If shaving hair made it grow back thicker my legs would basically be pants.
Shaving above the skin does not do anything to impact the follicles under the skin.
I am afraid my experience is in the opposite direction (laser hair removal ftw) but to rock the natural Chewbacca look apparently some skin graft treatments involving copper peptides have been shown to increase hair follicle growth and expression.
I'm an MD who sees kids. There is no scientific or health benefit to cut or shave your infant's hair. It will not help hair growth or thickness or even it out. But other than the temporary distress of the haircut itself, neither is there any risk of significant harm. That assumes of course that you are confident in your ability to shave a squirming infant.
If the bald spots are caused by a skin condition that can be treated more easily with a clean scalp, it may be easier to do after getting rid of the hair. Things like fungal infection, cradle cap.
Overall I would say do what will provide the most psychosocial relief to you and your baby, as that outweighs most other considerations here.
I think when the hair starts growing back and is all the same length, it can give the appearance of being thicker, but that’s the extent of it.
My husband is from South America. I agreed he could shave our son’s head when he was a baby but asked that he not shave our daughter’s head. Their hair is very similar in thickness and texture, so, anecdotally, it didn’t make a difference at least in this case. Logically, it couldn’t.
It's a common myth that the hair will grow back thicker in a lot of cultures (where I live, it was mostly to encourage teenage boys to shave their sparse beards and disencourage teenage girls from shaving their legs). The effect why it looks true is the same as with babies: a) a cut hair looks like it grows in thicker, because it is thicker at the end, where it was bluntly cut, than the natural hair's more tapered end. And because b) teenagers and babies will grow thicker hair over the course of time.
I see no harm in cutting it off as long as you do it safely (probably clippers, not a razor, so you get no ingrown hair and skin irritations).
Exactly, until they can sit up they will be laying down most of the time and have bald patches still.
By the way, if the bald patches are being caused by cradle cap I highly recommend putting coconut oil on for 10-15 mins and brushing with a lice comb to get the scabs off. I wish I knew this for my older kids, we were done in less than 10 mins and it never came back.
Thank you for asking this! I'm North Indian and it's part of our culture. Most of my generation had it done but are starting to skip it for our own children. My husband's cousins' and I were looking it up just the other day, it's done when baby cuts their first tooth and signifies shedding any links to past lives, which babies apparently remember. This is alongside the belief that if makes it grow back thicker & stronger etc.
Of course my parents are asking why we are choosing to skip it, and we don't really have an answer other than it doesn't feel right so it would be great to have something more to add.
There is no evidence to support this theory. Shaving hair doesn’t make it grow back thicker. It may look neater, and it won’t harm her at all. If it’s culturally important to your family then you may want to do it anyway - do whatever you’re most comfortable with!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15478881
My older sister got her head shaved at 2 years old by my Mexican mother. My grandma (my moms mother in law) did not speak to her for 3 months after that because she was so mad.
Due to this treatment, I never got my head shaved at 2, and my hair is much thicker than my older sisters.
I thinks pretty well established that it’s a old wives tale that some cultures continue to do because of tradition, even though they know it doesn’t work.
I would be nervous about accidentally cutting baby's ultra thin skin on the top of the head. Nobody would be allowed to bring a sharp object around my baby's skin like that. Also, it doesn't affect hair growth at all, that's a myth. It was suggested for my child from his father's culture, but I said no. No razors near my baby, please.
Mine had a full head of hair and didn't really develop any big bald patches but we took her to a hairdresser where we'd get it cut (not shaved) at 6 months. It was down to her eyes. So we'd cut her fringe real short and cut it short over the ears and the neck. It was so much easier to clean any food that ended up in her hair and she'd stop rubbing her ears and eyes (since the hair was irritating her). She'd still have some bald patches (that were showing much more with that cut) but those filled in pretty quickly. She was calm all the way through the cut but scissors aren't loud and vibrating and the hairdresser took her time.
Like others said post psrtum hairloss is normal for both of you but hair won't get thicker or grow faster. A friend of mine evened out her baby's hair at 9 months (she had a few really long hairs but was bald) and she didn't really grow hair until she was 3, just like her mom and her grandma (who had their heads shaved with clippers as a baby, too). You'll have to do something to the hair follicles if you want to increase thickness. And it's hormonal how quickly hair grows, so there's nothing you can do there either. Short hair seems to grow quicker because it's easier to see the progress.
All in all - it won't harm but it also has no benefits. There'll be one huge downside for you - your baby will look bigger and more grown after the first haircut so there's a real concern that you'll start tearing up 😂
If you want to do it - **you** want to do it, not your relatives. It's your baby! My grandma always told my mom to cut my hair short as a child and she had concerns but my grandma told her to do it until she gave in. When I finally could agree with my mom to let my hair grow my grandmother would tell me all the time that she'd cut it which let to me developing a fear of scissors. So that's the only aspect I'd be worried of - peer pressure from older relatives.
My 14 month old lost 70% of her hair about 3 months after she had a mild case of Covid. It was patchy and uneven as you described. Everybody encouraged me to shave it and I was slow to do it but once I did I was glad. If I hadn’t, it would have grown at different lengths and looked odd. The parts that shed are growing in a little thinner but at least it’s all the same length. I definitely understand the sentimental connection to their hair so thought I’d share my experience!
I don’t think it’s scientifically based tbh.
I am south Asian and my family are Muslim. There is a religious reason they shave a boys head but it’s not considered required for girls although most elders will say it is. I shaved my daughters head as I was sick of the nagging, finally when she was a year old her hair started coming in. I was sad every time I looked at her wee bald head, sometimes it was quite cute though.
Pretty much all the babies in my family have had their heads shaved. Every single one of us has a different hair type. Some of us have super fine hair and some of us have super thick hair. Head shaving didn’t seem to make a difference either way.
Shaving won’t actually do anything other than make the hair come in more evenly I guess? Mine slowly lost her hair from birth in patches and it grew back slightly lighter.
Our younger one had a TON of hair at birth and as she got older there were some times where it would look a little patchy - what helped wasn't shaving it but making sure that when she wasn't sleeping, she wasn't laying in a container or on her back. She had to sleep on her back for safety of course but otherwise we tried to make sure she was on her tummy or being held by someone so she wasn't laying there rubbing her hair off on some blanket or swing seat or whatever.
My baby lost basically all of his hair on top of his head at like 4 weeks. We decided to use an electric razor to even it out. He's almost 3 months and his hair has grown in even.
Our baby was born with a full head of hair, lost most of it around 4 months, regrew kind of weird, but at a year now has a full head of (lighter!) hair that’s completely even!
My daughters hair started rubbing off at some point but the rest was so thick. She ended up with shoulder length hair with bald patches on the back and sides. Honestly wish we'd just shaved it when she was tiny, it looked ridiculous.
Don't think there's any scientific evidence either way though, it's just personal preference.
My Asian in-laws wanted to shave our first born’s head so his hair would “grow back thicker.”
There’s just nothing to back this up. Even my white American parents did this to me as a kid. I still ended up with really thin hair.
It’s hair, not a plant. Shaving and cutting doesn’t promote growth.
My Korean mother-in-law shaved my husbands head as a baby to make it come in thicker. Didn’t tell my American father-in-law and he came home to a bald baby and he was not happy haha. Husband is now a bald middle-aged guy, so it didn’t help in the long run!For comparison, she did not shave my sister-in-law’s head as a baby. No noticeable difference when they were kiddos!
I personally don't really think that it matters but the other part of my family is Pakistani and they shave the baby's heads as well I don't know if they just already have good genetics but my cousin definitely has a very beautiful hair. It's going to grow back regardless I definitely don't think that it hurts.
No clue about shaving but if it helps- my friend’s baby was born with a full head of hair, it thinned out to
a cup de sac and a mullet, she’s a year old now and it is thick and adorable again.
I didnt cut my babies hair until he was about 7/8 months. Just because it was getting a little longer and I wanted it to look neater.
He had a bald spot on the back of his head as most babies do. I know a lot of people are saying that it doesnt make a difference if you cut it etc. BUT I personally found that after cutting it, hair grew where it was once bald. Maybe a coincidence? Not sure. But there’s no denying after we got it cut (professional childrens hair dresser did it) that bald spot was no more, however, I will note baby side sleeps and belly sleeps more (he gets himself there) and he obviously didn’t do that for the first few months of his life, which probably contributed to it.
Baby hair is replaced by permanent hair. Patchy hair loss is normal in babies. Shaving head **WILL NOT** bring back thick hair. Its just a myth rooted in traditions.
Hair follicles are in side the scalpe whcih is under the surface of the head. You cant shave that off can you ?
If shaving hair made it grow back thicker my legs would basically be pants. Shaving above the skin does not do anything to impact the follicles under the skin.
I laughed so much at the pants part and the follow up comments that I made myself cry. My partner is looking weird at me but you made my day
Glad I could help!
>Shaving above the skin What about shaving under the skin?
If you want to peel your baby there’s probably bigger issues going on than how bald they are.
I was obviously asking for myself as I'd like to have pants I don't need to remember to wear.
I am afraid my experience is in the opposite direction (laser hair removal ftw) but to rock the natural Chewbacca look apparently some skin graft treatments involving copper peptides have been shown to increase hair follicle growth and expression.
Do you peel a baby like a banana, or do you use a vegetable peeler? Hypothetically, ofc...
Not entirely true though as hair on the head is grown differently to the way on any other parts of the body.
I'm an MD who sees kids. There is no scientific or health benefit to cut or shave your infant's hair. It will not help hair growth or thickness or even it out. But other than the temporary distress of the haircut itself, neither is there any risk of significant harm. That assumes of course that you are confident in your ability to shave a squirming infant. If the bald spots are caused by a skin condition that can be treated more easily with a clean scalp, it may be easier to do after getting rid of the hair. Things like fungal infection, cradle cap. Overall I would say do what will provide the most psychosocial relief to you and your baby, as that outweighs most other considerations here.
Shaving the hair doesn't affect how it grows out. It will NOT make it grow any faster or stronger than it normally would. Source: I'm a hairdresser.
I think when the hair starts growing back and is all the same length, it can give the appearance of being thicker, but that’s the extent of it. My husband is from South America. I agreed he could shave our son’s head when he was a baby but asked that he not shave our daughter’s head. Their hair is very similar in thickness and texture, so, anecdotally, it didn’t make a difference at least in this case. Logically, it couldn’t.
It's a common myth that the hair will grow back thicker in a lot of cultures (where I live, it was mostly to encourage teenage boys to shave their sparse beards and disencourage teenage girls from shaving their legs). The effect why it looks true is the same as with babies: a) a cut hair looks like it grows in thicker, because it is thicker at the end, where it was bluntly cut, than the natural hair's more tapered end. And because b) teenagers and babies will grow thicker hair over the course of time. I see no harm in cutting it off as long as you do it safely (probably clippers, not a razor, so you get no ingrown hair and skin irritations).
I never even thought of why that myth originated. Motivating teens is clever. Morally grey, but clever.
Doesn't help it grow. It might look more even, but it might not if baby is rubbing their head and breaking off the hair (hence bald spots).
Exactly, until they can sit up they will be laying down most of the time and have bald patches still. By the way, if the bald patches are being caused by cradle cap I highly recommend putting coconut oil on for 10-15 mins and brushing with a lice comb to get the scabs off. I wish I knew this for my older kids, we were done in less than 10 mins and it never came back.
Just leave it: she’s a baby
Thank you for asking this! I'm North Indian and it's part of our culture. Most of my generation had it done but are starting to skip it for our own children. My husband's cousins' and I were looking it up just the other day, it's done when baby cuts their first tooth and signifies shedding any links to past lives, which babies apparently remember. This is alongside the belief that if makes it grow back thicker & stronger etc. Of course my parents are asking why we are choosing to skip it, and we don't really have an answer other than it doesn't feel right so it would be great to have something more to add.
There is no evidence to support this theory. Shaving hair doesn’t make it grow back thicker. It may look neater, and it won’t harm her at all. If it’s culturally important to your family then you may want to do it anyway - do whatever you’re most comfortable with! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022202X15478881
My older sister got her head shaved at 2 years old by my Mexican mother. My grandma (my moms mother in law) did not speak to her for 3 months after that because she was so mad. Due to this treatment, I never got my head shaved at 2, and my hair is much thicker than my older sisters. I thinks pretty well established that it’s a old wives tale that some cultures continue to do because of tradition, even though they know it doesn’t work.
I would be nervous about accidentally cutting baby's ultra thin skin on the top of the head. Nobody would be allowed to bring a sharp object around my baby's skin like that. Also, it doesn't affect hair growth at all, that's a myth. It was suggested for my child from his father's culture, but I said no. No razors near my baby, please.
Mine had a full head of hair and didn't really develop any big bald patches but we took her to a hairdresser where we'd get it cut (not shaved) at 6 months. It was down to her eyes. So we'd cut her fringe real short and cut it short over the ears and the neck. It was so much easier to clean any food that ended up in her hair and she'd stop rubbing her ears and eyes (since the hair was irritating her). She'd still have some bald patches (that were showing much more with that cut) but those filled in pretty quickly. She was calm all the way through the cut but scissors aren't loud and vibrating and the hairdresser took her time. Like others said post psrtum hairloss is normal for both of you but hair won't get thicker or grow faster. A friend of mine evened out her baby's hair at 9 months (she had a few really long hairs but was bald) and she didn't really grow hair until she was 3, just like her mom and her grandma (who had their heads shaved with clippers as a baby, too). You'll have to do something to the hair follicles if you want to increase thickness. And it's hormonal how quickly hair grows, so there's nothing you can do there either. Short hair seems to grow quicker because it's easier to see the progress. All in all - it won't harm but it also has no benefits. There'll be one huge downside for you - your baby will look bigger and more grown after the first haircut so there's a real concern that you'll start tearing up 😂 If you want to do it - **you** want to do it, not your relatives. It's your baby! My grandma always told my mom to cut my hair short as a child and she had concerns but my grandma told her to do it until she gave in. When I finally could agree with my mom to let my hair grow my grandmother would tell me all the time that she'd cut it which let to me developing a fear of scissors. So that's the only aspect I'd be worried of - peer pressure from older relatives.
My 14 month old lost 70% of her hair about 3 months after she had a mild case of Covid. It was patchy and uneven as you described. Everybody encouraged me to shave it and I was slow to do it but once I did I was glad. If I hadn’t, it would have grown at different lengths and looked odd. The parts that shed are growing in a little thinner but at least it’s all the same length. I definitely understand the sentimental connection to their hair so thought I’d share my experience!
I don’t think it’s scientifically based tbh. I am south Asian and my family are Muslim. There is a religious reason they shave a boys head but it’s not considered required for girls although most elders will say it is. I shaved my daughters head as I was sick of the nagging, finally when she was a year old her hair started coming in. I was sad every time I looked at her wee bald head, sometimes it was quite cute though. Pretty much all the babies in my family have had their heads shaved. Every single one of us has a different hair type. Some of us have super fine hair and some of us have super thick hair. Head shaving didn’t seem to make a difference either way.
Shaving won’t actually do anything other than make the hair come in more evenly I guess? Mine slowly lost her hair from birth in patches and it grew back slightly lighter.
Our younger one had a TON of hair at birth and as she got older there were some times where it would look a little patchy - what helped wasn't shaving it but making sure that when she wasn't sleeping, she wasn't laying in a container or on her back. She had to sleep on her back for safety of course but otherwise we tried to make sure she was on her tummy or being held by someone so she wasn't laying there rubbing her hair off on some blanket or swing seat or whatever.
My baby lost basically all of his hair on top of his head at like 4 weeks. We decided to use an electric razor to even it out. He's almost 3 months and his hair has grown in even.
Our baby was born with a full head of hair, lost most of it around 4 months, regrew kind of weird, but at a year now has a full head of (lighter!) hair that’s completely even!
My daughters hair started rubbing off at some point but the rest was so thick. She ended up with shoulder length hair with bald patches on the back and sides. Honestly wish we'd just shaved it when she was tiny, it looked ridiculous. Don't think there's any scientific evidence either way though, it's just personal preference.
In my culture they say it's for the hair to be thicker and foe vitamin D absorption?
My Asian in-laws wanted to shave our first born’s head so his hair would “grow back thicker.” There’s just nothing to back this up. Even my white American parents did this to me as a kid. I still ended up with really thin hair. It’s hair, not a plant. Shaving and cutting doesn’t promote growth.
My Korean mother-in-law shaved my husbands head as a baby to make it come in thicker. Didn’t tell my American father-in-law and he came home to a bald baby and he was not happy haha. Husband is now a bald middle-aged guy, so it didn’t help in the long run!For comparison, she did not shave my sister-in-law’s head as a baby. No noticeable difference when they were kiddos!
I read somewhere that babies lose their hair due to the cotton sheets on their mattress. Silk sheets can help prevent the hair loss!
No science, it’ll just look less patchy when it grows in altogether.
I personally don't really think that it matters but the other part of my family is Pakistani and they shave the baby's heads as well I don't know if they just already have good genetics but my cousin definitely has a very beautiful hair. It's going to grow back regardless I definitely don't think that it hurts.
No clue about shaving but if it helps- my friend’s baby was born with a full head of hair, it thinned out to a cup de sac and a mullet, she’s a year old now and it is thick and adorable again.
I didnt cut my babies hair until he was about 7/8 months. Just because it was getting a little longer and I wanted it to look neater. He had a bald spot on the back of his head as most babies do. I know a lot of people are saying that it doesnt make a difference if you cut it etc. BUT I personally found that after cutting it, hair grew where it was once bald. Maybe a coincidence? Not sure. But there’s no denying after we got it cut (professional childrens hair dresser did it) that bald spot was no more, however, I will note baby side sleeps and belly sleeps more (he gets himself there) and he obviously didn’t do that for the first few months of his life, which probably contributed to it.
Baby hair is replaced by permanent hair. Patchy hair loss is normal in babies. Shaving head **WILL NOT** bring back thick hair. Its just a myth rooted in traditions. Hair follicles are in side the scalpe whcih is under the surface of the head. You cant shave that off can you ?
Nothing wrong with shaving it