Does shaving cause hair to grow back thicker?

Rewind to 2005. I still remember my teenage years when hair removal was one of the prime concerns of most girls :D. I used to try all possible hair removal methods listed on the internet. And quite evidently, the biggest myth circulating around hair removal was that shaving caused hair to grow back thicker *start staying away from shaving immediately*. I mean why would we want to question that? Of course we notice stubbly hair after a shave.

For around 6 years, I lived with that misconception even though a dermatologist I had visited a few years back told me that shaving doesn’t make hair thicker *No. I don’t believe her*. Oh the teenage years.

Back to 2015. It’s been almost 4 years since I shifted to shaving as my primary hair removal method. I go for waxing only prior to special occasions, events or holidays (only because I can remain hair free longer).

So then why do we feel the prickly stubble once hair grows back? Why do we feel that shaving causes hair to grow back thicker?

Here’s the explanation.

A hair strand is like a carrot that tapers towards the tips. So when a razor shaves off the fine thin tip, the remaining hair (which is already thicker than the tip) sticks out. Plus the stubble feels coarser because it is shorter and hair feels softer as it gets longer. Shaving removes the dead portion of hair, not the living section (the follicle) which lies below the skin’s surface. So shaving cannot affect hair’s natural growth or physical structure. Once this hair dies in the natural hair cycle and new hair comes out of the follicle, the tip will be tapered again.

Just imagine, if shaving did cause hair to become thicker, bald men and women who complain about thin fine hair could be happy just by shaving their heads once!