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Shaving Your Legs Makes Your Hair Darker, Right?

Wrong. As it turns out, nothing you do to your leg hair on the outside changes how it grows from the inside.

By Susan Davis
WebMD The Magazine

Reviewed by Michael W. Smith, MD

In every issue of WebMD the Magazine, we ask experts to answer readers' questions about a wide range of topics, including some of the oldest -- and most beloved -- medical myths out there. In our September 2010 issue, we asked Ron Davis, MD, professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, to give us the final word on how shaving your legs affects your hair.

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Q: Everyone says that shaving your legs makes the hair grow in thicker and darker. Is it true?

A: You're right. Everyone does say that. But believe it or not, this popular "truth" is FALSE.

Here's why: Your hair grows in follicles beneath the skin. Nothing you do to your leg hair on top of the skin (such as shaving) can change its diameter or the number of follicles present. Shaving does do something that affects the perceived texture of your leg hair, however. "When you shave, you chop off the naturally tapered end of the leg hair, which creates a blunt end," explains Ron Davis, MD, professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. And this can feel prickly when you run your hand over it.

Conversely, when you wax your hair or use a depilatory, your hair feels softer when it grows in simply because it doesn't have that blunt end any-more. Hair that grows in after you shave -- especially in summertime -- may indeed be darker, but that's because it hasn't yet been exposed to the lightening effects of the sun, Davis says.

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