Everyone had shaved at one point in his or her life. Whether it’s the face, legs, arms, or the head, we’ve all done it. When I first started shaving however, people told me that shaving is not good for you. They told me that shaving would cause your hair to grow back faster, darker and thicker. This statement scared me. Do I really want to shave my leg and end up looking like a gorilla? From my curiosity, I began doing a little research on this topic.
According to scientific American, the theory of hair growing faster, darker and thicker is not true. One of the reasons we believe there is a change in hair growth is the limitation of human perception. The act of cutting hair may actually make the hair appear thicker for a short time period. This happens when a razor slices the tip of the hair, the remaining hair (the root) may appear thicker and darker than it was before the cut. However, this doesn’t change the hair regrowth process. According to Amy McMichael, chair of the Department of Dermatology at Wake Forest Baptist Health said, “People are just not very good observers, but there’s just no science behind hair growing back thicker.”
I know that I can’t just base my conclusion on human perception; therefore, I found studies done to prove that shaving will not cause hair to grow back faster, thicker and darker. The first study was done in 1928. Four men shaved a portion of their faces in one downward stroke while using the same brand of soap, razors and constant water temperature. Then 100 shorn hairs were collected and compared. As a conclusion, there is no evidence that proved shaving speeds up the rate of hair growth. Another shaving study was done more recently. This research made five young white male to repeatedly shave one leg weekly for several months while leaving the other leg as the control. As the result, no significant changes in hair width and the rate of growth were found.
From these two researches, it’s very likely to conclude that shaving does not make hair grow back faster, thicker and darker. However, even though these two experiments were well conducted, there are still other factors to consider. To start off, the studies were biased. The researchers only experimented on white males. This led me to think what if the result of hair growth would be different on females? Would hair growth also be different for people of different races? Besides the bias part, there can also be coincidence. What if a teen’s facial hair grew thicker due to puberty? Third variables also play a part in this case. For example, the food that the volunteers ate might play a role on hair growth.
As a result, it is very hard to conclude that shaving does not cause hair to grow back faster, thicker and darker.
http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-and-beauty/does-shaving-make-hair-grow-back-thicker.aspx
Another piece to question in this study is the rate of hair growth and thickness of hair. For example, one males hair may be growing back fast and dark but it may not necessarily be due to the shaving.
Jiang, my father told me the same thing! I experimented with his razors when I was about 9 years old and got caught. He told me the hair would grow back thicker and darker. This reminds me of the insect Andrew talked about. When the insect lost its leg, its replacement leg grew back stronger than the one it had lost. From experience, I can say I did shave my arms around the same age, and the hair on my arms has not grown anything like it used to be. Thank God.
True, the studies were biased. I agree, they should’ve compared different races, such as Latino, African American and Asian, different age groups and both sexes. I suppose one of the foods you are talking about is salmon. There are tons of foods that can cause your hair to grow faster and healthier so something the study forgot to hold accountable was definitely the diets of the participants. For instance, maybe some of the white males ate burgers, fries and not many nutritional things, while others ate lean meats, beans and veggies.
I agree the study cannot prove there is a strong connection between shaving and the regrowth of hair just based on who was studied, the sample size and how they achieved their data. The study was observational and maybe if they had some measurements in there, some logs of what the participants had been eating, their overall health and things of that nature, the study would have been conducted more properly.
I agree with all of your points especially about these being well conducted experiments. The only thing that you did not mention that made these experiments less than par was that they both had small sample sizes. Five men is not enough for an experiment and if this and the things you mentioned were to change, i believe there would be much more certainty about the matter.