One of the most extreme methods of growing a beard faster I’ve seen recommended online is that rubbing sliced onions or onion juice to your beard would promote its growth.
And even though it sounds weird and certainly will make you smell like onion, there is actually some legit reasoning behind the recommendations.
- Onions are rich in sulfur which is a key building block of all hair fibers, including facial hair. Sulfur also lengthens the growing phase of the hair follicles, known as the anagen phase.
- Medical News Today recently talked about a study where male rats who consumed onion juice for a month, saw significant increases in their testosterone levels. Testosterone as we know, is the principal hormone that drives beard growth.
- Onions and onion juice have long been known to improve blood circulation through multiple different factors. If rubbing onions to your beard could promote circulation to the facial hair follicles, then maybe it could help your beard to grow better as well.
Why You Still Shouldn’t Rub Onions on Your Beard
While all of the above sound amazing, there currently is no scientific evidence to show that onions would do anything to beard growth or hair growth.
What we have is just speculations and unconfirmed anecdotes of people who swear by the stuff online.
Of course the biggest issue with all this is the fact that you would actually be rubbing onion juice all over your face, which would stink and mean that you surely can’t go outside in public.
And why rub the onions on your face in the first place when you could just consume more onions in your diet and still get all the beard growth boosting benefits that way?
In the study mentioned above where the rats saw big testosterone increases from onion juice, they ate it, didn’t rub it onto their face.
The beneficial sulphur you get from the onions is also much better absorbed and assimilated if you actually eat the onions instead of rubbing them onto your beard.
So if you want my recommendation about whether you should rub onion juice on your face to improve beard growth. I would say no, don’t rub it in your skin, eat the onions instead.
This way you will get all the benefits listed above, but without the huge negative of smelling like foul onions all day long.
Better Things to Rub on Your Skin for Beard Growth than Onion Juice
While applying onion juice to the face in hopes of a thicker beard growth is a bad idea, it doesn’t mean there wouldn’t be any alternatives that actually do work.
- Science has shown us that minoxidil, an over-the-counter hair-loss stopper, can promote beard growth when rubbed into the facial hair area.
- Research also suggests that peppermint essential oil can promote beard growth when applied topically, and you bet it smells better than onion juice all over your face!
- We have also listed 7 best beard growth serums in this article, any of those would be a better idea than onion juice, at least when topically applied.
What About Onion Oil in a Beard Oil?
Some brands have gone ahead and added onion oil into their beard oil formulations.
These same brands usually sell these oils as “beard growth oil“.
But does onion oil actually work to enhance beard growth when its infused into a bottle of beard oil?
Probably not.
Surely it won’t hurt to try, but there is no evidence that it would do anything to your beard gains.
If you want to add something into your beard oil to promote growth, I would instead recommend peppermint essential oil or blue spruce essential oil, maybe even ginger oil.
As for onions, you will get the most benefit by eating them. After all, I previously wrote how onions are some of the best beard growth promoting foods out there.
How to Make DIY Onion Juice for Beard Use
Okay, so you don’t want to take my word above about not using onion juice topically?
Fine.
If you want to give it a go, here’s a quick step-by-step guide on making your own onion juice:
- Peel the onions.
- Chop them up to small pieces.
- Use a juicer or squeeze the juice out of the onions.
- Apply the onion juice directly into the skin underneath your beard.
If you do decide to rub the onion juice into your face, you will soon probably want to know how to get rid of the onion smell…
See I told you.
To remove the onion smell from your skin, just apply apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to the area you previously applied the onion juice to and take a shower.
Conclusion
Applying onion juice to the facial hair area is an old beard growth myth that pops up from time to time.
Rubbing your beard skin with onions probably doesn’t work, and is guaranteed to make you smell bad.
Besides, there are better topical alternatives like peppermint oil or minoxidil. Just use those instead and use the onions as part of your diet, not as a face scrub.
