earlier shaved to have more beard?

[Oustoura]

hi everyone,

as you know there is a knowledge said by elders; "if you shave younger as possible, your beard will be more impressive than if you shaved later age".

do you think it is true? i started to shave my beard when i was 15 years old. and my beard is very thick and grow every 2 days after a bbs.

[RollinCoal69]

Not sure if there is any truth behind it or not. Might just be an old wives tale. I personally started shaving around 14 yrs old. Now 36 and while I wont say might beard is super thick I do have more facial hair than most of the men in my family.

[Porl]

I don't think this is true. There is also an old wives tale that says the more you shave the faster the hair will grow and I'm pretty sure that one has been proven wrong. That said I started shaving at 14 and I am the only one of 4 brothers that can grow a beard so who knows.

[DoctorNick]

This is a commonly held fallacy that is just that. Shaving the top of a growing hair cannot affect the way it grows.


In this simplified diagram we can see a close-up image of a growing hair. The protein that makes up the growing hair is formed in the follicle which lies in its entirety beneath the surface of the skin. Even the closest shave will only "top" the hair at the level of the skin, well above the follicle.

Unless one is using a treatment that affects the follicle itself (plucking, laser treatment, Nair), removing the top of a growing hair does not affect the way hair is formed at the root. It does shape the uppermost part of the hair, flattening it where it is cut which can give the impression that shaving has affected the way the hair grows (hence that "sand-paper" feeling on Day 1 post-shave). This, I believe, is the genesis of this myth.

As an extra aside, facial hair growth, and hair growth in general is affected largely by the balance of circulating hormones and, in men, largely by androgens like testosterone. We start growing hair on our faces and bodies during puberty as there is a surge in the level of circulating androgens at this time and, as these levels increase and reach a steady state, our beards become thicker. Because we're often taught to shave around this time, it also may seem that it is the act of shaving that affects our increasing hair growth (post hoc ergo propter hoc at work). Androgens act on the hair follicle individually to affect how they grow (my androgen levels are the reason I'm going bald :P).


Hope that answered your question.