Facial hair - This doesn't make any sense.

[AJarrah]

I'm so confused. Doctors all over the internet say "shaving does not make your hair grow back thicker or darker". I'd like to call BS on that, or there's something wrong with me. I started shaving my face, and now am growing in a very full goatee and pretty long sideburns, and the rest of my cheeks are starting to get it in. That wasn't happening until I started shaving every day. I haven't been on T at all, not taking any kind of supplement for anything, hell I don't even really eat that well. Has anyone else just tried shaving for the fun of it and started growing facial hair? I'm not by any means complaining, I'm just mindboggled that everywhere on the internet a doctor will say "it does not work unless there's an underlying medical problem", but I really can't imagine I have some medical problem that I don't have a clue about causing me to gain facial hair and nothing else.

[lexical]

wow that's pretty cool, i've always sort of thought it does grow in thicker with shaving but who knows... i'd say keep doing what you're doing lol

[supremecatoverlord]

If this is the case, once I actually get around to shaving my lip hair, with how it looks now, it's going to grow back in a pornstache.
I haven't been shaving for a while and my hair still continues to fill in and grow darker in places where it already was.

So, I'm pretty sure this is a myth though...at least for the most part anyway.

[JenJen2011]

Shaving definitely does grow back the hair thicker and darker. Welcome to the jungle. Lol. Jk.

[Renard]

The explanation I've heard for the 'myth' that it grows in thicker is that, rather than growing in thicker, by shaving off the ends at a certain angle, it gives the appearance of being thicker. So by shaving, you remove the natural taper of the hair, making it more visible when it grows out again.

Dunno whether that's accurate or not - it's just what I've heard 

[Nygeel]

What Renard said.

You'll feel stubble because the ends are blunt instead of tapered.

[AJarrah]

That's the thing though, it isn't stubble. It's full on grizzlymanbeard. My brother doesn't even grow facial hair like I do.

[Nygeel]

That's the thing though, it isn't stubble. It's full on grizzlymanbeard. My brother doesn't even grow facial hair like I do.

Pix?

[supremecatoverlord]

That's the thing though, it isn't stubble. It's full on grizzlymanbeard. My brother doesn't even grow facial hair like I do.

I think it would help all of us understand more if you posted pictures.

[schism]

i'm pre-t, i've been shaving for a few months, and i've had no growth like you describe.  i had quite dark lip hair anyway, but i've not seen any evidence for anything other than illusory thickness as the others have described, where it appears to be more stubbly due to the way it's been cut. 

[ChesireBat]

I never saw a difference when I shaved or didn't shave.  It just took a few years for me to actually get a non-patchy beard.  I still only need to shave every 3 or 4 days or so.

[Leek]

I never really saw why there was even much of a debate about this--people on either side insisting that it was true or not true that shaving / cutting hair makes your hair grow thicker. Each side providing anecdotal "evidence" for their side of the argument, or scientific studies, etc.

For me it always went like this: Speaking in terms of common sense, how would hair "know" when it's cut or shaved in the first place, to know that its supposed to grow back thicker? All (proper) cutting and shaving involves nicking just the hair itself outside the skin. Hair is dead material. No nerves, no blood supply. By the time it has pushed out of your skin, it is very dead and has no way of sensing that it has been trimmed. For all it knows, it's still long enough for you to tuck into your socks.

If someone, someday can explain to me the process by which hair would be able to detect how short it is (besides the natural process by which a single strand of hair grows, then falls from the skin after a time to later be replaced), or that it has been cut, then maybe I could see it growing back thicker. But until then, I see no reason why it should.

It could quite possibly be a coincidence that you started shaving and more hair began to grow for some other reason at the same time. Maybe your body is changing for some reason. It could be arguable that the power of suggestion alone is enough.

[Tazia of the Omineca]

Well it could be the fact that you cut off the ends of the hair, the thin lighter ends.
That's what I think, so then the hair comes in rather than the sharp tapered end it is the blunt ends of the hair that gives the look of thicker darker hair.
I think that is how it works. That's just what I think though.

[Shantel]

My experience comes from being a genetic male and having to shave starting in my late teens. My facial hair was really soft and fine until I started shaving daily. Then wanting to get a close shave I would always shave against the direction it was growing, like going against the grain. Shaving like that stimulates the follicle at the root and over time it comes in coarser. That's why when you were a kid and your dad gave you a hug at bedtime it felt like you just got your face sanded. I'm MtF on hormones since 1996 and have had extensive electrolysis and still have to shave although it's very light. Come to think of it, there ought to be a Susan's swap meet here to facilitate some of the changes. 

[AJarrah]

I'll post pictures in the morning, I'm tired as balls.