Shaving babies heads to encourage new hair growth???

[strawberry]

My friend's twin girls (20 months) still don't have much hair. She has been told that shaving their heads will encourage new growth. She's tempted to try this but wondered whether it would really work. So I am asking the collective wisdom of mumsnet for any experience of this.

[starlover]

erm no... it won't!
they aren't plants you know!!! pmsl

[Nik72]

Who told her that? Has she got an evil MIL?

[strawberry]

Seems doubtful to me too as hair is not living tissue. makes me laugh when shampoo adverts talk about vitamins for hair!!

[lemonice]

nature will take its course...but improving diet can help...might be worth trying(diet not shaving)

[Flamesparrow]

lol lol lol!!!

That sounds like the whole "If you trim their hair it grows quicker". Its madness! It blunts the ends so it looks quicker, but I can see no logical reason whatsoever for how it would make it grow.

Try and convince her to leave em alone... hair will come soon enough, and when it does it will drive her nuts having to tie it out of their eyes every day!

[starlover]

it may LOOK slightly thicker, but that'sjust an illusion because hair is tapered at the end. but if you shave it you are cutting it off at a flat angle so it CAN look darker.

but shaving the head will NOT make more hair grow... ti isn't going to magically produce more hair follicles which is what hair grows from!

their hair will thicken up and grow in time! tell her not to do it!

[frogs]

Lots of Asian mums seem to do this with boys and girls alike. I guess it won't make the hair grow faster, but might make it look thicker. My dd2 had very wispy hair some of which had rubbed off into bald patches. It made her look like a mad little old lady with thinning hair, and I did seriously consider shaving it off so that it would grow back thicker and more sensible-looking. But how would you get them to keep still?

[Flamesparrow]

Isn't it a muslim thing with the asian mums though - they shave the head, weigh it, and donate money.

[misdee]

think so. dd2+3 would've cost uys a fortune lol.

[QueenEagle]

ds1 was 4 months old when I shaved all his off cos he looked like Bobby Moore with all his wispy long bits.

My mum did it. Easy as he was so little and couldn't wriggle away.

[Springchicken]

DP was working a muslims ladies house a few weeks ago and was talking to her about her little "boy" - turned out to be a little "girl" and she had shaved her hair off so it aparently grows back nicer.

Not sure if it works or not though

[starlover]

it won't!!!! seriously... it will not make it grow back thicker, quicker, longer etc.

she;'ll have twin girls with itchy stubbly heads.