Shaving the head

[carmenlotusfeet]

I've been told that shaving the baby's head will help hair growth. Also, this is an Indian tradition, is this right ? My elder daughter is already two and a half but has very little hair. My second is now two months. She has a little more hair than when my first daughter was born; so I'm thinking about shaving her head so that she'll have a thicker head of hair when she grows up. Was wondering when is a good time to shave the head ? Is it true that this helps stimulate hair growth ? Does anyone have any experience with this ? Do you do it yourself or can anyone recommend someone who does this ? Thanks ! :flower:

 

[carang]

it is a complete myth (although indians are not the only ones who believe it). it doesn't make one's hair grow thicker than if the head wasn't shaved.

the amount of hair one has is related to their genes, not having their head shaved.

 

[Neha]

i know it is a myth but i just had my sons head shaved and his hair was so soft before and now it is quite thick

 

[carang]

it's got to do with the blunt ends, rather than the actual shaving. we didn't cut my son's hair until he was ayear old. then we shaved it because we couldn't get him to sit still long enough for scissors. he's got VERY thick hair.

my girl has fine wispy hair still. my hair is very fine too, i have no intention of cutting it, at least not for the foreseeable future. (she's 1.5 yrs old)

if you want to shave your child's hair, just do it. if you don't , then don't.

(personally, i LOVE the soft, wispy hair!)

 

[Neha]

we too loved his soft curls he had the best curls e hope they come back

 

[Nashua852]

We had our baby's head shaved at a month old and as Cara pointed out it does not come back thicker but noticed that the growth was a lot more even. This was however just an added bonus as it's an arab tradition to shave bab's head, weigh the hair and make the equivalent weight in gold and then give that to charity -- although we just weighed and donated what the gold would have costed as gold bars don't amount to much these days =P. It's a gesture my family has followed for generations and did not have anything to do with the thickness of the hair. It is indeed a myth but again as cara said, if you want to do it, do it. Many local salons would do it if you made a special request. We got the head stylist (can you imagine, for a 1 month old! - Even I don't get that treatment!) from a salon in TST which my mum organized for us.

 

[Neha]

hi nashua852

can y please pm the details of the salon as I need to get my sons head shaved again( for family purposes)

Thanks/Neha

 

[carang]

nashua, what an awesome tradition! i LOVE it....gosh, if i'd known about it, i might have introduced it with my kids...(i did keep the hair from my son's first haircut in a ziplock bag, for my kid's growing up book....now i just have to get started on the book!)

 

[joyofliving]

Neha did your baby cry when the head was being shaved? What kind of razor did they use? Were there any nicks or cuts? I am very scared to get this done because I do not want to cause any pain to my baby.

 

[louisouis]

A chinese and japanese tradition is to shave the baby's head and use the hair to make a calligraphy brush. Such brushes are very highly regarded and are considered the 'best' brush, in fact you can get baby hair brushes at a very high price in traditional calligraphy shops. It also makes a nice and useful momento for the child when he or she is older. Another mythical fengshui thing associated with such brushes is that if your child does not do well in school you can place the brush at the 'scholar' (wen chang) area in the house and that will help him or her academically. Strange but interesting....