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I have heard the claim that if you shave your eyebrows, they will never grow back. I have even heard that surgeons try as much as they can not to shave a person's eyebrows unless absolutely necessary.

Is there any evidence behind this claim? Will eyebrows really never grow back when shaved?

Oddthinking
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Ephraim
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    Adam Savage once lost his eyebrows to a flame and it grew back – ratchet freak May 07 '12 at 17:28
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    It's easy enough to find out. If you don't want to risk living the rest of your life without brows, just shave the forehead of a friend/spouse/roommate while they sleep! – Flimzy May 07 '12 at 18:42
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    @Flimzy, or if you want to look constantly surprized. – picakhu May 07 '12 at 22:23
  • I shaved half off a friend's eyebrows once - they both grew back just fine. – Rory Alsop May 08 '12 at 08:45
  • @RoryAlsop I'm not sure he/she consider you their friend anymore. :P – Alenanno May 08 '12 at 10:38
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    By what mechanism would this work? How would the hair follicle even "know" that the hair have been cut off and thus stop growing? Does anyone really believe this? – Zano May 08 '12 at 11:51
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    I’m questioning the notability of this claim … I’ve never heard it, and it sounds particularly ludicrous, given that we are commonly confronted with eyebrow growth (why else would some women (and men, of course) get their eyebrows plucked on a regular basis?) … – Konrad Rudolph May 08 '12 at 12:03
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    I WISH! Then I wouldn't have to keep waxing my eyebrows. – Sam I Am May 08 '12 at 14:01
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    @Zano: Due to their relative proximity to the brain, eye brow follicles are especially smart. – Flimzy May 10 '12 at 07:09
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    @Flimzy: I question that. Head hair is even closer (and thus smarter), but they don't know. Rather I think it must be the close proximity to **the eyes** that does it. The follicles thus _see_ that the hair is shaven off. – Zano May 10 '12 at 08:41
  • @Zano: Ah, but eye lashes do grow back! (right?) – Flimzy May 10 '12 at 16:41
  • If they didn't grow back, it would mean they didn't grow. And then we would all slowly loose our eyebrows. And we don't. + "I have heard that"? I thought we had a requirement that we needed some sort of source claiming it. – Lennart Regebro Jun 10 '13 at 06:39
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    "I have heard" is not really good claims for a question. – Wertilq Jun 10 '13 at 06:47
  • @LennartRegebro not true. Some things stop growing after reaching a certain stage, often physical maturity. – jwenting Jun 10 '13 at 10:38
  • @jwenting: Right. In which case, we as adults, would slowly loose our eyebrows. And there is no qualification, it doesn't say "if you are over 80", it must therefore apply to at least all adults. – Lennart Regebro Jun 10 '13 at 13:02
  • Mine did. This is original research, which is why I left it as a comment instead of an answer. – Reinstate Monica -- notmaynard Sep 01 '14 at 18:10

1 Answers1

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Yes they do grow back

As this video shows. :-)

However, if you prefer something a little more informative you can look at the growth rates of various follicles, and the references around that article (it's well known eyebrow follicles are the slowest to grow).

It seems likely that surgeons avoid shaving them as they are so slow to grow, rather than because they don't grow at all.

NotJarvis
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  • And in my opinion, they avoid shaving them completely because they change so much the face of a person and are so important for expression... – Duralumin Jun 10 '13 at 06:57