Conventional Wisdom: Western Hairloss

There are some things that everyone just knows, right?  The knowledge is innate, isn't it?  And that's why we have to be taught in 9th grade biology that some things are just fucking wrong.  Take for instance some of the ideas about hair.  How can there be such a campaign of misinformation touted as being truth, when the real truth is just so easy to spread?

• Wearing a hat will turn you bald --  When I was still working in the United States, I remarked that my hair was beginning to thin at the crown.  It was summer, and the sun was blasting down radiance like none other.  Therefore, I generally wore a cap to keep the sun out of my eyes.  I had this reputation of always walking through the doors with the iPod in and the cap on, it should have been no surprise when I was verbally assaulted with a shload of bull.  Someone asked me how my weekend was.  I told them that I discovered my hair was thinning.  Their response?  "It's because you wear a hat.  Wearing hats makes you go bald."  If you share that opinion, let me be the first to tell you that this little tidbit of conventional wisdom is false, false, false.  While there is a correlation between balding and hat-wearing, correlation is not causation.  People begin wearing hats because they're going bald.  They do not start going bald because they're wearing hats.  
• If you shave, it will grow back thicker and darker --  I thought that leaving the hill-less hilljacks behind in Americaland would have allowed me to get away from this one.  I really did.  It seems that even here, when it stands to reason that most foreign guests would be cultured and wise, I can find nothing but disappointment.  Want to get rid of that unsightly back hair?  Don't shave it!  If you shave it, more will grow!!!!  And it will be thicker and darker than before!!!!!!  If you also believe this, let me be the first to tell you:  myth busted.  Hair growth is regulated internally.  You may believe this because you first start shaving when you have only bum-fluff on your face.  And then more grows.  And then more grows.  And then finally you can rock a full homeless-beard.  And when you do shave, it does have the appearance of growing in darker and thicker, but this is just because of the end that you left behind.  The end of the hair normally is tapered, but you cut it off at the base.  When it grows out, that base is getting extended.  It takes a while for wear-n-tear to taper it off again.  Oh, and it also doesn't grow faster.  It always grows at the same speed.  Always.

While correcting this would be as simple as a "No, dear friend.  It seems you're wrong" I really have no incentive to do it.  If I did try to do it, I would likely end up getting into an argument.  Ignorant people love to defend themselves.  When I've broached a topic I'm ignorant on, I try to defend myself too.  My only problem with this particular bit of conventional wisdom is that the truth is so readily available, but this lie is so easily passed around the internet and by word of mouth.  It's like a religion, and if experience has taught me one thing it's this:  never argue with a religious person.