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Can Your Face Tan with a Fully-Grown Beard?

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Can Your Face Tan with a Fully-Grown Beard?

With the warm weather here, many of our bearded buddies are wondering how their facial hair affects their ability to develop a healthy-looking tan. Whether you’re trying to achieve a bronze glow or you’re actually trying to avoid sun exposure from changing the look of your skin, it’s very important that you understand how having a beard affects the way in which the sun’s rays impact your complexion.

It All Depends on Your Unique Beard

The truth is that whether or not the portion of your face that’s covered by your beard actually develops an even, healthy tan depends on a few things. One of the most important factors that impacts how well your face evenly tans is your beard itself.

Hair Type

As you know, there are many different types of facial hair. Some of us have hair that’s fine and thin, meaning that our beard never looks incredibly full no matter how long we grow it out. Other men have incredibly coarse, thick hair that’s usually curly or wavy.
If your hair is thin, there’s more skin that is exposed to sunlight. Thin hair can result in a patchy or fine beard that allows a lot of skin to poke through. If your beard is thin or patchy, it’s likely that it will tan like the rest of your face, but the tan that’s covered by your beard may look uneven and patchy as well.
On the other hand, if your beard is very full and thick, it’s basically covering the portion of your skin that would get tanned from sun exposure. Therefore, it’s unlikely that men with this hair type will discover a perfectly even tan when they shave off their beard. In fact, they’ll likely notice tan lines.

Beard Style

The style of your beard also determines how much that portion of your face will tan. If you keep your beard very short and even, it’s likely that enough skin is exposed for it to become as tan as the rest of your face. On the other hand, if your beard is incredibly long and full, that area will not get enough sun exposure in order to become tan.

Protection Against Sun Damage is Crucial

We can’t talk about tanning your face without discussing the importance of protecting your skin against sun damage. We always suggest that you apply sunscreen to your entire face regardless of your unique beard situation. However, men who have shorter beards or finer facial hair must be extra careful as there’s more skin that can be exposed to the sun’s harmful rays. If your beard happens to be very thick and full, you can ease up a little bit, but it’s still recommended that you apply sunscreen regardless.

What to Do if You Want an Even Tan

If you plan on rocking a beardless look for an upcoming event such as a wedding and you want to have a glowing bronze complexion, we recommend shaving about one month prior. This will allow your skin enough time to develop an even tan that’s not obstructed by your facial hair. Remember that if you’re going to expose your whole face to the sun, apply a liberal amount of sunscreen before going outside.

Rock That Summertime Beard

Rocking a beard during the summertime can absolutely affect the evenness of your tan, but just how much your facial hair interferes with your tanning goals depends on the unique qualities of your beard and facial hair.

If you would like to learn more about beard care, check out some of our other articles or our beard care product pages!

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