Shaving...Is it now thicker?

One of the staples that most women around the world do is shave and top of the list are legs and underarms. On the other hand, waxing and lasers have been the "go to" for quite a few persons as the hair growth is reduced and especially with lasers, hair may stop growing after a few treatments. But there is a huge myth so many believe and I feel the need to squash such.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, your hair does not grow thicker because you shave. That is a worldwide myth that just does not seem to fade. Your hair grows from the roots and not the ends. This means there is no "message" transmitted from the ends telling the roots (under the skin) that the hair has been cut and so the follicle (under the skin) must grow more hair. It is scientifically impossible for that to happen. If this was so, oh how happy many persons going bald would benefit with that advantage? I mean, all those men and women suffering with baldness and thinning would instead shave and get thicker hair right? Not at all!

The truth is that whenever you shave your legs or arms, you are cutting the hair off from the surface of the skin. While the hair is growing back, it is more of a stubble and the tip of the hair feels rough and coarse. But at no point does that shaving or coarseness affect what is happening underneath the skin. At no point is the follicle (where the hair grows out from) below the skin affected by the razor you used. It does not even know what has happened, unless you cut the skin. Makes sense right? I know you are understanding :)

Of course, there are some persons who do experience less growth after a long period of waxing. On the other hand, if many persons who continually wax were to actually allow all the hair to grow back in a specific area, I guarantee many would experience "dejavu"...right back to same amount of thickness they had before waxing. Needless to say, it happened to me and I was so frustrated. But this was many years ago and I was not as informed.

This is why when I went to get a couple laser treatments, the Dermatologist advised me to only shave and not wax. The reason is that waxing affects the growth underneath the skin as it pulls the hair from the follicle. Now, hair does not necessarily grow at the same speed and this will create that illusion of less hair. This is unlike shaving where you are going to have all the hair strands within the follicles underneath the skin, so growth will be more even. Although laser affects the follicles, the strands have to be in tact as the beam actually needs the hair to reach the follicle. Waxing cannot guarantee this as the strands may grow back very unevenly.

So once and for all, do not believe the hype. The only bad things about shaving is the possibility of cutting yourself and the constant act of shaving. It does not make your hair thicker and does not make your hair grow faster. Absolutely ridiculous!

Until Next Week,

The OXX Family!