Is it a myth?

[flyboy]

All my life people have told me that beard is growing faster and will get thicker if it is shaved regularly. This was especially well known on my high-school, when all the guys wanted to be as manly and bearded as possible.
Do any of you guys know if there is anything to this myth?
And why/why not?

[aroliver59]

Don't know if it's true,but I heard it too,back in the school days.

[chee16]

i was told by a professionally trained and certified aesthetician (i don know how to spell it but she does nails, manicures, pedicures, facials, etc) that that was one of the big questions that people ask and it is a total myth. it just usually happens that when a guy starts wanting more facial hair and starts shaving more it gets thicker. this could be wrong but i have asked my barber also and they always say it is a myth.

[Alraz]

Test it: Measure the thickness of the hair in both arms. Shave one arm every day for a year. At that point measure the thickness again. If it remains unchanged, is a myth. I have noticed that people that do not shave legs or armpits tend to have softer hair in those areas than those that do shave. However, I would not draw any conclusions from this observation.

Al raz.

[M1ke]

NOT TRUE.

snopes.com: Shaved Hair Grows Darker

[Ben325e]

Forget rogaine! I'm going a little thin on top, so maybe I can just keep shaving my head for a while like Jimbo does and my hair will thicken right up!!

Wait.... No. While it might have some small effect, I will conclude that it's a myth. Otherwise baldness wouldn't be such an issue would it? We'd just shave the ol' noggin a bit and wait for that luxurious mane to come in...

This is all conjecture from my little brain, but as far as armpit hair being softer: well, it doesn't have a sharp freshly cut edge, does it? Hair that grows in high friction areas is somewhat self sacrificing; when you swing your arms, you are rubbing your armpit hair together, and that introduces wear on the hair strands themselves. They become thinner, and probably feel much softer as a result. I wonder what your armpit hair would be like if you shaved it, then immediately cut off your arms. It would be able to grow back totally unabraded as a prime test example. Can somebody give it a shot and let me know what happens?

What's the real scoop? As you get older, you start losing hair some places and getting it in others. A few random hairs pop up on your shoulder, your back, ears, the tip of your nose or where ever. Just go around and look at old men. Some have inch long hairs popping right out of the tip of their noses! Or they get those "Andy Rooney" eyebrows. Just the facts of life.

[flyboy]

It sounds like it is just a myth. I was just a bit curious, had totally forgotten about it until tonight, and it was fun to see other peoples thoughts on it.

[nun2sharp]

When I was in the Army I had to shave my fuzz everyday, I dont think the real beard/whiskers came in any faster, it was still a year later that I could grow a passable mustache.

[tpoof]

seems like mine grows faster in the winter...

[hults]

I just think it grows faster/thicker as you get older. Unfortunately, it's in all the wrong places.