Myth: Cutting your infant’s hair will make it grow back faster, or more thickly.
photo by ashley hylton
Not so.
I get this question from time to time in practice, but it also came up with my children. My wife’s family is from the north of India, where at the first birthday, it is thought to be prudent and beneficial to shave the head of a boy or girl infant. The belief here, as in many communities, is that the cutting or shaving off of a child’s hair stimulates the growth of a thicker, more resplendent head of hair.
I have not exhaustively researched the basis of this belief, but I surmise that this tonsorial myth arose in part from an error of association versus causation. In the first few weeks or months of life, some infants may have normal, temporary patches of baldness. Other babies never demonstrate any substantial hair loss, and have thick manes from the getgo. At or soon after a year, many infants and toddlers start to see increased mobilization of hair follicles over their scalp. Contrary to some beliefs, the birthday haircut has no stimulatory effect. Rather, the trimming coincides with an age-related uptick in the amount of hair that grows.
In the words of a dermatologist, Dr. Stephen White of Bethesda, Maryland: “Cutting hair has no effect on growth.” Hair arises from a cycle of growth deep in the layers of the dermis. Therefore, Dr. White concludes, “Hair above the surface and from the near beginning (of the follicle) is dead. ” Hair cells, or the follicles that produce them, have no idea if they’ve been clipped or not; there is no feedback loop to rev up growth after a trim. Dead cells or not, parents are still advised to save a sample lock from a first cut for future reminiscing. Long term, genetics, numbers of follicles one is blessed with, and hair care are bigger determinants of hair fullness, lushness, and perhaps, fabulousness.
In our case, we took our chances with each child at their first birthday and opted for a trim. So far, they (and their respective scalps) are doing just fine.
Let us sum up, then, Baby Myths 1-3:
- cartoon by me.
Jack Maypole
Jack Maypole, MD has plenty of material to work from. He is director of Pediatrics at the South End Community Health Center and he is director of the Comprehensive Care Program at Boston ...
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baby, birthday, first year, follicle, hair, hair care, hair cut, hair growth, haircut, infant, locks, stimulate scalp, telogen effluvium, toddler, trim
