The function of beard

Beard, also known as mustache, refers to some hair growing on men's upper mouth, chin and cheeks. Men's beards grow very fast, so they need to be shaved off slowly with a razor. Everyone's beard type is different. Some people have soft beards, while others have very hard beards. Beards have many functions. In addition to representing the image, they also represent the normal endocrine system of the human body.

Beard, commonly known as mustache, refers to the hair growing on a man's upper lip, chin, cheeks, cheeks or neck. Men generally grow beards after puberty. Beards grow faster than hair, which is the result of the action of male hormones.

If we want to distinguish carefully, "胡" originally refers to the hair growing around the mouth, and the one on the upper lip is called "髭" (moustache, also known as "八字胡", "八字须", "两撇鸡", and "二撇鸡" in Cantonese), the one on the chin is called "羊胡" (goatee beard), the one on the temples connected to the chin is called "落面胡" (also known as "鲁面胡" and "连须胡"), the one on the cheeks is called "髯", and the curled one is called "虬髯".

The stronger the reproductive function, the faster the beard grows. There are more blood vessels in the beard area than in the hair roots, and nutrients are easier to obtain. Therefore, just after shaving, the beard will grow again in a few days.

Health

Growth and development

Various types of beards

Growing a beard is a manifestation of a man's secondary sexual characteristics. The appearance of secondary sexual characteristics is stimulated by the androgen secreted from the testicles after men enter puberty. Before puberty, boys have very little testosterone in their bodies, and there is not much difference in physical signs between boys and girls. There is no strict time limit for boys' puberty development.

Beards grow very fast. A healthy man's beard grows 0.4 mm per day, which is faster than hair (0.2-0.3 mm per day). This is because there are more blood vessels in the beard area than in the hair roots, and nutrients are easier to obtain. The average adult has about 25,000 beards, but this varies greatly from individual to individual. Men start to grow beards in their teens, which are most abundant around the age of 30. After that, the beards will gradually decrease, so the more you shave your beard, the more it will grow.

The androgen levels in healthy men are generally consistent, but the length of beards varies greatly from man to man. Some people have thick beards, some have sparse ones; some have sideburns, some have goatees. These are all normal differences. The amount and shape of the beard are related to ethnicity and family genetics. This is normal and there is no need to worry about it.

Whether it is pathological for a man to be beardless depends on the overall development of his body. If a man has no beard, but his reproductive organs and the secondary sexual characteristics mentioned above are normally developed, then it is not pathological.

The age at which boys start growing beards is not exactly the same. Some start a few years earlier, while others start a few years later. This is all normal and there is no need to worry. If you have entered puberty but have not grown a beard and your secondary sexual characteristics are not obvious, or even if they still have not developed after puberty, this should be considered abnormal. There may be a problem with the gonadotropin that specifically regulates and controls the secretion of sex hormones, and you need to go to the hospital for examination and treatment.