Does hair really grow back thicker after shaving?

Does hair really grow back thicker after shaving?

No — shaving hair doesn't change its thickness, color or rate of growth. Shaving facial or body hair gives the hair a blunt tip. The tip might feel coarse or "stubbly" for a time as it grows out. During this phase, the hair might be more noticeable and perhaps appear darker or thicker — but it's not.

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.

For one thing, hair growth is determined below the surface of the skin, in the dermis, where a tiny tube called a hair follicle is located. People have thicker beards, for example, because they have more hair follicles on their face. Genes, hormones and age all influence how many hair follicles a person has. Aside from transplanting some spare follicles from another part of your body, nothing you do can increase that amount.

"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."

So let’s try to put this myth to rest—although, like our hair, it will likely reemerge.

Debunked!