# Do Men's Eyebrows tend to start growing longer as they get older? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 17, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986 "2010-11-17T15:32:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PeaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/cc9497/32.png) [@PeaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeaBee)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/41 "2016-02-07T00:31:39Z")
> [@sunstone](#): > > To add to post 3’s scientific bent, long term testosterone has some interesting effects on hair, but those effects vary with the part of the body involved. > > For example, parts of men’s scalp have hair that will both become less robust and have a shortened cycle of growth and shedding. If you examine the scalp on the top of a “bald” man’s head, you will find very fine hairs…in some cases nearly microscopic. This sort of skin has hair follicles that are influenced by male hormones to change from robust hair with a long growth/shed cycle. Note that for all practical purposes, all men have skin/hair follicles in the lower parts of the scalp that do not respond in this fashion, and the hair appears to be normal. > > And then we have the other parts…ah yes! The hair follicles in the nose, eyebrows, back, chest all will respond to differing degrees to testosterone (it may take some time for the cells that produce the hair itself to actually respond)…resulting in hairs apparently appearing in profusion where we thought there were none. Therein lies the mistake. Those hairs in the ears, nose, back, eyebrows and so forth were always there, but were not responding to testosterone and remained their wimpy preadolescent selves until being awash in male hormones. > > BTW, since women have the same hairs present on their bodies, after menopause we might think that women would grow hairs, as there are male hormones produced by the adrenal glands in females…which are no longer overwhelmed by female hormones. Therefore Granny may grow a stray hair here and there. > > Hopefully this helps. The eyebrow, nose hair and back hair thing began in my late 40’s. Now in my mid 50’s it’s terrible. I have to trim my eyebrows and nose hair two or three times a WEEK! I have light brown/reddish hair and my body hair is fine. My back hair is course and BLACK!!!:eek: I have to get my wife to shear by back hair like a sheep. My testosterone is lowish and I wonder if these changes are due to the drop in testosterone levels or is it just the result of having had higher testosterone levels for decades? I never had much of a beard when I was younger but beard growth seemed to kick in at around age 50 when testosterone levels dropped (my back hair also started growing at around age 50). Seems odd to me that all this hair starts to grow when testosterone levels drop. I shave each morning and have a beard by the time I get home from work. ---
**Author:** ![urban1a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47c2d/32.png) [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/42 "2016-02-07T02:25:36Z")
Mine would look like the picture in the OP but I get them trimmed whenever I get a haircut. Apparently the older the man the shaggier the brow. Bob ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/43 "2016-02-08T21:04:25Z")
> **[Why does head hair grow indefinitely but other body hair doesn’t?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341821/why-does-head-hair-grow-indefinitely-but-other-body-hair-doesn-t)** As Cecil says, **generally,** all human hairs have a growth cycle. After the growth period, the hair turns dormant and waits for a new hair to push it out of its follicle. This even applies to the very short hairs on seemingly hairless areas, such as the nose and forehead. Hairs don’t “know” how long they are or whether they’ve been cut. They just grow an assigned period of time, go dormant, and fall out. Obviously, there are exceptions. Most of us get a rogue long hair now and then. Male and female pattern baldness knock the “rules” for a loop. Age makes a difference. Puberty brings the familiar changes to hair. Aging alters the growth time of hairs in the ears, nose, and eyebrows, but the effect is less uniform than the earlier changes. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/44 "2016-02-08T23:15:38Z")
This is one hairy zombie! My eyebrows started going out of control in my late forties, early fifties, as well. Along with my goatee, they give me the perfect “Evil Spock” look! Well, except for the gray. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2016, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/45 "2016-02-08T23:23:03Z")
I’m 55. At some point in my late 40s, I noticed my eyebrows (which have always been bushy – plus, I have been a “unibrow” since junior high) getting wilder and bushier. Also, if I didn’t trim every couple of days, I fear that my mustache would completely merge with my nose hairs. And, sadly, I don’t have a whole lot of hair left on the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Whatever4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@Whatever4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whatever4)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/46 "2016-02-09T06:17:44Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > Yep, better have a look see around your ears as well. > > I think it’s especially prolific if you’re in academia. Some of their eyebrows look like they’re ready to filter krill. Were you in my ex-husband’s class?:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2016, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986/47 "2016-02-09T13:06:44Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > ROFL. > > Remember the old guys in the politburo pictures that came out of Moscow every few years? Talk about some serious eyebrows… Ah, that would be the superciliously gifted [Leonid Brezhnev](http://dailyoftheday.com/must-look-away-cant-stop-watching/). (Warning: extremely mesmerizing animated GIF.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mens-eyebrows-tend-to-start-growing-longer-as-they-get-older/560986.md?page=2)