, but just play along alright?)
Now think something in between, something that is almost oily and liquidy, but not quite, and something that’s almost firm like a balm, but not quite either.
That’s beard growth cream.
A moisturizer or lotion type of cream that is claimed to have beard growth improving benefits.
It can come in a jar, in a pump bottle, or in a squeezable tube.
What the manufacturers claim is that it would:
Bottom line: Beard growth oil is just many of the so-called beard growth products. But instead of being oil or a balm, it’s more like a beard moisturizer type of lotion.
Does Beard Growth Cream Work?
For beard growth creams to actually work to make your beard grow faster or thicker, they would have to do any of the following things…
- Boost beard growing hormones (testosterone & DHT).
- Force more hairs into the anagen growth phase.
- Enhance circulation to the beard area.
So, to see whether beard growth cream works or doesn’t, all we have to figure out is if it contains any ingredients that can help with any of the above.
The back of the most popular beard growth cream looks like this:
There’s the main ingredient which is sunflower seed oil, it’s actually a natural DHT-blocker, which already is bad news since you need DHT to grow facial hair.
“So right of the bat, our beard growth cream starts off with the most used ingredient being an oil that can suppress beard growth, not improve it.”
The ingredients that come up after it is also not going to do anything for your beard growth (olive oil, argan oil, shea butter, etc).
The only ingredients in that list that could have marginally beneficial effects for your beard growth would be the castor oil and the biotin, yet those are last in the list, meaning that they’re the least used.
So, what’s the verdict?
The verdict is simply that beard growth creams such as the above, do not work, because they do not contain ingredients that could modulate your circulation, hormones, or the growth stage of the follicle (anagen-telogen-catagen).
I have gone through all the major beard growth cream manufacturers and their ingredient lists and none of them really have anything in there that could boost your beard growth – a fact you probably already knew but just wanted some confirmation for.
Bottom line: These products are simply sold because there’s a market of desperate men willing to try anything and everything.
Beard Growth Cream Alternatives that Actually Work
So, it’s clear that beard growth creams belong to the same category of scammy junk products as do most other things like beard growth shampoos, beard growth oils, etc.
“But are there any legit alternatives that actually could work to improve your beard growth rate?”
The answer is yes (but these are typically not sold as dedicated “beard growth products”).
Let’s take a look at the most promising ones below.
Minoxidil (Rogaine)
Known as the world’s most sold over-the-counter hair follicle activating baldness drug; Minoxidil has been shown time after time again to work as a hair regrowth agent on the scalp.
Naturally, many men over the years have wondered if it could work the same way on the face, and stimulate beard growth there.
Long story short. It does, and this has been proven by thousands of anecdotal user reports and even a clinical study from Thailand where they tested it specifically for beard growing purposes.
I detail everything there is to know about using Minoxidil to stimulate beard growth in this article.
Bottom line: Minoxidil is the only beard growth product with a pile of evidence backing up its use. Even though it isn’t even sold for beard use.
Peppermint Essential Oil (3% Dilution)
Peppermint essential oil (PEO) could work to enhance your beard growth naturally.
There’s not as much evidence behind it as is with Minoxidil, but it’s still way more credible than any beard growth cream has ever been.
How it works – according to an experimental rodent study – is by increasing the levels of the growth hormone IGF-1 in the hair follicles, which results in thicker growth, enhanced circulation, and more hairs being shifted into the anagen growth phase.
How to use it and dilute it down to the recommended 3% solution?
You can learn all about that in our bigger article about peppermint oil for beard growth.
Bottom line: Peppermint essential oil is a viable alternative to creams for beard growth (which could actually work too).
Micro-Needling
Bit of an underground tool for growing your beard is called a Derma Roller, which is a wheel with hundreds of tiny (micro) needles that puncture through the top layer of the skin.
There is one study where microneedle therapy in combination with Minoxidil resulted in huge improvements in hair regrowth when compared to just Minoxidil alone.
And there’s plenty of anecdotal reports about its usefulness as a beard growing tool as well.
“The key is to use the right needle-length, not too often, and with all the important precautions in mind…”
And as you can expect, we do have a bigger article about microneedling for beard growth here, which teaches you everything you need to know.
Bottom line: Derma Roller is a good alternative to beard-growing creams that probably works much better (which doesn’t take much, considering that the creams don’t work at all in the first place.)
Conclusion
Do the creams designed for beard growth work?
No, they don’t. None of them contain any ingredients that could enhance your circulation or increase the hormones associated with facial hair growth.
Luckily, there are some alternative beard growth products that actually have some research behind them, and they’re the three I highlighted above (Minoxidil, peppermint oil, and microneedling).
