Hair is one of the most individually unique, expressive parts of our bodies–but whether your hair is short, long, straight, wavy, or coily, these fun hair facts apply to just about everybody.
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Black is the most common hair color in the world. Red, which only exists in about 1 percent of the world’s population, is the rarest. Blonde hair comes in a close second, with only 2 percent of the population.
Hair can grow just about anywhere on the body, except for the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet, and on your lips and mucous membranes.
Hair is more elastic than you think. It can expand by up to 30% of its original length when wet.
Do you ever see a lot of hair in the drain after showering? That is normal. People shed between 40 and 150 strands of hair a day.
When did it become popular to color hair? In 1950, only about 7% of women colored their hair, but in 2015, it’s up to about 75%.
Beauty can take time. The average time a woman spends to wash, dry and style her hair is 1 hour and 53 minutes a week. By the time she is 65, she will have spent 7 months of her life doing her hair.
Cutting your hair does not affect its growth, but it does help to avoid split ends, which can work their way up the hair shaft and make the individual shafts thinner, giving your hair the appearance of not growing.
Next to bone marrow, hair is the fastest growing tissue in the human body.
Hair is mostly made up of keratin, which can also be found on the outer layer of our skin and nails.
On average, hair grows .3 - .5 mm per day, 1.25 centimeters or 0.5 inches per month, and 15 centimeters or 6 inches per year.
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President Trump's Hair
The outermost layer of hair is called the cuticle. It consists of overlapping scale-like segments, and it protects the inside layers of hair. The segments of the cuticle lay flat if the hair is healthy, and are usually open on dry or damaged hair.
Trying to grow out your hair? It takes about 7 years to grow it to your waist, and 3 years to grow it to your shoulders!
Hair can be useful in interesting ways. It can be used as a natural sponge, and it was used during the 2007 Cusco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay to absorb oil from the water.
In the Victorian Era, hair was used as jewelry. People had brooches, pendants and watch fobs made from the hair of lost loved ones as a stylish way of paying homage.
A strand of hair is actually stronger than a copper wire with the same diameter.
Hair is like a chemistry project–here is its composition: 50 percent carbon, 21 percent oxygen, 17 percent nitrogen, 6 percent hydrogen, and 5 percent sulfur.
How much hair do we have on our scalps? More than you’d think. The average person has 100,000 - 150,000 strands of hair on her head (so don’t worry too much about the 40 - 150 you lost today).
You can tell a lot about a person from her hair. It’s often used by forensic scientists to learn everything in a person’s bloodstream: medicine, drugs, alcohol, vitamins and minerals.
There is absolutely no difference between male and female hair in terms of growth cycle and structure.
90% of Japanese people wash their hair twice a day, 80% of North Americans wash their hair twice a day, and only 25% of the European population washes their hair daily.
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Bald Man and Woman
Our hair is constantly growing, and has a lifespan of around 5 years. 90% of our hair is growing at any given time, while the other 10% is taking a break.
The scientific name of grey hair is canities and a split end is known as trichoptilosis.
In Ancient Rome, women used to dye their hair blonde with pigeon dung.
All of the hair follicles in the human body are formed by the time we are just five months old in the womb.
When a hair falls out, it will usually re-grow. It can do this up to 20 times in a lifetime.
Balding only begins to become visible once you’ve lost over 50 percent of the hairs from your scalp.
At any given time, 90 percent of the hairs in your scalp are growing, while the other 10 percent are resting.
A single hair has a lifespan of about five years.
Hair acts as a layer of thermally insulating protection for our heads, which lack the insulation that fat provides for the rest of our bodies.
Man with Faciel Hair
Eighty percent of Americans wash their hair twice a day.
Each strand of hair can support up to 100 grams in weight. Multiply that by the average 100,000 to 150,000 strands on each head, and your entire head of hair could support the weight equivalent to two elephants.
The average person has roughly between 100,000 and 150,000 strands of hair on their head.
A natural blonde usually has more hair strands on their head then dark or red-haired people.
Towheads generally have 120,000 strands; brown/black-haired people have 100,000 strands, and redheads average about 80,000 strands.
At any random time, 90% of the hair on a head is in a growing phase, while the other 10% is in a resting phase.
40% of women have female pattern hair loss by the time they go through menopause.
50% of men have male pattern hair loss by the age of 50.
For it to be apparent that you are balding, you would have to lose 50% of your hair.
Most drugs cause hair loss.
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Men's and Women's Pubic Hairs
Thyroid imbalance causes hair loss.
Iron deficiency causes hair loss.
Humans are born with all of their hair follicles and there is no possible way to increase the amount of hair follicles you have.
Hair turns grey as a result of the pigment cells in the hair follicle not working properly. The hair bulb slows melanin production as a result of age or stress.
Hair is produced in the hair shaft beneath the skin; therefore it takes 13 days to see grey/white hair after it is produced.
A single strand of hair can support up to 6.5 pounds of weight.
A whole head of hair could support up to 2 tons.
On average, hair grows .3 to.5 mm per day.
The length of the growing phase of hair shortens as you age.
When you are born, you have about 1000 hair follicles per square centimeter. This number drops as you age.
Each hair follicle grows a completely new hair about 20 times in a lifetime.
Man and Woman with Gray Hair
Hair structure is the same, no matter whose head it is on.
The outer layer of hair is called the cuticle, and its purpose is to protect the inside layers. In healthy hair, the cuticle lays flat. In damaged hair, they are more open.
The middle layer of hair is called the cortex, which is made of long proteins twisted together.
The innermost layer of hair is called the medulla. Fine hair usually does not have a medulla. The purpose of the medulla has not yet been determined.
Hair does not grow thicker after being shaved.
People with thick, curly hair are more prone to ingrown hairs.
Blow-drying your hair works by changing hydrogen bonds to alter the shape. Water also changes hydrogen bonds; hence the reason women hate humidity.
The only part of hair that is not dead is the hair that is inside your scalp.
African hair grows slower and is more fragile than European hair.
Asian hair grows the fastest and has the best elasticity.
Women lose a lot of hair after giving birth. This is due to their hormones regulating back to normal.
Man and Woman with Black Hair
Healthy hair, when wet, can stretch to 30% its original length.
It takes about 7 years to grow your hair to your waist, and 3 years to grow to your shoulders.
The major cause of dandruff is a fungus called Malassezia Globosa, which pushes dead skin cells to the surface quicker than normal.
The strength of your hair is equivalent to an iron wire. It rips after having a force equivalent to 60 kg after stretching it 70%.
One sixteenth century doctor claimed you could restore hair by applying a random concoction made of boiled slugs, olive oil, honey, saffron, soap and cumin on the scalp.
Hair can absorb its weight in water.
Body hair is generally shorter because the growing phase is a lot shorter than the growing phase of hair on the scalp.
Human hair and fingernails continue to grow in death.
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Quotes about Hair
