How Bad Is It to Pluck Out Gray Hairs?

We know it's tempting.

You know the old wives' tale: If you pluck one gray hair, two will grow back in its place. But, c'mon, is it really true? So we asked an expert.

"This is a myth," says Dr. Robert Dorin, DO, ACOFP, and hair restoration surgeon. But that doesn't give you license to do it. Each time you pull out a hair (on your head or in your eyebrows), you're causing a little bit of damage. And you can actually change the way the hair grows out of the root, meaning a new hair could grow in frizzier. And worse, if you really keep it up, you're creating weaker hair, and a new strand won't grow back. (If you over-tweezed as a teen, this is why you now have thinner brows.)

So, no, plucking that stray gray hair won't cause two more to grow back in. But, you probably avoid it. Just embrace the grays, or dye them.

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