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No. After shaving the hair, it grows back with the same thickness as before, since, with the shaver, the bulb of the hair, which determines its diameter, is not pulled out. We get this impression because the beard hair is cut close to the skin, precisely where it is thickest – from the bulb to the tip, the hair only thins out. “It’s the same thing that happens with grass: when we cut it, it becomes more spiky, but that doesn’t mean it’s thicker”, says dermatologist Jane Tomimori Yamashita, a professor at Unifesp. This goes for all body hair (including hair), in both sexes. In the case of girls who use depilation methods that pull hair out at the root, what can happen is that the hair grows back thinner than the original. “When the device pulls out the hair, it takes part of the bulb and with that the diameter decreases”, says Jane. Even in this case, the cells responsible for the hair’s multiplication are still alive and, if it is not plucked out again, its thickness will soon stabilize. Another common false impression is that hair grows faster when it is cut. In fact, the speed of growth is independent of the number of times it has been cut, unless, instead of being cut, it loses the bulb. In this case, it takes longer to grow, because it needs to rebuild its root, which is 1 to 2 millimeters below the skin.