Old wives tale or not? Cutting/shaving kids hair to make it grow back thicker/longer?

[Yael]

Hey guys,

Just wanting an opinion on this - does cutting or shaving your kids hair make it grow back thicker and longer and nicer? DS and DD were both baldies when born - DS until he was around 12 months and then he grew the most delicious hair (we don't cut boys hair until they are 3) - beautiful long golden curls - not super thin but not thick at all.

DD had a lot of growth problems and never grew hair until she was around 16 months when she was put on special feeding supplements. She is growing really well now, but has super fine, short hair. I can get the top part to sit and a fountain at the top, and one out the back (it's too short to get it all into 2 pony)... I have thin hair, so i think she is destined for it, but it just grows very slowly!

Our nanny is Indian, and says over there they shave the kids hair at least once, if not 2 or 3 times, and they all have thick long hair, and she says it grows back super fast.

is this true? Based on how long we took to get this amount, i don't want to shave her hair and have her look like a lab rat that went through a freak medical experiment for the next 2 years of her life, especially when starting kinder etc.

Does trimming it do anything? Does shaving it do anything more than trimming? Anyone actually done it?

Thanks!

[Lisa]

My mum shaved my DS1's hair when she babysat him one night (I was not impressed!) and it grew but so thick... he still has really really thick hair to this day.

[{sarah}]

Oh how very strange, my aunt told me today that I should shave Juliette's head. I'm too scared too because it's taken her almost two years to get what little hair she has, but wonder whether it will actually work.

[Phteven]

I think it's an old wives tail. Hair grows from the root so what happens to the ends won't affect it.

[~Kim~]

While my theoretical brain agrees with Onyx, my DD had superfine hair. Instead of letting it grow long i have always kept her hair in quite a short (ear level) bob and it has really thickened up over the last couple of years....but that could just have been what was always going to happen.

[Glamourcide]

It's an old wives' tale for sure. As Onyx said, hair grows at the root so whatever happens at the tips won't have any effect. Cutting the hair (even a little trim at the ends) does give the *appearance* of thicker hair by blunting the tapered ends, but it certainly does not make hair grow any thicker or faster. HTH!