“Plucking or tweezing is not the preferred method of hair removal as recommended by dermatologists,” Dr. Lertzman said. “There are other techniques – both at-home and in a dermatologist's office – that are safe and effective when it comes to removing unwanted hair from the face.”
Plucking a high density of hairs within a small region prompts regrowth of all hairs in that area, whereas plucking more widely spaced hairs does not lead to regeneration, according to a study conducted in mice and funded in part by the NIAMS.
Although plucking away unwanted face and body hair is convenient, it's typically pretty harmful. Plucking or tweezing is time consuming and only invasive if removed in the wrong direction which can deform and tear the hair follicle. Tweezing hair grows back the same as sugaring if pulled from the root.
Shaving can cause skin cuts and may lead to ingrown hairs. Plucking can hurt, especially if a lot of hairs are removed. Using hot wax can burn your skin. Chemicals that dissolve hair often smell bad and can cause allergic skin reactions.
For women, the hair may grow in areas where men often have a lot of hair, but women often don't. This includes the upper lip, chin, chest, and back. It's caused by an excess of male hormones called androgens. All women naturally produce small amounts of androgens.
During puberty, increased production of the hormone androgen causes these follicles to become bigger and begins making terminal hair, which is longer, coarser, and darker. Everyone's body produces androgen, but males have higher levels, which is why men usually have more terminal hairs than women.
The growth of chin hair in females is fairly common, but in some cases, it can be a sign of hormonal imbalances. Hirsutism is the medical term for female hair growth in places where men usually have hair. The growth of chin hair is an example of hirsutism.
No — shaving hair doesn't change its thickness, color or rate of growth. Shaving facial or body hair gives the hair a blunt tip. The tip might feel coarse or "stubbly" for a time as it grows out. During this phase, the hair might be more noticeable and perhaps appear darker or thicker.
“Chin hair results from a combination of genetics and hormones,” says Hadley King, M.D., board-certified dermatologist at New York's SKINNEY Medspa. It's our male hormones (called androgens), as well as our overall hormonal balance, that stimulate growth of chin hair, she explains.
"When you tweeze your hair, it does tend to damage the hair follicle permanently, and it can cause the hair to grow back thinner, the same effect with waxing," Dr. Jennifer Haley, a board-certified dermatologist, tells Romper.
Keep in mind that tweezing isn't meant to be a permanent fix. Tweezed hairs come back, needing to be tweezed again. The growth pattern for individual hairs isn't synced, so any area of the face or body that you routinely tweeze may require daily tweezing to be hair-free.
Tweezing. Also known simply as "plucking," tweezing removes hair from the follicle and usually lasts anywhere from two to six weeks depending on the thickness and rate of your hair growth.
Ingrown hairs develop when hair starts to grow back into the skin, rather than up and out. After shaving, waxing, or plucking, the hair may curl and turn inward. As the new skin cells grow over the hair, it becomes trapped and causes a bump to form.
However, repeated ripping of the hair from its follicle via waxing or plucking (which is essentially the same thing, when you think about it) will make hair grow back thicker, darker and coarser… and frequently, more plentiful and faster to re-grow.
“When you have folliculitis, inflammation where the hair's trying to come back through the skin leaves dark spots.” The cycle of ripping a hair out, growing it back and ripping it out again can darken the skin around it, but once the hair is gone forever, that skin has a chance to lighten.
When done correctly, plucking can stop hair growth for up to six weeks, longer than many alternative hair removal methods. The reason plucking stops hair growth for so long is because it removes the hair directly from the hair follicle, the part of the hair strand that is anchored to your skin.
The hair life cycle of your beard hair is shorter than your head hair. As a result, more melanocytes may be used at a faster rate. Another reason your beard hair appears gray faster than your head is visual. Your beard is front and center on your face, so you'll likely notice every gray hair growing.
First off, all women have some amount of chin hair in the form of thin, faint strands that you probably ID as "peach fuzz." But you may also notice random dark, coarse chin hairs from time to time, and these are also totally normal.
Hirsutism (HUR-soot-iz-um) is a condition in women that results in excessive growth of dark or coarse hair in a male-like pattern — face, chest and back. With hirsutism, extra hair growth often arises from excess male hormones (androgens), primarily testosterone.
Chin hair on women can also stem from hormonal imbalances. "These sorts of imbalance issues are often caused by some other adrenal disorder, which would be a complication or miscommunication of the glands that control your sex hormone feedback loop," says Welsh.
The white bulb at the end of your hair is essentially a bundle of protein, known as keratin. The role of the white bulb is to help the hair follicle root to the scalp, which then allows the hair to grow until it is shed.
Plucking can actually damage the hair follicle causing it to send a message that there's no real need for it to produce hair in this area. The result? Potential bald spots. It can also ruin the texture of your hair and is not a permanent fix.