Puberty and Body Hair Development

Q: When does an average male face start having hair? When does pubic hair start to grow and armpit hair? What age?

A: Unfortunately, there is no predefined schedule for the development of facial hair, pubic hair, armpit hair, and other body hair. These are all determined by your nutritional health and hormone levels, as well as genetics and the way that these factors affect your passage into puberty.

In boys, puberty tends to occur between the ages of 13 and 15. However, it could begin as early as 10 or 11, or as late as 16 or 17. It really does all depend on the individual. Unlike with girls, whose pubescent development can be categorized into stages (called tanner stages) and become readily apparent when the breasts begin to bud, boys have no clear-cut sign that puberty has begun.

In many cases, the first signs of puberty for boys will be the development of body hair in places previously devoid of hair, but not always.

When a boy is in his pubescent stage, he will experience the following:

•  Accelerated growth, particularly in height

•  Broadening of the shoulders

•  Enlargement of the penis, scrotum and testicles as they mature

•  Changes and/or deepening of the voice as the larynx elongates

•  Growth of hair in the pubic area, armpits, face and growth and or thickening of the hair on the rest of the body

•  Nocturnal emissions (nighttime ejaculations)

I'm sorry that I can't give you an age-specific guide for when the body of a male will develop hair in specific areas, but that's just not the way the human body works. The development of the hair doesn't even occur in a specific order. Some boys will develop pubic hair first, while others will see armpit hair or hair forming on the chest before anything else. I all depends on the boy in question.

©Hairfinder.com

See also:

How many hair follicles does a person gain at the onset of puberty?

At what age does a man usually get notable facial hair?

Teenagers and hair problems

Should a man shave his armpits?