Cut hair grows back darker/ thicker?

[Yarster]

Unfortunately, I am one of those people blessed/ cursed with hair on his back and shoulders. I occasionally shave it, but my wife is always telling me I'm just going to make it grow back thicker and darker (she uses her own occasional facial hair plucking episodes as proof this occurs) So what's the straight dope?

Is this an old wives tale? Does this theory only apply to facial/ back hair? And does it only apply to women? I assume if it happened all over your body, guys who were going bald could prematurely cut their hair and get a thicker, darker growth to hide it, and we all know THAT doesn't work.

[UncleBeer]

I dunno if this will answer yer question, but it might be worth a gander.

[RealityChuck]

Well, in my case, it grows back grayer.

But the hair grows back the same (it is the same hair, after all). It seems thicker because the stubble starts out with a blunter end.

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[WillGolfForFood]

My understanding is that this isn't true, even though as a youth I used to hear it all the time in terms of shaving my face. ("You don't want to start shaving too soon, because your beard will just grow back thicker" - so, of course, all of us boys wanted to start shaving before we reached 12.)

What makes the story seem plausible is that boys who start shaving early *do* seem to end up with thicker beards - but it's because boys who end up with thicker facial hair generally *need* to start shaving earlier.

Not the first time that a cause-effect relationship got reversed.

[food_yum]

Grows back thicker after cutting? oh, c'mon. If that were the case (after years of shaving) the constant thickening of my whiskers would render my face to be one large hair follicle (sp?), devoid of skin and other features. ....and it isn't.
Besides, this has already been addressed in the Dope, tho dont ask me which book. If ya want to make SOME difference, without going to electrolisis, go the way of the Epilady device: Pluck the darned hairs out. It'll take longer to show, as it has to grow back all the way from "the source", and not just from the shavable surface of the skin. Plus, with the fine tip of a regenerating hair, it will excape notice somewhat easier. The shaved hair seems thicker because the "tip" of the "new" growth is in fact the mid-shaft of the before-it-was-shaved hair, and thus IS thicker (than truely regenerated hair), dig?
If this doesnt jive with you, join the crowd; my wife, despite my ranting, belives that just the TOUCH of my electric shaver (even when it aint plugged in) will cause hair to grow on her neck, simply cuz it happened once, coincidentally, a long long time ago.

[Biggirl]

As I tell my daughter (who has hairy legs) Why should it matter whether it grows back thicker? Just shave it again. It will only be longer if you let it grow longer.