I’ve heard that shaving hair off will make it grow back in faster. For example, my boyfriend believes that shaving his face will increase the rate that hair grows back in. Friends have also said that shaving their legs makes them hairier. This doesnt make sense to me - how could hair “know” that it’s ends have been shaved off? Is this true?
No, shaving will not make your hair grow faster.
Shaving will, however, cut off the end of a hair which may be worn down and thinner after being exposed to the outside world for so long. Then when the stub grows out, it looks more dense, because it is slightly larger in circumference than the hair that was shaved off. It’s an optical illusion of hair growing faster.
Qadgop, MD
No, it’s not true. This is a rather popular legend though. When you shave any part of the body, it looks like hair is growing back faster, because you will see stuble emerge from the smooth skin within a day or two.
Under normal circumstances, body hair grows to a certain length and then falls out. Since this is happening all the time, you only ever notice body hair growing after you cut it all off.
Cecil, Perfect Master of all Things, has written about this topic here.
As well as
. . . That doesn’t mean people aren’t still willing to debate it ad nauseum.
That’s all that happens. You can see how it would look confusing at first glance.
Not much debate here, with everyone agreeing. I do think I know why so many added on to a thread that had already been answered, though.
First, we were prepared to give quick and sure advice as soon as we saw the familiar question. Even looking up the Cecil column and having it’s address on the clipboard.
Then, at least in my case, the board was so slow only one answer had appeared right away ( they kind of dribble in on slow days as the page slowly loads), so we thought What the heck might as well hear it from two people, it will sound more authoritative.
And after posting you finally see all the others before you 
and fear you boosted an answered thread just to snag another unsuspecting “expert”. ::sigh::
Thank you for your helpful answers. I had searched Cecils database and had not found my question answered - he had written about if hair grows differently - not if it was effected by shaving specifically. The ‘beardguy’ URL was exactly what I was looking for!
-TCF
Gotta add “Highway 61 Revisited” by Bob Dylan
Gee, this question sure gets asked a lot!
thechickenfoot, in addition to searching Cecil’s past colums, you can search the board’s old threads, too. Just click on the Search icon on the top right corner of these pages. (Be sure to choose ‘Any Date’ from the Search by Date menu.)
And welcome to the SDMB. 