# If you keep pulling out a hair... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 12, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153 "2003-04-12T00:45:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SonOfArizona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SonOfArizona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SonOfArizona)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/1 "2003-04-12T00:45:46Z")
If you keep pulling out a hair every time it grows in, will it eventually stop growing in? Theres this single really dark hair on the underside of my forearm that i used to rip out on a weekly basis and I haven’t seen it for awhile. Whats the straight dope? ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/2 "2003-04-12T01:58:26Z")
I had a similar situation with a dark hair that grew out of a freckle on my bicep. I yanked it with tweezers every time it grew in, and now( about 2 years from the initial appearance) it doesn’t seem to be growing in anymore. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/3 "2003-04-12T01:59:46Z")
In several societies, the wealthy plucked all their pubes to avoid lice. They had to keep it up, so I’d guess the general answer is, no. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve been plucking my eyebrows, off and on, for years and years, and they always grow back when I get tired of having them thin. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/4 "2003-04-12T03:28:30Z")
You might want to investigate trichotillomania, an obsessive-compulsive disorder characterized by chronic hair-pulling, often at the same place. Sufferers gradually develop bald spots in those areas. ---
**Author:** ![j.c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/5 "2003-04-12T18:25:16Z")
kunilou - once they take their meds, the hair grows back. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/6 "2003-04-12T18:47:20Z")
It may reappear after a dormant period. [The Perfect Master spoke about this:](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_097b.html) > [@](#): > > \*\*After a few weeks growth stops, at which point, needless to say, the hair is as long as it is going to get. The follicle shrinks and the root of the hair rigidifies. Following a period of dormancy, another growth cycle starts, and eventually a new hair pushes the old one out of the follicle from beneath. > \*\* ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/7 "2003-04-12T20:41:21Z")
**Fear Itself** , what Cecil wrote about doesn’t answer the OP’s question. According to [this](http://argosy.mta.ca/argosy00-01/02.15.01/12.html), it will grow back thinner and thinner until it eventually stops growing back. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/8 "2003-04-12T20:46:33Z")
Then again, [this article](http://www.arbutuslaser.com/epilaser.htm), says the opposite; but since they’re trying to sell the idea of laser hair removal, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![SonOfArizona](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SonOfArizona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SonOfArizona)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2003, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-keep-pulling-out-a-hair/168153/9 "2003-04-15T22:32:14Z")
Wait I am confused. The one article said that plucking will cause the hair to grow back finer and finer until it doesn’t grow back at all while the other one says that it will cause the hair to grow back darker and thicker… Thats a complete contradiction…