Facial hair

Why do men actually have a beard?

Many sons want to know what dad "has on his face".

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/JenkoAtaman)

Children often don't like their dad's facial hair because it is usually quite spiky when cut short. Why do men have beards and women don't? How quickly does a beard grow? In the following, we answer the most interesting questions according to the motto "Easy as pie". 

Yesterday you gave your dad a peck on the cheek and it really stung again. Why is this often the case with men and (usually) not with women? It all starts with something called hormones. You can think of hormones as little letter carriers that carry important messages through your body and tell the different organs what to do. Each hormone letter carrier has a specific task and only brings certain messages. For example, there are hormones that help you to grow, hormones that help you to fall asleep and hormones that help you to feel happy.

Testosterone - a "male hormone"
 A special hormone called testosterone plays a major role in all men. When boys reach puberty and slowly grow up, their bodies produce more testosterone. It helps them to grow and become stronger - at least like their dad. It also ensures that they have deeper voices and build more muscle. If there is enough testosterone in the body, a hormone with the difficult name "dihydrotestosterone", or DHT for short, is produced. Then a beard can finally develop - and of course more body hair.

15 centimetres of beard per year
Did you know that a beard grows on average around 0.3 to 0.5 millimetres per day? That means a man can grow around 15 centimetres of beard in a year. There are many different ones: Full beard, moustache or moustache (over the upper lip), three-day beard (stubbly beard that develops after about three days without shaving), goatee (only on the chin - think of a goat, then you can imagine the beard better) and many more. Some people have a thick, full beard, while others only have a few hairs on their face.

This is because every person is different and has different genes. Genes are like little blueprints that determine how we look. Of course, many men also shave every day. Afterwards, their face feels soft to the touch again. Incidentally, women also have testosterone in them, but much less than men. That's why they don't normally grow beards. Only some - usually at an advanced age - develop a delicate upper lip fuzz. In addition, another hormone called oestrogen predominates in women, which tends to inhibit facial hair growth.

Magical powers
There are interesting stories and myths surrounding beards: people used to believe that they would protect the face from cold and injury. This is one of the reasons why many men in cold regions wore beards. In some cultures, they were believed to have magical powers: For example, the Vikings thought their beards protected them from evil spirits and bad luck. In other stories, beards were seen as a sign of courage and bravery. Some cultures even believed that touching a beard brought good luck.