Key facts
- A prevalent Chinese folk belief suggests plucking one white hair leads to more growing.
- Some claim plucking one white hair results in ten more growing.
- Medical experts state this belief is purely a superstition.
A widespread folk belief in Chinese culture suggests that plucking a single white hair will result in three more white hairs growing in its place. Some variations of this belief even claim that ten white hairs will sprout after removing just one. However, medical experts, including trichologist Yang Dingquan, have clarified that this notion is purely a superstition and lacks any scientific foundation. The growth of hair is a biological process, and the act of plucking a white hair does not influence the color or number of subsequent hairs that grow from the same follicle.