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Beauty

30th Nov 2023

Is it really bad to pull out your grey hair? Expert settles the debate

Her

Is pulling out your grey hair really that bad?

Whether it emerges in your teens, twenties, or, for the lucky few, your thirties, finding your first grey hair isn’t the best experience. Most people will admit that when they saw that one grey hair their automatic reaction was to pull it out.

But then sheer panic can strike when you remember the theory that pulling out grey hairs can cause three to grow in its place.

It sounds like a myth but it’s such a consensus among people that some genuinely think it’s true.

So finally, the experts have spoken and clarified the whole theory.

The Huffington Post spoke to Elizabeth Cunnane Phillips, a trichologist at the Philip Kingsley Clinic in New York City, and Sandra Gilman, trichologist and educational director for The Elan Center for Trichology who said:

“No, we cannot add [to] the number of follicles we have, and it will not cause the surrounding hairs to turn grey. The only time more than one hair grows from one spot is when, for some undetermined reason, there is a merging of two hair follicles.”

They added, “If there is a grey hair that you must get rid of, very carefully cut it! Plucking can traumatise the follicle, and repeated trauma to any follicle is not ideal.”

So there you have it, go forth and pull out those grey hairs of yours.

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