Over the years many myths or misconceptions have formed around the topic of hair. Some are obvious and humorous where others require a bit of research and thought. I have come across many and have divided them into 8 categories:
Part 1: Hair Growth
Part 2: Split Ends and Brushing/Combing
Part 3: Baldness/Hairloss and Gray Hair
Part 4: Texture, Dandruff, and Scalp Problems
Part 5: Short Hair and Coloring Your Hair
Part 6: Thin/Thinning Hair and Summer Hair
Part 7: Hair Products
Part 8: Shampooing and Misc.
Hair Growth
When you cut your hair, it will grow faster, stronger and thicker.
Once hair has been cut it will look neater and it will have clean smooth edges. This will make it look fuller. If you cut 3 inches off of a head of thin, limp, or fine hair, it will not magically transform itself into thick, full hair. Getting a haircut does not change the genetic map for your hair structure and composition.
If you cut your hair during a full moon, it will grow faster, stronger and thicker.
I'm afraid the gravitational pull of the moon will not alter the genetic roadmap in place for your hair. Your hair will continue on with its biologically determined growth rate and texture whether you cut it during the 1st quarter, last quarter, new moon or full moon.
Short hair grows faster than long hair.
At the base of every hair strand is the papilla, which is where new hair cells are produced, making the hair grow longer. The papilla follows your genetic roadmap which tells it how fast it should make new hair cells and how long it should continue before stopping to rest. The papilla pays no attention to how long that strand of hair is, it just follows genetic instructions.
Your hair grows at the same rate all over your head.
This is somewhat true, but not entirely. There are some hairs that grow at a somewhat slower or faster rate than the rest, but that slight difference shouldn't affect your overall hair shape that much. If after 2 weeks you see some hairs consistently sticking out where they shouldn't be, this isn't necessarily because that hair has been growing so quickly, but because it was cut unevenly.
Straight hair grows faster than curly hair.
Curly and straight hair both grow at the same rate. Straight hair seems to grow faster only because it shows its growth. Straight hair grows in a straight path whereas curly hair grows in a winding path. If you give the exact same haircut to both a curly-haired person and a straight-haired person, you will find that after 3 months both of them would have 1 1/2 inches of growth.
Your hair keeps growing after you die.
Even though hair seems to get longer after death, it is not because it has grown. When a person dies, everything shuts down, including the papillae which create new hair cells. Papillae need to be nourished with oxygen, minerals, and nutrients in order to do their work.
Why then does the hair appear to be longer a few days after death? Our bodies are made up of 90% water and after death, this water begins to evaporate. The skin then shrinks and shrivels because of this. The skin surrounding the root of the hair shrinks inward, but the hair (which is made of lifeless cells) does not shrink. This makes the hair look like it got longer, because the distance grew between the skin and the tip of the hair.
