It\u2019s one of the most common old wives\u2019 tales: your hair grows back thicker if you shave. Shaving your face is a great way to remove facial hair, but will it cause your beard or mustache to grow back thicker?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beards and other facial hair can seem to grow back thicker or darker after shaving because the ends have been blunted and appear larger. Many scientific studies have determined that shaving facial hair has no effect on how fast or thick it will grow back but improving one’s general health and skincare can help keep hair healthy and strong.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s take a moment to examine why this myth is so common, more of what the science says, and find out what does make your beard grow thicker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does shaving your face make a beard grow thicker?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaving your face does not make your beard grow thicker<\/a>. Plain and simple. The idea that hair growth and shaving are related has been studied for about 100 years. One of the earliest studies<\/a>, conducted in 1928, flatly disproved the relationship between beard growth and shaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that 1928 study, four men were given the same shave using the same razors, soap, etc. The scientists then measured 100 hairs that had been shaved. The conclusion they came to? Shaving does not affect the acceleration of beard growth. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Another study, published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology in 1970, found that \u201cno significant differences in total weight of hair produced in a measured area, or width or rate of growth of individual hairs, could be ascribed to shaving.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, if this myth has been busted time and time again, who started the myth that shaving your face makes your beard grow thicker?<\/p>\n\n\n\n One possible answer has to do with our perception of hair growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are plenty of reasons that may make it look like your beard is, indeed, growing back thicker after you shave it. Some of the most common reasons this perception happens, as cited in the British Medical Journal<\/a>, are…<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each of these reasons can be easily explained with some basic common sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When hair first emerges from the hair follicle, it has a tapered end<\/a> \u2014 like a spear. This original tapered end helps it emerge from the hair follicle. Once that hair has been shaved, the razor cuts the hair as close to the skin as possible. It looks like all the hair is gone, but the root of the hair is still growing below the skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When that hair begins to grow again, it won\u2019t have a tapered end. Instead, it will grow back with a blunt tip. When you multiply this by a few hundred hairs on your face, it gives the impression that the hair is, indeed thicker. However, your hair is just growing back with a blunt tip rather than a tapered tip.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as the bleaching effects of ultraviolet light, just think about what happens when you leave a rag or seat cushion out in the sun all summer long. The darker colors start to fade and become bleached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This same effect<\/a> happens to your facial hair. The UV radiation given off by the sun penetrates the hair and breaks down the melanin \u2014 in other words, sunlight destroys the very thing that gives hair color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, the new growth on your beard will always seem darker than your beard normally is because it hasn’t yet had a chance to be bleached or lightened by the sun.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If this seems almost unbelievable, just go ahead and peruse the plethora<\/a> of<\/a> personal<\/a> testimony<\/a> on the sun\u2019s impact on beard color. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you combine those two reasons, it can certainly seem like shaving does make your beard grow back thicker<\/a>. But, according to science, shaving does not affect beard growth or thickness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n