question about having a beard

[wink78]

hey guys im new here and this is my first post, im a fellow bald guy and i shave my head with a razor every other day. I also rock a nice beard i keep it trimmed with a 1 once a week. my question is most of the day i notice myself kind of petting my beard and just feeling all the hairs and the different ways they grow. is it possible by doing this it could make my beard hair fall out and never grow back ?

[Sir Harry]

Welcome to the board!

Unless you get a severe case of totalis alopecia where all of the body hair falls off, beard hair has no correlation to scalp hair or lack of. Nothing wrong with trimming, but the key to a thick beard is to wash with conditioner and use a heavy hair grease (such as Beeswax). Maybe some of our beard experts could chime in here.

[slybeard]

As long as you are not "pulling" the hairs it shouldn't be an issue.  I have not seen your photo, but I would advise you to go longer with the beard.  A #1 is very short and you may find a longer beard suites you better.  You can always trim it back if you do not like the longer beard look.  A bigger full beard goes well with a smooth dome.

[TheSlyBear]

No, stroking your beard will not make it fall out.

If you find yourself picking up tweezers, well that's a different story...

[wink78]

so if i were to start actually pulling my hair out i could cause permanent hair loss ? and also i have tried going longer than a 1 but i dont like it i am italian and have very coarse greasy and curly beard hair and when it gets long its uncomfortable for me.

[TheSlyBear]

Yeah, yanking hair out by the roots is not advised.

With regards to length -- I understand. Mine starts doing weird things that I don't like when it gets longer, so I'm jealous of those that can grow Santa beards!

[slybeard]

All beards go through a "scruffy" stage when growing out where they look poorly maintained.  It takes about three months growth to get beyond that for most guys. Nothing wrong with stubble if that is what you like.

There is actually and OCD type of disorder where some guys pull out hair from their heads or beard.  It does not sound to me like you had that issue if you just have a habit of stroking or petting your beard.  Beard stroking is quite common, but for many it decreases the longer you wear a beard.

[TheSlyBear]

I had a boss once that I liked a lot, but whenever he got stressed, he'd start pulling out eyebrow hairs.

[Rusty Shackleford]

so if i were to start actually pulling my hair out i could cause permanent hair loss ?

Yes, if you rip the hair out from the root you will cause damage and over time the repeated damage can destroy the root's ability to grow a hair.  People who repeatedly wax hair off parts of their bodies (legs, armpits, whatever) will eventually find that area will have diminished capability of growing hair.  Rubbing a patch of hair will often result in a hair popping out due to the natural lifecycle of hair.  Eventually a root goes dormant and the hair it produced will eventually pop out either by external force or by the root when it begins regrowing a new hair.   Your beard probably consists of thousands of hairs so you will always find some popping out.

and also i have tried going longer than a 1 but i dont like it i am italian and have very coarse greasy and curly beard hair and when it gets long its uncomfortable for me.

Gee, it must be terrible being able to grow a thick and awesome beard like that.  It reminds me of that annoying time I got this bonus at work and I was all "Why did you give this to me? What could I possibly do with this?"

[TheSlyBear]

I'm not sure "uncomfortable" equates to "awesome".