Last updated on January 19, 2024
Question:
Hello,
I am an 18-year-old male. My voice started cracking sometime between 12.5 -13 years old. I believe I started growing pubic hair around the same timeframe. Wet dreams started around 13. My voice broke at 13, and I also got a growth spurt at 13 where I grew about 4 inches. However, it only lasted one year and I basically stopped growing in height at 14. At 14, I had a sparse mustache, which then turned into a full mustache at 15. I started growing chin hair and underlip hair at 16. At 18, my cheeks haven’t filled in yet.
I would like to know how that is even possible, given my testicles kept growing till 15ish and my shoulders kept widening until I was 17-18. I also didn’t get naval hair until 17-18. Given what happened, I am worried that something has gone wrong in my development.
Thank you for taking time out of your day to answer my question.
Answer:
Let’s start with your growth spurt at age 13. That would mean you were in stage 3 at that time. On average stage 3 starts around age 13.5 but can start as early as 10 or as late as 17. It typically lasts about two years. It appears in this you were close to average. A mustache often starts to appear in the second half of stage 3, so having one show up when you were 14 matches expectations.
This means you were in stage 2 from roughly age 11 to 12. Some boys don’t develop much or any pubic hair in stage 2, or they start to develop hair, but it is the fine vellus hair that is easily overlooked until it darkens when it becomes terminal hair. You started ejaculating around the end of stage 2 or the beginning of stage 3, which is again fairly normal.
Your voice box started developing in stage 2, which is about a year or two earlier than most boys, but that can happen. Depending on your genetics, some parts of your body might develop sooner than others.
Boys continue to grow after their growth spurt for a while, but since it is at a slower pace, it doesn’t appear to be as significant as the growth spurt. You didn’t give any numbers for your growth, so I must assume that it is a perception problem.
Stage 3 should have lasted from age 13-14. Stage 4 should have lasted from age 15-16. Your testicles should have continued to enlarge through age 15 or 16, so you are within range. Your shoulders widening seems a bit late, but I don’t know if you got into weightlifting and are seeing your larger muscles as wider shoulders. Your body hair development is a bit slower, but then your pubic hair developed a bit slower too. It seems to be consistent.
I don’t see anything in what you discussed that would be a cause of concern, other than perhaps you didn’t grow as tall as you had hoped to grow.
Question:
I believe I grew from approximately 160 (5’3) to 171.5 cm (5’6.5) from 13 to 14 years old or maybe even slightly earlier. Currently, I am slightly above that at 171.8-172 cm (5’7.5) depending on the time of day- if I did grow after 14 years old, it was only a quarter of an inch indicating I was in tanner stage 4 at 14. The cause of my concern is that I started puberty at a normal time but stopped growing early for a male. I thought I would grow an inch or two until 15 years of age at least to get to 5 foot 8 or 9.
As for my shoulders widening, I have not taken up weightlifting or bodybuilding so I believe my clavicles grew in length. I remember getting acne breakouts at 17 like the ones I got at 13 when I got my growth spurt.
Answer:
There are so many variables involved in growth and development that it would be impossible to tell. Instead of longing for what you wish you had, the better approach to life is to accept what you were given and make the most of it.