Does waxing reduce hair growth

Kay’s question…I know it’s an old wives’ tale that shaving makes your hair grow in faster and thicker but I’m beginning to think that waxing is the new wives’ tale. I have been waxing my legs for years and have yet to see hair grow in thinner or take longer to grow back in. Is there any relationship between waxing and less hair growth?

The Beauty Brains respond:

I wish we could give you a definitive answer here but there seems to be a bit of scientific controversy in Wax-land. While everyone agrees that waxing is an effective method of epilation, they disagree on whether it makes the regrowth better or worse!

Some sources, like Onlinesurgery.com say that waxing causes repeated damage to the hair follicles that may result in permanent reduction of unwanted hair. But other research, like this article from the Symposium of Adolescent Gynecology and Endocrinology discusses the possibility that waxing actually has the reverse affect: that it can trigger hair to change from the vellus type (fine thin hair) to the terminal type (scalp and beard hair).

The only consistent data appears to be that the results vary depending on the person and the location of the body hair. Leg hair may become more fine with time while lip and eyebrow hair may grow thicker. Everyone has their opinion but apparently there’s no definitive answer in the scientific community.

The Beauty Brains bottom line

We’d love to hear from our loyal Beauty Braniacs on this subject: what’s your experience with hair regrowth after waxing? In the meantime, Kay, heed these words of caution: wisely watch what you wax!