We scrunch. We twist. We pull the skin on our faces or legs taut just so razors can whisk abroad the undesired hairs sprouting on the fertile landscape of our bodies. Yet many of us do these tasks with a sense of futility, of inevitable failure, because nosotros believe this regular ritual of removal causes hair to grow back mightier than before—rising like a phoenix renewed only with even coarser, thicker or darker offerings.

That is simply not so. Simply there are several reasons that the myth continues to flourish. One is the limitation of human perception. "People are simply not very skilful observers, but there'south merely no science behind hair growing dorsum thicker," says Amy McMichael, chair of the Department of Dermatology at Wake Wood Baptist Health. There'south also the power of coincidence. Indeed, pervasive myths—if a young boy shaves his mustache it volition grow dorsum thicker—are grounded in a kernel of truth: it might. But that's because the shaving may overlap with the timing of natural hormonal fluctuations in his body that are developing his adult facial hair, not because of his hair removal. Body hair grows at different times and at different rates for everybody.

The very human activity of cutting may brand hair appear thicker for a brusque time. A human being hair shaft is like a pencil or javelin that tapers at the finish. So when a razor slices away the tip, it may appear that the remaining hair, and subsequent stubble, is thicker or darker than it was earlier the cut. Those short hairs, sticking directly upwards from their follicles, may even appear coarser. But cutting away part of the hair does non typically change anything virtually that regrowth process. The tapered hair you had is the pilus y'all'll get back. (Although, in rare instances, excessive waxing, which tears a hair from its root, tin can eventually reduce growth from certain hair follicles due to the repeated trauma).

The medical literature has really tackled this abiding hair question with studies direct comparing the hair regrowth among shavers versus au naturel growth for some 100 years. In 1928, for example, four men agreed to exist role of a hair regrowth study attempting to settle the matter. The men shaved a portion of their faces in one downward stroke using the same brand of shaving soap, fresh razors and water at a constant temperature—all in the proper name of science. The report authors collected the shorn hairs and compared 100 of them after each measuring, arriving at their main conclusion: There is no evidence that shaving accelerates the charge per unit of beard growth.

In a somewhat more recent report five healthy young white men agreed to explore how repeated shaving impacts human being hair regrowth. Each volunteer shaved one leg weekly for several months while leaving the other leg as a command (likely opting to wear long pants during the study menstruation). The study, published in 1970, found no pregnant differences in the hair width, coarseness or charge per unit of growth. That type of data jives with what dermatologists come across in their practices, says Melanie Grossman, a dermatologist based in New York City. "Women shave their legs all the time. They would be like gorillas if the hair was coming back thicker or darker," McMichael agrees. "Plus nosotros would never have to think about hair loss on our heads if cut the hair shaft would brand it come back thicker."

With hair waxing the story is like. Hair is non coming back in a more robust way after it's yanked out past the roots. Still, at that place are other genetic or hormonal influences that can affect hair growth. And environment can play a part, too. "If you scratch an area of your pare significantly (which doesn't happen with an boilerplate shaving or waxing), it may get rough like a callus and that can really stimulate thickening of the hair growth. That's because the skin is getting thicker, the fretfulness are getting thicker and the hair may become thicker, too. But that is not typical," McMichael says.

There's also another factor to remember near as a hair springs up through the pare for the first time—at first it may appear ever-then-slightly darker since it has not yet been lightened past exposure to pollutants, chemicals and the lord's day. Only that minute impact will non last. So let's try to put this myth to rest—although, like our hair, it will likely reemerge.