Winter is synonymous with a lot of things—snow, holiday travel, gift giving, parkas, weight gain. But perhaps one of the most important seasonal occurrences is the winter beard. What is the winter beard, and why the distinction? Well, the winter beard is characteristic of guys who spend most of the year clean-shaven or with light stubble. However, when temps dip below freezing, they show up to the office as their inner lumberjack.

The winter beard isn’t different than the beard you grow in other seasons, per se. But it does provide a new set of seasonal benefits.

Built-in SPF

No doubt, you’re familiar with wind burn, that cold weather affliction that whips your face when you turn the corner on a breezy, winter day. It turns out wind burn isn’t actually caused by the wind. It’s just sunburn, winter edition. With a full face of hair, you can block roughly 95% of the sun’s UV rays from reaching your face. Your winter beard is like built-in sunscreen.

Face Warmer

Winter sure does a number on your extremities. Brutally cold days turn your fingers, toes, and every inch of your face into icicles. Sometimes, that wool scarf just isn’t enough to warm up your chin. But luckily, your winter beard is natural protection. Some historians suggest men started growing beards in prehistoric times to protect their skin while they were hunting in harsh weather. You might not spend your afternoons catching dinner in the woods, but you’ll surely appreciate the warmth benefits of your winter whiskers.

New Grooming Scents

Surely, it’s exciting to sleep in a few extra minutes in the morning, since you no longer need to shave. But you still need to groom your beard. The cold, winter air sucks all the moisture out of your beard. Not to mention, your beard hair already needs a little boost since your skin is greedily using most of the oil produced by your sebaceous glands. Invest in a small stable of beard products that includes festive options like Cedar beard oil or Peppermint beard oil. These scents smell wonderful year-round but they’re especially appropriate for winter.

Natural Disinfectant

Is there anything your winter beard can’t do? It’s a natural sunscreen and face warmer, and it’s the perfect excuse to break out the festive beard products. Well, it’s also a great defender against nasty bacteria that causes typical seasonal illnesses. Your beard hair tends to catch harmful bacteria that are linked to lung and throat diseases and keeps them from entering your mouth. So, instead of loading up on Emergen-C, just grow your beard. You’ll have the same odds of staying germ-free, and research seems to indicate you’ve got a better shot with your beard.

Growing Your Winter Beard

Hoping to grow your beard by Christmas? Sadly, every guy is different, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll have full facial hair before the end of the holiday season. This is because your hair grows at the same rate all over your body. That’s right—your head hair, your underarm hair, and your beard hair all grow at the same speed. On average, this is about .5 inches per month. However, lots of other factors affect this, including your diet, genetics, and care routine.

At best, you should just be patient and take care of your facial hair. Keep it moisturized at least once a day with beard oil, and once it starts to grow in, give it a deep clean at least once a week with beard shampoo soap. Proper care promotes healthy growth.

Winter beards offer some undeniable benefits. The question now isn’t whether you’ll grow one but why you haven’t started yet.