85
votes
Accepted
Do nails and hair continue to grow after death?
No, this is false.
The University of Arkansas Medical Services debunks this myth:
Hair and fingernails may appear longer after death, but not because
they are still growing. Instead, a persons ...
- 18.7k
60
votes
Accepted
Is a married woman in Michigan required to have her husband's permission to cut her hair?
The claim is false. For at least 171 years (93%) of Michigan's 184 year existence, married women in Michigan have NOT needed their husband's permission to do anything to their hair. Since 1850, the ...
- 14.1k
13
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to get a reliable match from 'microscopic hair analysis'?
In this NYT video it is said that a 2002 paper found that the false positive rate is 11% when also tested via mtDNA. The paper referenced is probably "Correlation of microscopic and mitochondrial ...
- 59.8k
12
votes
Is a married woman in Michigan required to have her husband's permission to cut her hair?
There is a video of a Michigan attorney debunking that claim. While he points out correctly that it is comparatively hard to prove a negative, he has tried to do just that. See the first of the points ...
- 1,541
11
votes
Accepted
Does stress cause hair to go grey?
Evidence:
A 2013 study found that hormones produced in response to stress can reduce melanocyte stem cells that determine hair color.
A 2013 New York University study published in Nature Magazine ...
- 22.7k
8
votes
Does trimming your hair regularly make it grow faster?
The hair doesn't know, that it's been cut. Means that the hair grows as long as the anagen period allows. It grows continuously before it eventually stops, no matter how often you cut it.
The ...
- 91
7
votes
Does washing your hair with a coal-tar soap prevent hair loss and accommodate hair growth?
In its essence this is true.
Therapeutic doses of coal tar – or Liquor carbonis detergens – are used and effective against overproducing sebum, dandruff and a range of other problems with hair. Its ...
- 44.1k
6
votes
Does laser phototherapy treat male pattern hair-loss?
I was totally ready to say this is a complete and utter sham, however I have found two papers that seem to indicate that there is some positive effect from using the Hairmax device.
A Rutgers team (...
- 9,257
6
votes
Accepted
Is removing hairs from a mole harmful?
As per my comment, this was actually asked in the NY Times Science section.
Q. If I tweeze out the single hair that grows from a facial mole, will it cause cancer, as my friend insists?
A. “No,” said ...
- 9,257
5
votes
Accepted
Do hats or ponytails induce baldness?
tl;dr- Yes, wearing hair such that it's pulled tight can cause hair loss. Wearing loose-fitting hair styles or head wear shouldn't cause as much hair loss; whether or not it causes none at all or ...
- 4,111
4
votes
Is a married woman in Michigan required to have her husband's permission to cut her hair?
This claim has changed over time. It may have originated as a Wisconsin story.
I found some key details in the March 29, 1954 edition of the The Holland Evening Sentinel:
There is a famous case of a ...
- 44.9k
4
votes
Do you need to "wash, rinse and repeat"?
"Repeated wash and rinse is required for most people?" – No – no need!
Earliest usage or origin?
Rumour has it that David Ogilvy invented this "trick" for Proctor & Gamble". But it is unlikely ...
- 44.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Does hair fall first from the top of head because of reduced blood supply due to lack of movement?
Hair falls from the top of head first because the follicles there are more androgen-sensitive.
Within the distribution of hair over the scalp, androgen-sensitive hair follicles are on top and ...
- 105k
2
votes
Does Finasteride reduce hair loss?
Separate studies are conducted on men and woman.
Long-term treatment with finasteride 1 mg decreases the likelihood of developing further visible hair loss in men with androgenetic alopecia (male ...
- 105k
1
vote
Does your hair grow faster when you're sick?
This is not a very authoritative answer but skimming through this book on The Biology of Hair Growth leads me to doubt it. It talks a lot about the limited factors which can stimulate hair growth but ...
- 7,350
1
vote
Are red-heads going extinct?
Some phenotypes caused by recessive genes occur in sub-populations that tend to reproduce with other members of the sub-population.
For example, Tay-Sachs disease is a recessive genetic disease ...
- 38.9k
1
vote
Do dogs tend to distrust men with beards?
Dogs have some kind of facial recognition according to studies, for example
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-013-0713-0
Abstract
Faces play an important role in communication ...
- 59
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible