Hairlick

Hair that sticks out — Photo: Sujitra Chaowdee/Shutterstock

Q: My hair used to be wavy. Now I'm in my 70s and I developed a hairlick and one side sticks out in all directions.

Could shaving my head during the summer affect how it grows back? If not, is this effect from some other cause?

A: Typically no. Shaving the head won't cause any changes in the way the hair grows, unless you damage the skin of your scalp when shaving. The only things that generally affect the growth patterns of the hair are things like trauma (physical damage to the skin such as burns, scrapes, cuts, etc.), genetics, or aging.

It is possible that this is simply a matter of your hair's growth pattern following a predetermined genetic shift, or it may be a matter of the hair follicles changing shape due to the aging of the skin of the scalp. The skin loses some of its collagen and elasticity and the hair follicles are stretched or distorted as a result.

You'll want to make certain that the majority of the problem isn't environmental. Is it possible that the problem is being caused by the way you sleep?

Many people find that their hair can become difficult to manage because of the friction caused by their bedding (pillowcases) when sleeping. This can usually be resolved by sleeping on a silk or satin pillowcase, which have smoother, less coarse fibers and don't catch so readily on the scales of the hair's cuticle layer.

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See also:

Get rid of a cowlick

How to wrap a perm for a cowlick

How to protect your hair while you sleep