Having done laser hair removal since 2008, we have got rid of a lot of hair in that time – billions of hairs.! So lets talk about hair!.
Hair is one of those things which we take for granted….unless we’ve got too much or too little of it! It’s a defining feature for most people with many women being extremely attached to their hair or very proud of it.
There are numerous superstitions and old wives tales attached to hair, its growth, its colour and when and when not to cut it. In reality it’s something which is there for a purpose…the hair on our heads provides warmth and some protection from blows; rather like a cushioning surface it dulls any knocks to the head we may suffer in addition to protecting our scalps from the sun’s UV rays.
The hair on our bodies is there for similar reasons but today, we strive to minimise its presence and many people in the Western World prefer a smooth, hair-free finish. The following weird facts about hair are fascinating and incredible…so read on to learn more about something which most people take for granted.
25 Weird Hair Facts
1) Your hair is a sort of recording device and contains much information about what you have eaten and drunk including medications and minerals.
2) Blonde people have more hairs than dark or red haired people. Blondes average at 146,000 hair strands whilst brunettes have a measly 100,000!
3) The only information which cannot be identified through hair is sex. Scientists can tell a person’s race, age and what their diet is like but not what sex they are by studying a strand of hair.
4) Hair is very elastic and can stretch up to 30% more than its original length.
5) Hair is extremely strong and a whole head of hair can support 2 tonnes in weight.
6) Red hair is the rarest colour and is found in only 1% of the population of the world.
7) Hair grows in phases and at any one time while 90% of the hair on your head is growing, the other 10% is resting.
8) The Victorians used to make jewellery and keepsakes from locks of hair saved from their dead loved-ones. Saved within lockets and twined into intricate patterns they wore this jewellery as a reminder of their dear departed.
9) In some cultures the hair is never cut when the moon is waning (growing smaller) but only when it is waxing (growing larger) as the belief is that this makes it grow strong and well.
10) Hair covers every surface of the human body with the exception of the palms, the soles of the feet and the mucus membranes.
11) Fetuses have formed all of their hair follicles by the time they are 5 months old.
12) The average woman under the age of 35 spends between £500 and £800 on hair care products per year.
13) The first people recorded as having habitually removed their body hair were the ancient Egyptians.
14) Hair is one of the most commonly used pieces of evidence in forensic investigation.
15) Once hair leaves your scalp, it is dead.
16) Trichotillomania is the compulsion some people suffer which drives them to pull out their own hair strand by strand.
17) Hair does not keep on growing indefinitely if you stop cutting it; most people’s hair has a finite length and will not grow beyond around 3 feet long.
18) Male pattern baldness is inherited from either the male or the female side of the family.
19) We all have tiny mites living in the roots of our eyelashes and while that sounds gross, they are actually helping us out by being there. They eat the shed cells from the area and this helps new eyelashes to grow.
20) The average Caucasian will begin greying at around 34 years old; black people and Asian people don’t begin this process until around 10 years later.
21) Hair takes 6 weeks to grow
22) The hair cycle contains 3 phases
23) You lose around 100-150 hairs a day
24) Hair is the 2nd fastest organ in the body ( after the marrow )
25) A single hair can live for 5 years!
So all in all, hair is pretty amazing stuff; it keeps us warm, it protects us and looks pretty too…it’s no wonder that it’s such a defining feature for many people!
