No — shaving hair doesn't change its thickness, color or rate of growth. Show Shaving facial or body hair gives the hair a blunt tip. The tip might feel coarse or "stubbly" for a time as it grows out. During this phase, the hair might be more noticeable and perhaps appear darker or thicker. If you notice a sudden increase in facial or body hair, talk to your doctor. This could be a medication side effect or a sign of an underlying medical condition. Your doctor might also provide advice about various hair-removal techniques. Sign up for free, and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips and current health topics, like COVID-19, plus expertise on
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It's November — make that "Movember" — a full month when many men abstain from shaving their moustaches and beards to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. And many women have decided to join in by not shaving their legs, armpits, or other body parts for the month as well. That's quite a sacrifice, since an estimated 80 to 90 percent of American women remove their body hair regularly, according to a 2008 report. But will this break from shaving make a difference in your hair’s texture? After all, it’s common advice passed down from moms and grandmothers that shaving makes your hair grow back darker and thicker, making it more difficult to remove the next time you take a razor to your leg. But does shaving really have any effect on hair growth or color? "Shaving your body hair doesn't make it grow darker or thicker," says Everyday Health expert dermatologist Jessica Wu, MD, assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the University of Southern California Medical School in Los Angeles. "Your hair is dead, and shaving it doesn't affect the living part of the hair, which is the follicle that sits deep under the skin.” That's backed up by published research dating back as far as the 1920s, which measured how quickly individual hair shafts grew after shaving and found that razoring away hair had no effect on hair growth. Another classic paper published in 1970 studied five men who each shaved one leg weekly for several months and left the other leg alone. There was no difference in rate of hair growth or texture between the unshaved and shaved legs. "It's a common belief because when hairs grow out naturally, they taper at a sharp point, so they look thinner,” says Dr. Wu. “However, shaving hair cuts it at a blunt angle so hairs look thicker — you see the cross section of the hair." When your shaved hair grows back, the bluntness of the re-growth may feel coarser and thicker. It can also appear darker against the skin, but this is simply because it's more noticeable. But what actually determines the thickness of body hair is the size of the follicle from which the hair grows, says Wu, while your melanocytes (the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that colors hair and skin) determine how dark your body hair will be. While shaving won't cause your body hair to grow back thicker or darker, it does produce bristly stubble — something many women would rather do without. To get a smoother, closer shave, try these tips:
Besides shaving, other popular body hair removal methods include waxing, threading, and depilatories. For the smoothest results, Dr. Wu recommends "waxing and threading, since they remove the hair [at the] root." If you never want to worry about body hair again, there's also electrolysis and laser hair removal, which target the follicles to permanently remove hair. How long does it take for shaved leg hair to grow back?But you can expect up to 6 weeks before the new hairs grow in. Regardless of which full-removal method you attempt, do it a few days before you need to showcase the goods in public, barring any possible redness, sensitivity to sun, or irritation.
Will leg hair grow back after shaving?Hair might appear to be thicker after you shave on any part of your body. When the hair begins to reemerge from your skin after shaving, the blunt end where the razor cut it can make it look thicker and darker, but it's still exactly the same strand of hair that was there before, completely unchanged.
How fast does hair grow back after shaving?Shaving facial hair with a razor is a common practice to get rid of unwanted hair. It removes the hair just above the roots and preserves its ability to grow back. It usually takes two weeks to get your hair back after shaving. After then they grow at the pace of half an inch per month.
How long does it take for leg hair to grow 1/4 inch after shaving?You might find that it grows faster in some places instead of others. On average, you can expect hair to take about 4 weeks to regrow back to 1/4-inch long.
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How long does it take hair to grow back after shaving legs
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