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Why do you go bald at your parting, does plucking grey hair give you more of it, and other questions.
We debunk myths, drop facts, and answer questions about this wonderful body part.
Hair – we all have it all over our bodies in different colours, textures, and volume. But how much do we really know about this body part that manages to grow and re-grow?
On average, a person has 5 million hair follicles, with 150,000 of that on their head. We’re born with a fixed number of hair follicles, so losing or gaining hair depends on your hair or scalp condition and health, not the follicles.
Nope. What you do to one hair and its follicle cannot affect the adjacent ones. If you pluck a grey hair, the regrowth might be a darker colour. However, plucking your hair too often might damage the follicle to the point of being unable to grow new hair.
Hair is mostly made up of keratin proteins that are bonded in 2 ways: disulphide and hydrogen. The disulphide bond is permanent, determines the strength of the hair, and is unaffected by humidity.
Hydrogen bond, on the other hand, breaks and forms whenever your hair gets wet (comes into contact with water molecules) and dries. When it rains, humidity rises (more water molecules) and causes your hair strands to form more hydrogen bonds, making them take different “shapes” and look more irregular.
We have different types of hair on different parts of our body. Vellus hair, finer and lighter coloured, is the hair on our head while Terminal hair, coarser and thicker, is body hair.
Pubic hair is coarser and curlier because of its function: to prevent friction during intercourse, so that the sex isn’t literally on fire. You’re welcome!
No, since it’s the follicles that determine your hair’s rate of growth. Having said that, regularly trimmed hair that’s free of split ends is healthier and tends to look shinier and fuller.
Actually, we lose body hair just as frequently, if not more often. We just notice the loss of body hair less because it’s shorter and less dense!
Different hair follicle types have different growth cycle lengths. Head hair grows the fastest at about 1/2 inch monthly; followed by underarm and pubic hair, beard hair, and the slowest of all are eyelash and brow hair.
This, of course, differs from person to person and depends on factors like age, health, and lifestyle.
When hair is parted the same way for long periods of time, the hair at the parting is perpetually weighed down and breaks. Meanwhile, other parts of the hair are not exposed and allowed to breathe.
Additionally, we tend to use heat tools more on the hair parting. This makes the hair less porous and less able to absorb nourishing products and hair dye.
This works the same way as the parting. Pulling your hair back too tight (e.g. in a braid, bun, or ponytail) puts stress on the hairline. A ponytail is heavy and pulls on the hairline even more, causing breakage and in the long run, damaging the follicle to the point that it stops growing hair.
When you pluck hair, the follicle gets irritated and sometimes, even inflamed. These factors make the skin itch.
Why do you go bald at your parting, does plucking grey hair give you more of it, and other questions.
