Is hair growing back thicker a myth

We don't know who started the rumour that hair grows back thicker if you shave it off, but mothers have been using it to dissuade daughters from shaving their legs too early for far too long. Whenever scientists put this to the test, they find that hair regrowth is in no way affected by shaving, or any other type of hair removal.

So why does the myth persist? The most obvious answer involves the shape of our hair - these keratinous protein filaments sticking out all over the body have tapered ends. Stubble from shaving creates blunt ends that feel coarser to the touch, but as the hair grows out, the end tapers once again.

This is why two-day-old stubble feels scratchier than a two-week-old beard, and why you might be tricked into thinking that shaving actually produces thicker hair.

"Women shave their legs all the time. They would be like gorillas if the hair was coming back thicker or darker," dermatologist Amy McMichael tells Dina Fine Maron at Scientific American. "Plus we would never have to think about hair loss on our heads if cutting the hair shaft would make it come back thicker."

But don't just take a dermatologist's word for it. In 2007 a pair of doctors dispelled a handful of medical myths in The British Medical Journal, and one of them was about hair regrowth.

"As early as 1928, a clinical trial showed that shaving had no effect on hair growth," they wrote. "More recent studies confirm that shaving does not affect the thickness or rate of hair regrowth. In addition, shaving removes the dead portion of hair, not the living section lying below the skin's surface, so it is unlikely to affect the rate or type of growth."

There's only one plausible exception to this - puberty. When boys first start shaving, the hair might gradually come back thicker, however that's got nothing to do with shaving itself. Instead, the teenage hormonal fluctuations influence hair thickness and other attributes.

Now, you might have also heard opposite claims. People peddling tubs of hot, painful wax in the name of fashion will often claim that after waxing, hair grows back sparser and thinner. But as physician Michael Vagg writes over at The Conversation, that's also a trick of perception: "Plucking and waxing removes the hair from the follicle at the base, meaning it will take a bit longer to regenerate and will come out with a tapered end rather than a blunt one."

"There is evidence that repeated waxing may eventually damage the follicle enough to prevent it reproducing hair - but that would take years," science reporter Paul Willis explains on Catalyst, after putting waxed and shaved hair myths to the test.

"Like many bodily functions, your hair's appearance and behaviour will reflect your overall health and your genetic heritage," writes Michael Vagg. "Unless you have a condition affecting the skin or the regulation of the hair cycle, you can't make it grow faster or thicker."

So shave, pluck, and wax all you want - it's all the same to the hair. Now someone just needs to tell Kramer that whatever he's got going on down there is something else entirely:

For something that billions of us do every day, there are plenty of myths around shaving. While we’re not averse to adding a little extra mystique to the ancient art of the shave, at Wilkinson Sword we’re in the business of making shaving straightforward. We’ve been experts in shaving for well over a century, so we’re better placed than most to clear up any misunderstandings that might crop up in bathrooms up and down the land.

One of the most common questions about shaving is what it does to your hair. Does it change the way it grows, paving the way for thicker or faster-growing hair to return in its place? It’s true that it can often seem like your hair is determined to defy whatever you do with a razor, coming back with more determination each time and occasionally making shaving feel like a futile exercise. But here, in black and white, are the facts about shaving and body hair…

Does shaving make hair thicker?

In short, no it doesn’t. Hair might appear to be thicker after you shave on any part of your body. When the hair begins to reemerge from your skin after shaving, the blunt end where the razor cut it can make it look thicker and darker, but it’s still exactly the same strand of hair that was there before, completely unchanged.

There are a few optical illusions that don’t help with the spread of this particular myth. One of them is down to the fact that the longer you don’t shave, the more the sun can make your hairs appear lighter and thinner. That means that when you do shave, the remaining hair is suddenly a lot more noticeable against the skin.

Another occurs because hair is naturally much thicker at the root than it is at the tip. That’s why brand new stubble looks more conspicuous when there’s no thinner hair to offset it. In reality, it’s impossible for hair thickness or colour to be impacted by shaving. Hair growth, on the other hand, is a different story…

Does shaving make hair grow back faster?

This one’s a little more complicated, because it can grow back faster but shaving’s got nothing to do with it – however, your genes have everything to do with it. Everybody’s gene pool determines the rate at which hair reappears, as well as the texture it develops. As a result of your genes, you might have more hair or thicker hair than other people, and it might grow back at what seems an exhausting rate. It’s not necessarily fair, but it’s science.

Does hair grow back faster on certain parts of the body?

Hair growth speed doesn’t just vary between people but between different areas of the body. Armpit hair tends to grow back around 50% faster than leg hair, and the same inconsistency applies right across the body – so you might find yourself engaged in a constant race to stay ahead of hair growth in some tricky spots.

Should I shave different parts of the body in different ways?

You can say that again. Every area of your body has a different type of hair – whether you’re keeping the downstairs region in check or tackling those pesky patches that sprout in unexpected places as you grow older. The key is to be equipped with the right tools and clued up on the right techniques for each. A well-practised, carefully honed head-to-toe grooming routine will keep you looking your best and stop your hair getting out of control – whatever speed or thickness it grows at.

Why do some hairs grow thicker?

Does shaving head increase hair density?

Why does my hair grow back so fast after shaving?

Does plucking hair make it thinner?