Fact or Fiction: Does Plucking a Gray Hair Make More Grow Back?

“Pluck a gray hair and more will grow back in its place.”

This old wives’ tale has persisted through the decades, causing women (and men) to fear plucking out a rogue strand of silver. While the legend may have prevented you from pulling out that gray hair you spotted, it seems almost illogical to think that a hair follicle could spontaneously produce multiple hairs just because it no longer produces pigment. So what really happens when you pluck a gray hair?

Each hair follicle produces a single strand of hair, no more, no less. Individual hairs fall out due to breakage or get pulled out through brushing on a daily basis, but no one seems to think that pulling a normal colored hair will cause more to grow in its place. So the origin of the “plucking gray hairs” theory must be rooted in the fact that the hair is gray.

Follicles contain pigment cells that give your hair its color. When those cells die, the hair growing from that particular follicle grows in gray or white. But pigment cell death only changes the color of the hair; it doesn’t alter the makeup and function of the hair follicle itself. Except in rare cases of follicle merging, it is impossible for a hair follicle to produce more than one hair.

Verdict: Fiction. When you pluck a gray hair, only one new gray hair will grow in its place. However, that doesn’t mean it’s safe to yank the gray hair out of your head. Repeated plucking will damage the follicle, which can cause infection, scar formation, or even bald patches–a follicle that consistently has its hair strand removed will eventually shrink and stop producing hair. If you see a single gray hair, the best solution is to cut it as close to the root as possible. This way, you can get rid of the hair without causing trauma to the follicle. If you start to notice more grays spread across your head, hair coloring is definitely the way to go.

For more information, visit Huffington Post.

How do you deal with stray gray hairs?