However, as the hair grows back out, it will taper off again, leaving it looking the same as it did before you sliced it. So, when you shave off the part of the hair that’s above the skin, the part that emerges in a couple of days (or hours) is the thicker root, leading to the appearance that the hair has grown back thicker or coarser. At their tips, hairs are thin and tapered, but closer to the hair follicle they’re thicker. The root of this old wives’ tale lies in, well, hair’s roots. If our hair grew back longer, darker, or coarser, surely we’d have noticed a general change in its appearance after a lifetime of shaving. Despite holding the evidence of this myth’s mythical nature on our literal faces, heads, legs, and underarms, the idea that shaved hair will grow back darker, coarser, faster, or just generally “more” is pervasive. Since then, my hair has grown back, and funnily enough, it’s still the same color and texture as it was before. If You Shave Your Hair, It Will Grow Back Faster, Darker, and/or Coarser: Old Wives’ Taleįun fact: About two years ago, I shaved my head. Ten to thirty percent of drownings can be directly attributed to alcohol consumption. Rest assured that you can have your lunch and swim after it too. Most damningly, according to a literature review conducted by the Red Cross Scientific Advisory Council, there are “no reported cases of eating before swimming causing or contributing to fatal or non-fatal drowning.” What if we examine the heart itself? A 1961 study looked for changes in electrocardiograms following distension of the stomach, either by a large meal or a balloon and found no changes compared to before eating or ballooning. Surely if digestion is diverting an appreciable amount of blood away from the muscles, swimming times would reflect that, right? Well, a 1962 study had subjects swim 100 yards freestyle at various times (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 hours) after eating and found no significant difference between times. While this idea certainly seems plausible, there is no evidence to support it. The logic follows that swimming in this state will result in cramps, which can increase your risk of drowning. The reasoning behind this warning is that eating causes your body to divert blood away from your muscles, like arms and legs, in favor of your digestive system. If you’ve ever had a lakeside picnic or grabbed lunch at a water park, you’ve probably heard (or more likely been told by a well-meaning parent) not to swim for 1-2 hours after eating. You Can’t Swim after Eating: Old Wives’ Tale While it’s important to stay skeptical when taking advice from adages with no clear origins, it turns out that some of these old sayings aren’t as silly as they may seem, once you take a look at the science behind them. Some old wives’ tales aren’t old wives’ tales at all, because an old wives’ tale is, by definition, untrue, and some actually are true! White spots on our nails being caused by calcium deficiency seems plausible, even though it’s untrue. However, other old wives’ tales are more difficult to dismiss. We all know that masturbating won’t really make your palms grow hair and that neither the position of your belly nor your internal temperature can predict the sex of your baby. Some old wives’ tales are easy to dismiss. This article was first published in The Skeptical Inquirer.