Q. I have fine hair; will my hair become coarse and thick when I shave?
A.
If you don’t have a trimmer, we recommend that you shave 1 to 3 days before use an epilator. Most women are afraid to shave because they believe it will make hair grow thicker. We have all heard this. You have probably heard that from a friend or a waxer. My mom told me that. Women shave their legs all the time. If this were true, we would all be gorillas by now.
It is actually a myth that shaving makes hairs grow thicker. Dragging a blade across your hair follicles is not going to permanently change the way your hair grows. So why does it appear to grow thicker? Here is what is happening.
When hair is growing out it has tapered tip at the top much like the tip of a pencil. When you shave, you are cutting the tip off the hair, creating a sharp edge. You are left with short hair with rectangular tips, sticking out of their follicles.
Therefore, when the hair grows out, it will feel much coarser and thicker for a short time. The very top of the hair is no longer thin and tapered like it normally is. When you shave, you are not causing the hair to grow coarser or faster. Studies show that shaving causes no difference in hair width, thickness, or rate of growth.
When you are shaving your hair before epilating, lather up your legs with a moisturizing shave gel. Then gently shave down your legs, in the direction of growth. If you shave this way, hair grows back softer.
Some people like to shave against the grain to get a closer shave. This will make the hair have a much coarser tip when it grows back and if you are not careful this can lead to ingrown hair.
No matter what you do, you will still have stubble after a day or 2. After about 3 days, your hair is probably ready for epilation.
The reason we are shaving are hair is because we want the hair to be a certain length before we start epilating. This can be achieved by trimming it to around 3mm to 4mm.
But what about the story that epilating will make your hair grow back finer? In some instances, epilating, which removes the hair from the root, can eventually reduce growth from the hair follicles due to repeated trauma to the follicle.