Someone once told me that hair grows back stronger when you shave it, therefore you should avoid shaving places where you don't want to encourage growth (e.g. "unibrow" between the eyebrows, fur on ears, etc). Is there any truth to this?
Printable View
Someone once told me that hair grows back stronger when you shave it, therefore you should avoid shaving places where you don't want to encourage growth (e.g. "unibrow" between the eyebrows, fur on ears, etc). Is there any truth to this?
Quote:
Originally Posted by booga
People say that is an old wives tale but I am not sure. I used to get two full days after a str8 shave. I am now getting one. Hummmm:eek:
I was told by a doctor that the hairs don't grow back any thicker (at the skin level) than they were before the hairs were cut off. The only difference is that an uncut hair is actually tapered to a point. Once the hair is shaved or cut off, it has a blunt or squared end versus an uncut hair that's gradually tapered. Because it's blunt and isn't gradually tapered anymore, the shaved hair gives one the look and feel of a thicker hair. Although I'm not an expert (nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night), this is just my $0.02.
Jeff
that is entirely too much TV watching on your part
nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night
I believe that the hair will eventually grow faster if it is shaved regularly. So, if you don't want a thicker, heavier beard you should pluck it not shave it.
That might hurt a bit, but just think you won't have to strop that razor and it will pluck for you.
Tim
:ziplip:
It's truely fascinating the things you learn in these forums!
No offense, Tim, but I have to disagree with you on two levels. First, I work way too many hours to spend my non-office time watching the boob toob. If I do, however, it's mostly sports and news.
Secondly, this isn't really a disagreement with you since you said that you heard this, but, hair doesn't grow any faster because it's shaved. Facial hair grows at a rate of approximately 6" per year much like finger/toe nails as they are made of the same matter. What I've heard from a stylist friend of mine is the follicle will produce growth at the same rate whether there is hair above the skin or not. However, I'm no expert so if I am incorrect, someone please tell me and I'll stand corrected.
I do agree that not stropping your razor will indeed perform the "plucking" required to extend the time between depilatory needs. In fact, in reading the history of shaving, I believe there was one of the Kings of England...Henry I II III IV V....etc, whatever, actually had this done. His servant would pluck his beard with tweezers.
I think I'd rather take the risk of passing a keen straight razor across my face everyday and leave the plucking for the chickens...
Jeff
Thats only because your razors are getting dull and not shaving the way they used to so you should immediately gather all of them and begin a marathon honing session and get them back into shape.Quote:
Originally Posted by RichZ
Thats another one of those old barbers tales that keep getting propagated around here.
I Gotta weigh in with the "Those're Ol' Wives Tales" crowd. I did however pluck my mild unibrow completely years ago and it never grew back. What does that mean? :shrug:
X
It was proven scientifically in 1928 that there is no correlation
between shaving and hair growth. It might be hard to find but
here is the reference
Hair growth and shaving
Mildred Trotter
The Anatomical Record
Volume 37, Issue 4, 1928. Pages 373-379
If you actually find it I'd like to have a scan ;)
I agree that shaving, in and of itself, doesn't make hair grow faster. :hmmm: I might give some credance to the fact that the massage from working up a lather on one's face, warm towels, etc., etc. might stimulate increased blood flow to the hair follicles enough to stimulate them a little. But that's just...http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a2.../my2-cents.gif
Jeff,
I do much the same with TV. Too many things to do that are better and/or more pressing to get done.
I don't really pay that much attention to hair growth. I only know that if I just give one pass I need to shave in 24 hours or less. If I give more than one pass it might be as long as 36 hours, the second pass needs to be against the grain though. It also depends on the attention I pay to the closeness of the shave not just to not removing parts of my face.
On the plucking and King Henry Whatever, I wonder what the job turnover rate was. Ouch, off with your head! LOL.
Tim :)
I suppose that's one way to remove facial hair! A shave and a haircut in one fell swoop! LOL
Would a styptic pencil or an alum block stop the bleeding??? :eek:
Gives new meaning to just take a little off the top. lol:D
It's a very popular myth since people can blame the thickening on shaving, not the fact that the hair grows heavier as we get older.
So the fact that I had zero chest hair at 22 outside the clear peach fuzz and at 24 after I had shaved and regrown my chest hair multiple times it was almost as thick as a monkey's is just coincidence? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by YGingras
This logical fallacy is a type of wishfull thinking called the Post Hoc Fallacy. You were confused about the reason for your increased hair growth because you happened to be shaving your chest hair at the time of your life when it was growing in thicker. Add the Confirmation Bias because you have heard the wives tale and want to believe it and you're home free on the wrong track. Problem well solved!Quote:
Originally Posted by FUD
http://skepdic.com/tilogic.html
X
That is a nice thought. But it doesn't always apply. I have noticed my beard heavier since shaving every day with a straight. This is not three weeks later and I am not 21..... For a long time. I am still skeptical because I am a New Yorker ( we trust nothing) but I know what I feel and see.:eek:
Quote:
Originally Posted by RichZ
Yea and for me, I had gone through puberty at 14 and my hair didn't start sliding off my head down to my back and arse until I was in my 30's
I'd agree with the fallacy theory had I experienced changes in my hair growth anywhere other than where I was shaving it but I didn't.
Also, I'm a sceptic by nature, I'll try it out first and believe it afterwards only IF it works. This appeared to work ONLY on the areas I was shaving.
Now if I could only find a natural method to REDUCE "bum" hair I'd be in business ;)
I've noticed two distinct growth periods myself even though I've always shaved as little as I could manage (except since July). Until my mid twenties it was really still peach fuzz for the most part on my face and twelve hairs on my chest. It's easy to count to twelve. Then over the course of a few months it became a light beard and a few dozen chest hairs . Ten years after that I made a definite increase again. I have some decent whiskers now. Some are trouble what with ingrowing and all (not since July). I expect something like that might occur again in perhaps another ten years. I'd feel verile if it did. :cool:
I knew a guy who had no chest hair till he hit his thirties and then he turned into a bald bear in less than two years. One half of him grew furry in the first year and the other in the next. But all bald all at once. i think it was the left side which grew the first year. True story. Nice guy. Does a funny Mexican number with a guitar.
X