Bearded and Fit

Active Lifestyle = Healthy Beard

Physical fitness is something many beardsmen value. Living a healthy lifestyle has direct correlation to a mans overall happiness. Many people have asked us here at Beardbrand what they can do to make their beards grow strong and healthy. If you are one of those people, you know that our typical response includes the words 'diet' and 'exercise'.

Believe it or not, we are not full of sh*t. Routine exercise is great for both your skin and hair. Proper exercise will make you sweat. Sweating is the body's natural way of flushing out toxins and other waste particles through our pores and hair follicles.

Minaz from hairbuddha.net claims, "likewise, when we sweat from our scalp, it helps to unclog the hair follicles, giving enough space for the new hair to grown. Exercising also increases blood flow to our muscles, skin and scalp".

This is also relevant when talking about facial hair. When you unclog the hair follicles on your face, you open up room for more hair to grow. The more often you sweat, the faster your beard will grow.

While you exercise, you're also increasing your heart rate, which in turn creates more blood flow. The increase in blood flow transports oxygen throughout the body. Oxygen nourishes the hair follicles and supplies essential nutrients needed for growth.

So what happens to your head and beard hair when you don't exercise regularly? Genetics also plays a big role in determining how much facial hair you can grow. So those of you who are thinking " I never exercise and have a great beard", congratulations, you hit the genetic lottery. However, just because you have a dense, full beard, doesn't necessarily mean it's healthy. 

With lack of exercise your beard will become brittle. Growth patterns will also slow down significantly from lack of nutrients to your pores and hair follicles. Furthermore, it has also been proven that people who don't exercise regularly tend to have higher levels of the chemical cortisone. 

Higher cortisone levels lead to stress. Stress is the number one detriment to a healthy mane and face forest. Cortisone can not only significantly decrease the rate of growth for your beard and hair, but it can actually lead to thinning of the hair, and even hair loss. 

Physical Fitness Is For Everyone

Even if you're not a fan of running miles on end in the scorching sun, or lifting heavy weights till your limbs fall off. There are alternative methods that can drastically increase your strength, speed, mobility, and overall well-being.

Dean Pohlman, founder and CEO of Man Flow Yoga, came to the Beardbrand office the other day and shined some light on a form of exercise that is highly overlooked, especially for men. 

Yoga is a form of exercise that focuses on mobility, flexibility, and core strength. It is a great way to get a full-body workout without the damaging high impact movements found in other types of exercise. Concentrating on these three core factors also makes you an all around better athlete. And the best part? There's no age cap for yoga. 

I sat down with Dean and talked a little about his business, and what inspired him to become a leader in the male yoga industry. He came to Austin, Texas after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. 

He's been an athlete all his life. Although he's always had the speed and stamina, he lacked in size. He said that inspired him to always compete with a chip on his shoulder and give 110% no matter what he was doing. 

I asked him what inspired him to quit his day job and start his own business. He responded, " I founded Man Flow Yoga because I realized there was a complete lack of yoga for physical fitness. Most of the yoga classes I attended didn’t properly teach you how to do the postures, or explain what they did for your body. The spirituality of yoga dominated the fitness side of it, and that wasn’t what I was interested in. So I started making videos and posting them on YouTube for other people to experience the same benefits that I was getting, but in an approach that made more sense to me as an athlete. It turned out that people liked that, and I started Man Flow Yoga full-time at the beginning of 2014." 

He continued on to say that men simply need yoga in their routines. Traditional exercises lack specific movements that benefit your body. "Yoga enables you to continue to do all the physical activity you enjoy doing for as long as you possibly can. It even makes you better at it. More mobility means more power. Better balance means better core strength. More body control means more muscular awareness, and therefore more effective muscle development".

What we really liked about Dean was the awesome beard he was rocking. He said he decided to grow a beard because, "after graduating and ultimately quitting my first job to go all in with Man Flow Yoga, I realized that nobody was telling me whether or not I could keep a beard. So I kept it as a testament to my independence as a business owner. Also, girls tended to pay a lot more attention to me with some scruff on my face".

I guess yoga and growing a beard both tap in to the idea of freedom in their own ways. I inquired if he had any tips for our fellow beardsmen out there who rock gnarly beards and are interested in getting involved in the fitness scene. 

Dean stated "Don’t neglect the beard. If you’re an athlete and having multiple workouts per day, that might mean you’re showering twice a day as well. Use beard oil daily, but also make sure to regularly scrub your beard with a beard wash or shampoo, otherwise you’re going to get some nasty dandruff in your beard, and nobody wants that. Don’t forget to to comb and trim regularly, too. The difference between a beard that’s regularly combed and one that’s not is pretty significant".

So there you have it, physical fitness and healthy beard growth go hand in hand. For all you bearded athletes out there, don't hesitate to grab yourself a yoga mat and take some pointers from Dean himself. Also check out the Man Flow YouTube channel for more information.

In the mean time, stay active, eat healthy, and keep on growing.

-Parker