mywifehatesmybeard wrote:
Barba wrote:
Genes, I guess...

:Facepalm applied::

What I'm asking is, will your beard stop growing at a certain length no matter how many times you trim it, or will it stop growing after a certain amount of time?

For instance, if a man has 15 inch beard after 3 years and it doesn't grow any for 4 months, then we assume that he has reached terminal growth. Now, if he trims 4 inches off of his beard, will it grow back to the 15 inches and stop again? Or will it remain at the new 11 inch length until said bearder shaves and begins again?
My understanding is that each hair follicle has a cycle. It grows for a period of time, rests and then the hair falls out. After that it starts again. Each follicle is on its own cycle, which is why "slower growers" as we call them, emerge sometimes weeks after the beard has started.

So what this means is that it really depends on the average cycle time in order to estimate when you will reach the overall terminal length. For most fully mature guys, that seems to be about two years. Some longer, some shorter of course, depending on genetics and other environmental factors. So while cutting an individual hair by 4 inches that is already at "terminal" won't make it grow back to terminal, cutting the beard back by 4 inches won't keep it at the shorter length because the non-terminal hairs will keep growing until they reach their terminal length. 

I am sure some guys with terminal beards can chime in with their own personal experience.




Patience shall be rewarded!

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