Once upon a time, random cranks believed the earth revolved around the sun. Once upon a time, random cranks believed the earth was round.
A scientist does not discard physical evidence because it disproves his thesis. A scientist strives to explain facts that (apparently) contradict previously observed principles. A scientist does not put his fingers in his ears and run around his computer yelling “nah nah nah” while hoping the physical phenomena will go away.*
So it is “backwards logic” to observe phenomena? I get it; true science is done without reference to the physical world.
I have made no attempt to draw conclusions from what I have observed. I am not concerned with why it happens. I am merely conveying my observations.
Does “black beard-hair” sound familiar? It was said twice in my first post and once in my second post.
Once again, you have demonstrated your poor reading comprehension. Would you like to re-read my original post? Do you understand? Do you need to read it again? Go ahead, we’ll wait. Still don’t get it? Obviously, if I “had to even out the two sides of my face” we are not talking about “changes in hair color over time” (unless you mean overnight).
I have described a physical phenomenon. If you want proof of the phenomena that I described, I can offer it to you. However, it appears that the veracity of the description is not at issue. If you agree that a before and after picture of me having a very distinct beard line at approximately the same age would prove that your “scientific fact” is incapable of explaining observed physical phenomena, I will post them in a heartbeat.
*(I would like to give Jahn all due respect for this comment)
A friend of my shaved her little girl’s head at 2 years old for the reason it would grow back thicker. It does LOOK thicker, but I think that’s just because she was older by the time it grew back. I argued with her not to do it for the above reasons, but she did it anyway. Poor kid. At least she was only two and didn’t mind wearing that hat 24/7.
OK, here are some observations. The first thing to note is that you have made the assumption that the demarcation line is because you stopped shaving there. This may be true, it may not. It would be necessary to do some more tests to determine if that is true. After all, I have a clear demarcation line between peach fuzz and my full beard, but I have shaved my entire face, had a full beard, and had a Van Dyke, so there is evidence showing that shaving isn’t necessary for that to exist.
But you offer something more. When you shaved a bit more accidently on one side, your demarcation line changed. And you had to do the same on other side to even them out. This is testable. Would you be willing to sacrifice another .25 inch of peach fuzz to test this hypothesis? I ask because I know that when I kept my Van Dyke it was impossible to keep the lines exact, it shifted many times. Is it possible that you have done the same and didn’t notice? Or that your demarcation line changed over time gradually and you didn’t notice?
The problem is that given the choice between alternative explainations (not that you are lying, I certainly don’t believe that is the case) and believing in a cause and affect relationship (shaving and hair change) that has no scientific explaination, it is very tempting to discount the observation. Reproducing that observation in a controlled environment would go a long way towards supporting your cause. But every effort to do that has shown the opposite.
So we are left with the problem, do we accept one (or multiple) accounts of anecdotal observations which have plausable alternative explainations, or rely on the reproducable documented observations. Until I see some more data, I have to believe that you are mistaken.
This isn’t a matter of thinking that you are lying. I most certainly do not think that. It’s just that memories and undocumented observations are often wrong.
Manhattan, Don’t you dare chastise me for responding to an insult in kind. You owe me an apology for singling me out. Unless, of course, you believe that being called a “random crank” is not an insult. If this is your belief, then I hereby bestow that title upon you.
Telemark
Of course what you propose is reasonable. Unfortunately, living with what I believe will be the consequences for the rest of my life is not worth convincing a couple of people on this message board. (Of course, if enough people were willing to make it worth $ my while, I might consider it <grin>) That is why I proposed doing the next best thing–producing photographs of me pre- and post- mistake. Unfortunately, when I got home, I found that my photographic life did not begin until my marriage. I will, however, ask my parents if they have any pre-marriage, post college photos of me which show my beard line. (My beard line, btw, is very visible in pictures. I get a 5:00 shadow by noon.) My efforts, however, may be in vain because even if I produce evidence showing my beard line dramatically changing over a relatively short period of time, nobody has yet said that such evidence would be convincing (even though no other plausible alternative has been proposed).
okay okay, so i don’t know if i’ve ever told this anecdote before. in eighth grade, i shaved half of my face, but not the other half. upon letting everything grow out and equalize, the hair growth was exactly the same. how’s that for a scientific test?
my take on this stupid old wives tale has to do with pubery. each time hair is shaved, it does indeed grow in heavier. at least while you are still pubescent. but if you didn’t shave at all, the hair would soon start to grow in thicker and darker.
uh, i was supposed to go to sleep hours ago. i hate you straight dope message board! and you too, insomnia.
I only have to shave every 2 or 3 days. I had a goatee for about a year. When I finally shaved it, I let my whole “beard” grow for 4 days and the goatee area was definately thinner. The hairs weren’t nearly as long as around my neck and cheeks. I’m talking half a millimeter here, but my wife noticed it.
I’m just offering evidence and my experience. I’m not a scientist and always figured that this was an old father’s tale to discourage boys from shaving too early.
I’m going to assume you’re kidding, because no one in the whole wide world could possibly be stupid enough to equate “random crank” with “go felch a dead goat.” If, by some weird chance, I am incorrect in that assumption, perhaps you should consider the possibility that you have too much ignorance to be eradicated by this website.