← All answers · Myths, checked

If you pluck a grey hair, do two grow back?

No — one follicle makes one hair, and pulling it out does not recruit the neighbouring follicles. The myth has no mechanism behind it.

Watch the answer30s · Nora, our educator
Transcript

Pluck one gray hair and two grow back. Almost everyone has heard it, and it's impossible. A follicle makes one hair. Pulling it out doesn't recruit the neighbors. What plucking does do is worse. Do it to the same follicle enough times, and it stops producing anything at all. So the myth has it backwards. You don't get two grays. Eventually, you get a gap.

What plucking can do is worse than the myth. Repeatedly pulling hair from the same follicle damages it, and over time that follicle can stop producing anything at all. So you do not end up with two greys; eventually you can end up with a gap.

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