tattler magazine

It was 4 hours past noon when Detective Whodunnit (Specialty: Myth Debunking) found a case file on her desk, with a note pinned to it: “Be careful, it’s a hairy jungle out there”.

The crime? Spreading A Rumour - “If you shave, your hair grows out thicker.”

The Detective laughed, and stroked her own eyebrows in mirth. If hair does indeed grow out thicker, then most women on the streets would resemble Chewbacca, the poster-child for over-active follicular growth by now.

The crime solving begins..

The hair strand consists of the root, the shaft and the tip. The root is the thickest part of the strand and the thickness lessens in circumference towards the tip. For some reason, if you are unable to verify that by pulling out a strand of your own hair, take a closer look at a cat’s whiskers (and resist the urge to pull it, please).

When you tweeze/ wax/ thread… you are removing the whole strand of the hair including its roots. The new hair that will grow in its place will take a relatively longer time to emerge than hair that is shaved. When it does emerge, its tip is what you will see, which is the thinnest part of a hair strand. Not all of it will regrow. I repeat, you will lose some along the way when this method is used regularly. Thus the danger of over plucking: you may end up with sparse brows if you too get trigger-happy with those tweezers.

When you shave… you are cutting the hair midway through its shaft, the thicker part of the strand compared to the tip. The hair will continue to regrow, as soon as within a day. When it does emerge, it is the middle section of the strand that you will see, which is thicker than the tip. No. It will not split into 2 individual hair strands like an amoeba. It will not regrow as permanently thicker in size or numbers.

Which is the better way?

It is sheer preference. Some women prefer the longer length of time between regrowth and prefer plucking compared to shaving. Some women who have sensitive eyes or are intolerant of pain will prefer shaving. Plucking the eyebrows causes certain redness, mild irritation and for some even a light swell that leaves the eyes looking puffy. Which is why it is not a good idea to pluck right before say, having a picture taken or before any important, look-your-best event.

“But mine don’t. I turn out all right every time..”

Well, that is because you simply don’t fall into the ’some women’ category. With regularity, you get used to the pain.

” My eyebrows are very long do I have to remove a lot of it for a manicured look? The lady told me not to cut it…”

Which lady? Moving on.. If you find that your eyebrows comes in long strands, you can trim it with brow scissors. They are curved, and some are sold with tiny brushes. Brush down the eyebrow and trim where needed to remove stray hairs.

“Are you sure they don’t grow thicker? “

Yes. This includes all hair on the body ( you know where they are ). You can have loss of hair but not thicker hair simply by removing it.

” But I started shaving my underarm when I was 13 and they did grow thicker over the years! “

For the love of god, its called puberty.

Detective Whodunnit files this case under ‘Myth - Debunked’, checks her reflection, and books an appointment for brow threading.