Does shaving make hair grow faster?

How often do you not hear that the hair grows back thicker and darker after shaving? But can your razor really affect the thickness and appearance of your hair? If so, no human being would suffer from hair loss? We reveal what lies behind one of the most common myths about shaving. The truth will surprise you!

Myth or truth?

Several studies have been done on hair growth in connection to shaving. In principle, all research points to the same result. Shaving does not make your hair grow darker or thicker. The explanation for this is quite simple. Your hair consists of dead tissue and can therefore not be affected by either shaving or waxing or any other form of hair removal. Its only living part is the hair follicle, a follicle that sits deep under the skin, and shaving can also not affect the keratin-producing cells that grow there.

Coarser hairs are a pure illusion

Of course, it looks like the hairs are stronger and darker after we shave, but the appearance is deceiving. The hair feels thicker because the hairs are generally coarser at the roots and partly because you cut them right off there when shaving. Stubble feels rougher because the ends are blunt. As the hair grows out, it feels softer and thinner, just like before shaving. This is what makes a two-day stubble feel much coarser than a two-week-old beard.

An exception

How much hair you have, how strong it is, and how fast it grows depends entirely on your genes and hormone levels. There is only one exception to the myth that hair gets coarser after shaving, and it is directly linked to puberty. When boys first start shaving, their hair can gradually grow back thicker. However, this has nothing to do with the shave itself. Instead, the hormones (and hormone fluctuations) determine the thickness of the hair.