Clean-Shaving your head. Is this true?

[sunshinelady]

I heard something somewhere on the radio yesterday talking about hair and health myths. One of them was if you shave your head, then your hair will come back in "prettier" with a different hair texture. I've heard of mother's shaving their child's hair if it isn't growing well and that they have had success. Has anyone ever heard this or done this themselves? If so, did you see a positive change?

Do you think there could be any science to support this?

 

[Keen]

Why don't the mothers try it on their onw head if it works so well?

@ your siggy. That's exactly how I feel about my hair.

 

[shtow]

sure. as long as they take better care of the newly grown in hair than they did of their hair before.

 

[MissMeWithThatIsh]

Man, psssh, how many men you seen with a baldie grow coolie or different hair?

But nah, only if you take better care of your hair now, and also possibly take supplements that change your texture...

 

[HoneyDew]

I think the new hair will be healthy and free from all the wear and tear of the older hair. That could give an illusion of different texture.

I have never heard that though. I could see why people would think it.

 

[sunshinelady]

Why don't the mothers try it on their onw head if it works so well?

@ your siggy. That's exactly how I feel about my hair.

Good question. I've only heard of it being done to children.

 

[Eiano]

I've heard some Indian women do this.
I have invested too much time in my hair to test this theory...

 

[sunshinelady]

Man, psssh, how many men you seen with a baldie grow coolie or different hair?

But nah, only if you take better care of your hair now, and also possibly take supplements that change your texture...

That's a good question too . On the real, the men I know that have grown the hair out didn't have any problems growing their hair, but I thought it was more due to their low maintenance regimen.

 

[runwaydream]

ive heard of this. but it can also have the reverse affect.

ex: little girl had beautiful blond curls. one day teacher tells mother that she has lice and needs to buy medicine to cure her head of it. mother is poor and cant afford it so instead she shaves off all her hair. end result is the girls hair grows back a dull blondish/brown w. zero curls and zero body. her pride and joy is gone

 

[TCT]

ive heard of this. but it can also have the reverse affect.

ex: little girl had beautiful blond curls. one day teacher tells mother that she has lice and needs to buy medicine to cure her head of it. mother is poor and cant afford it so instead she shaves off all her hair. end result is the girls hair grows back a dull blondish/brown w. zero curls and zero body. her pride and joy is gone

that must mean that the hair was about to change over color when it was cut. because shaving hair can not change color . it is common that some coacasion children start off with blond hair, then as time goes on they develop the true color that they will have for the rest of the life. until it starts to gray or is bleached by the sun or otherwise colored.

as far as texture is concerned. i have heard of a case having to do with wring worm were the person had it so long without knowing that the hair was permanantly damaged and would never grow again in that spot. similarly cancer survivors who have undergone a round or more of chemotheropy have different texured hair after recovering. this leads me to believe that there may be some truth to texture change if.............. and only if there was some kind of sickness or disturbance to the system of an individual. however i do not believe that shaving alone changes texture. it ight revive it................ so that you do not see any damaged hair leaving new healthy and seeming new textured hair. but actually changing it no.

 

[TwistedRoots]

ive heard of this. but it can also have the reverse affect.

ex: little girl had beautiful blond curls. one day teacher tells mother that she has lice and needs to buy medicine to cure her head of it. mother is poor and cant afford it so instead she shaves off all her hair. end result is the girls hair grows back a dull blondish/brown w. zero curls and zero body. her pride and joy is gone

I've seen the reverse affect...my younger brother and cousin both had beautiful hair when they were younger...that got those first clean shaven hair cuts and the hair texture change extremely for both...erplexed

 

[gone_fishing]

that must mean that the hair was about to change over color when it was cut. because shaving hair can not change color . it is common that some coacasion children start off with blond hair, then as time goes on they develop the true color that they will have for the rest of the life. until it starts to gray or is bleached by the sun or otherwise colored.

as far as texture is concerned. i have heard of a case having to do with wring worm were the person had it so long without knowing that the hair was permanantly damaged and would never grow again in that spot. similarly cancer survivors who have undergone a round or more of chemotheropy have different texured hair after recovering. this leads me to believe that there may be some truth to texture change if.............. and only if there was some kind of sickness or disturbance to the system of an individual. however i do not believe that shaving alone changes texture. it ight revive it................ so that you do not see any damaged hair leaving new healthy and seeming new textured hair. but actually changing it no.

True. When I went to Wisconsin in September I saw pictures of my SO as a little boy at his mom's house and he was a platinum blonde. Yuck! I am not attracted to blondes in the least. It would appear that he didn't begin to change over until he was in his late teens. Now I feel bad because up till that point when we talked about our preferences I always said I am not attracted to blondes or red heads in the least. I remember him sneaking a glance at me and asking if I liked the blonde hair when I first saw the pictures. Now...his hair is a medium brown.

 

[honeybadgirl]

my grandmom did it to my uncle when we were young. it did come back differently, wavy. i was really young so i dont remember the details but i remember her saying someone said to cut the hair down really short/close and keep brushing it. i dont think she made him bald but almost. i dont know if she did something else but his hair went from peezy to wavy

 

[Mook's hair]

Yes, I saw an interview with Selma Hayek ( her hair is beautiful)

She said her grandmother did this to her several times when she was very young.

 

[Wildchild453]

How does this make any sense? How can shaving change genetics?

Indian woman don't do it to change the baby's hair texture, its more ritualistic than that. If I'm remembering correctly, its an effort to fully cleanse the baby of the birth process...or something like that

 

[TheNewFine]

It is very popular in the Indian (Eastern) culture. There are whole websites devoted to the subject.

[SIZE=-1]"In India, head shaving is practised by many Hindus and seems to have more ritual .... Hair-removal and massage for women was done by a female concubine. "

[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]"First, having my head shaved immediately took away the vanity that most women have about their hair, especially Westerners."

[/SIZE]I was wondering when someone would mention it on here. I thought hmmmm...that will put the brakes on the "Everything Indian" bandwagon on LHCF!


And I loves me some Indian products my dammy but I aints shaving my head!

 

[ladylibra]

hmmmm... well i've been shaving my armpits and legs since i was 9, and occasionally my bikini area since i was 17. no texture change there. when i BCd there as no texture change (albeit i didn't shave my head). SO cuts his hair down to a shadow (not quite bald, but pretty close) in the summer, and did the same thing to our son last summer. his texture came back the same slighly wavy, and our son's came back the same 4a/4b mix.

so i'm not buying that crap one bit. shaving alone will not change your hair texture. maybe some other factors are involved and shaving the old hair just made it easier to see the drasitic change. for example when i was 2 my baby hair was replaced with the texture i have now. apparently i had bald spots and everything as my old hair fell out and new hair started growing in. had my mom decided to shave my head right before this happened, she would've blamed shaving for the reason my texture changed and she would've been DEAD WRONG.

 

[Likeyouneverseenme]

I shaved my head. And it grew back thick and super soft. My mom told me after doing my hair that it grew back thicker after shaving; that's when I first started relaxing my hair because it was alot to handle...








Yes, yes ya'll! That's me around age 15

 

[Lucie]

Plenty of Middle Easterners in my area do this to the daughters. I guess they think it's true. Unfortunately, none of these little girls can pull off a baldie

When I did the BC I had scab hair. So I guess that is 1/4 longer than a baldie and the texture was very nice and manageable. I don't know if I believe this to be factual though.

 

[FemmeCreole]

when I bc'd I didn't go bald but my hair has been growning in a texture different to what it was before I had my first relaxer. My natural hair used to be kinkier and much more coarse. Now that I'm natural again, it's just as thick but it's soft and grows a bit straighter. I attributed that to 14+yrs of relaxing though....I never heard the bald theory before.

 

[nappity]

How does this make any sense? How can shaving change genetics?

Indian woman don't do it to change the baby's hair texture, its more ritualistic than that. If I'm remembering correctly, its an effort to fully cleanse the baby of the birth process...or something like that

You are right. shaving doesn't change the shape of the follicles that we are genetically born with. The only thin I know that can permanently alter the shape of your hair follicles is chemotherapy. I doubt anyone on this board wants to try that!

 

[fluffylocks]

I could understand more if someone said WAXING the hair off your head makes it grow in in a different texture.....But the same hair that you cutt off is growing under your scalp (or forming or something)

I just think that once someone cuts all their hair off, they are probally more likely to take better care of the hair thats growing,---Like i think when Indian people do it, they start oiling the new hair thats growing alot or something, if not that, then new healthy hair is growing in that hasnt been effected in any way....and thats probally a different texture. PLus anytime you do something like that, then your are probally really sure that its going to work, and you are more likely to believe it. If someone did it and didnt beleive it was going to work, they would probally come out and say that it didnt work all that good.

 

[glamazon386]

It's not true. That's just like the age old myth that if you shave your legs the hair will come back thicker. It has been proven that it really doesn't, it's just cut at an angle when you shave and it appears thicker. I've had the hair in the back of my head shaved when I had a short hair cut and the texture did not change when it grew back.

 

[JustKiya]

1) Shaving the head of children (or teens, for that matter) isn't an accurate 'baseline', because babies - and teens, as their hormones start jumping - hair changes, naturally, ANYWAY. So, shaving off those heads just lets the 'new' hair that was already growing show itself faster. If you shaved half of a babies head, and didn't shave the other half, the hair coming out the root would be the same.....

2) Cutting off your hair isn't going to change a thing with your follicles - and that's what determines your hairs texture. I also don't think you can 'grow' new follicles (can you?) and even if you could, shaving your head wouldn't be the reason that they developed.....

3) Indian women who cut off their hair usually do it for a spiritual/ritualistic purpose, not to make their hair grow back 'prettier'....

 

[glamazon386]

I've seen the reverse affect...my younger brother and cousin both had beautiful hair when they were younger...that got those first clean shaven hair cuts and the hair texture change extremely for both...erplexed

My mother swears that's what happened to my brothers hair. Most black people's hair changes once they get to a certain age anyway. Usually by 3 or so. I doubt it was the clippers that did it.

 

[Spongie Bloom]

my friends hair changed though when she cut itwhen we were 13, she had curly hair (shes mixed race black and white) think mel b back in the day then when it grew back it had no curl pattern watsover it was straight but heavy

 

[Crissi]

My mother swears that's what happened to my brothers hair. Most black people's hair changes once they get to a certain age anyway. Usually by 3 or so. I doubt it was the clippers that did it.

ITA

And i kept my hair shaved low for 14 months. It hasn't grown in any differently, yes its healthier and yes i look after it better,my texture has not changed though.

ETA: I have been natural my whole life.

 

[cuteazz1]

I shaved off ALL of my hair last year.Bad perm+hair dye+invisible braids =damaged hair so I got mad and just shaved it all off....WTF was I thinking... anyways my hair has grown in nice and curly.I don't really remember my natural texture as a child and as an adult I got a perm every 6 weeks so I have no idea if my hair was already like this..........But I thought that it would be more kinky than it is......Either way I love it.....

 

[aja1121]

I've heard some Indian women do this.
I have invested too much time in my hair to test this theory...

Yeah it is an Indian tradition for newborns (to rid of everything from the pregnancy)....and I don't know about prettier texture, but the hair does grow in healthier and thicker. My bestfriend's parents did it with all her siblings except the youngest and there is an obvious difference.

 

[Ivonnovi]

I don't buy this at all. AND I can't resist but to add that this has never worked on my pits, or in other areas hair has been removed.