Does facial hair grow faster while asleep/ at night?

[parachutefactory]

I usually shave at night because i just have no time for lathering and 3 pass shaves.

Ive been noticing when i shave at nigbt, by the time i wake up (6 hours later), i would feel quite a lot of stubble, considering it has only been 6-7 hrs.

When i shave in the morning on odd days i can, my face doesnt feel as scruffy and it lasta longer, say 5-6pm.


Any correlation between hair growth and time of day? Hormone? Melatonin? Growth hormone?

 

[Mick]

Facial hair never sleeps

 

[xxvaleria]

Even a BBS starts to feel a tiny bit stubbly after a few hours--in my case, about five hours. I doubt that hair grows faster when you are asleep because then your body is in "Idle mode."

 

[parachutefactory]

Even a BBS starts to feel a tiny bit stubbly after a few hours--in my case, about five hours. I doubt that hair grows faster when you are asleep because then your body is in "Idle mode."

Body might as well be idl3/rest mode, but i thought while you are asleep, you are in recovery/regenrative phase, so i wonder if theres some kind of hormone overdrive that makes it grow faster than during the day.

I know it sounds very speculative, but i swear i feel too much stubble after the night shave, even if the shave resulted in dfs or bbs.


Feel free to chime in guys.

 

[parachutefactory]

I know nerve cells regenrate/repair themselves at night.

How about facial hair?
Any endocrinologist?

 

[August West]

Rip Van Winkle?

 

[BSAGuy]

The hair doesn't grow. Your face shrinks.

 

[Vintage Modern]

I always wondered about this, since I ALWAYS used to shave at night to give my face a chance to heal for the next day. This was back when I was using multi-blade cartridges, and I kept the habit up as I was getting the hang of DE shaving.

Now I shave in the morning, so, in theory, I'm not "wasting" the best hours of my shave in bed.

 

[TX Shave]

Same question regarding cold weather. I always felt that my beard grows faster in cold weather. However, it could be just that the skin tightens more in cold and loosens in heat?

 

[SiBurning]

The hair doesn't grow. Your face shrinks.

+1
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1363453/pdf/jphysiol01386-0096.pdf

 

[burg1198]

The hair doesn't grow. Your face shrinks.

+1. You dehydrate some overnight.

 

[Shiloh]

Wow...the things you can learn on B&B!

 

[parachutefactory]

+1. You dehydrate some overnight.

huh

 

[ackvil]

I don't know your experience - but if I shave immediately upon waking up my stubble appears just an hour or two after I shave. If I wait an hour or two the stubble does not appear for many hours later.

 

[imcndn]

...but I do believe that muscles and bones tend to repair most during sleep. It would make sense that this would encompass hair growth patterns as well...

This is my understanding as well. But I'm no doctor... so who knows.

 

[Vintage Modern]

Same question regarding cold weather. I always felt that my beard grows faster in cold weather. However, it could be just that the skin tightens more in cold and loosens in heat?

I notice this too, and your explanation sounds as good as any. Maybe our bodies sense the cold and speed up hair production, still under the impression that we need the thicker hair for warmth, and not knowing that we intend to shave it.

 

[cody6766]

I'm pretty sure it does grow more at night than during the day. I want to say that I saw a study or something in a text book that talked about it. Also, when I deploy and have to shift my schedule 10 to 12hrs I noticed that my beard growth was slow at night and fast during the day, when I was usually sleeping. This goes away as my circadian rhythm adjusts to the new schedule.

 

[burg1198]

huh

Think of it this way. You sleep let's say an average of 8 hours a night. During that time you don't normally take in any fluids. The average body temp is 98 degrees Fahrenheit. Let's say the room is 75 degrees (often cooler). The relative humidity of the breath you exhale is almost 100%. The relative humidity of the air you inhale is much less in most circumstances. So with every exhale we are losing water. Combine that loss with any sweating or other excretions and you lose over a pound a night on average. The fluid loss from your skin makes it lose volume and the hair appear to grow faster.

 

[gus1942]

Rate of facial hair growth is about 1/2 inch per month. No appreciable difference between waking and sleeping. Rate usually decreases with age and also has genetic variance.

Gus