Dry January and Beard Growth: Does Taking a Month Off Alcohol Help Your Beard?
Are you in the midst of Dry January? How’s it going? How are the cravings? When Friday at five o’clock rolls around, do you open the fridge out of habit and just look around like you’re in the middle of some kind of Pavlovian experiment?
Want a cold one, bro?
We feel you. You can do it. And hey—cheers to February beers.
Anyway, “Thanks but I’m doing Dry January so I can’t” has us wondering…does taking a month off really do us any good? And since we’re selfish and want it to be all about beards—does Dry January help us grow better beards?
Well, let’s dig on in (to the story, not to a drink, of course).
Does Dry January Actually Do Me Any Good?
Do you ever look up a recipe online and have to scroll on and on and on through a silly narrative to actually get to the recipe? Don’t you hate that?
We won’t do that to you.
YES. Taking a month off alcohol can be excellent for you. But don’t you want to know why?
We were curious too. Aside from the obvious cost savings and potential waistline reduction, here’s what’s going on inside when you become a teetotaler for a whole month, you brave soldier you.
Dry January originated from our booze-loving Brits across the pond. Alcohol Change United Kingdom issued the challenge to put down the drink for a whole month after going hard for the holidays—an annual reset to start the new year. Now it’s become a worldwide movement.
And now, studies suggest it can have lasting effects on health behaviors. Research out of the University of Sussex has been widely discussed for reporting that many participants experienced higher energy and healthier body weight. Beyond January, some participants also reported drinking fewer days per week, getting drunk less often, sleeping better, and spending less money.
If you want to read deeper, Priory and Men’s Health have solid breakdowns on the potential benefits of a month off from alcohol. But it’s time to get to beards already.
Because here’s the thing: even if you don’t “feel different” after a week or two, Dry January is still doing something useful for your body—especially your hydration levels, your sleep quality, and your inflammation. And all three of those have a way of showing up in the mirror.
In other words: your face notices. Your skin notices. And yes…your beard can notice too.
Does Dry January Help You Grow Your Beard?
Yes! And no! Wait, what?!
Yeah, that surprised us too, so let’s start with the “yes”…with a big, bold asterisk.
Alcohol has been linked (in some discussions online) to hormonal shifts that can influence hair growth pathways. The body naturally creates a hormone called DHT, which plays a role in body hair development. Some explanations claim that alcohol can affect conversion pathways related to DHT metabolites and that, in limited cases, this could be associated with faster facial hair growth for some guys. So when you drink alcohol, your facial hair grows quicker than normal…or at least that’s the claim you’ll find floating around.
So that’s why there are so many bearded gents at pubs and breweries!
Not so fast.
Of course you know there are limits to the rule. Drink too much and you can inhibit testosterone production and disrupt recovery—both of which can work against your beard (and other hair growth too, for that matter). Moderation, my friends.
And here’s where Dry January starts to make a lot more sense for beard health: excessive drinking will dry you out. That reduces the moisture in your skin and hair. Your beard doesn’t just “grow,” it grows out of skin that needs hydration and balance. When your body is dehydrated, your skin can get tight, irritated, and more prone to flaking. That can lead to beardruff and itc