Hair question

[zodiac66]

I was pondering this today and since I am the lazy sort, why does the hair on one's head and facial hair for men keep growing yet leg, pit, back (eeww) and eyebrows do not? I always thought it may be from rubbing against clothing, but that would not explain eyebrows.


Sorry, I was bored at work today.

[Ash Housewares]

would the hair on one's head reach a point where it would stop growing if left un cut? perhaps that length is just far longer than elsewhere and is seldom arrived at

[superdave]

would the hair on one's head reach a point where it would stop growing if left un cut? perhaps that length is just far longer than elsewhere and is seldom arrived at
let me get this straight...you are suggesting that each hair has a preset finite length?


zodi...if it is really quiet at work and things are going slow...try to see if you can hear your hair grow.

[zodiac66]

That would not work. I spent too many years listening to loud bands. My hearing is not what it was when I was a whippersnapper.

[{KOW}Spazed]

would the hair on one's head reach a point where it would stop growing if left un cut? perhaps that length is just far longer than elsewhere and is seldom arrived at
http://www.thaifocus.com/news/stories/longhair.htm

I think it just keep growing no matter what. Keeping it from getting brittle and breaking might be a problem though.

http://www.hairfinder.com/hairquestions/grow_hair_out.htm

That I think explains it though, your genetics just keeps that hair from growing anymore by stopping the anagen phase. Although that wouldn't explain it coming back after a shave.

Maybe they constantly grow and just fall out after reaching a certain length(which is determined by how many cycles it goes through).

[Dondrei]

There must be some sort of biological mechanism that tells each hair how long to grow. After all, we have hair all over our bodies.

Head hair will just keep growing forever though, I think. Although if I understand correctly, once it gets down to your waist it grows really, really slowly. Or maybe it stops there, I've never seen or heard of anyone with hair longer than that.

[zodiac66]

Crystal Gayle..the country singer had hair past her butt..I think.

[{KOW}Spazed]

There must be some sort of biological mechanism that tells each hair how long to grow. After all, we have hair all over our bodies.

Head hair will just keep growing forever though, I think. Although if I understand correctly, once it gets down to your waist it grows really, really slowly. Or maybe it stops there, I've never seen or heard of anyone with hair longer than that.
Meg had hair down to mid thigh for a while, she cut it back to her waist though, sitting on your own hair hurts.

[Dondrei]

Thigh, huh? I wonder if it can grow any longer.

[{KOW}Spazed]

Thigh, huh? I wonder if it can grow any longer.
Go read my link, it was over 5 meters.

[Ev_]

A very science minded friend-of-a-friend once explained that each area on your body has a certain length of hair it can support. For each person it's different, and just has to do with how nutrients get supplied to the hair. Obviously the hair on our head can grow much longer, but it too has a finite length for each person.

[{KOW}Spazed]

I don't think there is a finite length until the hair either gets too brittle and breaks or it's own weight pulls it out.

EDIT: If hair did have a finite length then we wouldn't need hair cuts after a certain age, unless of course we were constantly making new hair follicles which we also no is untrue because then our hair would always be getting thicker.

[ragnar_ii]

Hair as infinite length. It just falls out after a certain length. Hair with finite length is called fur.

[Merick]

Lanugo are hairs that grow on the body to attempt to insulate it because of lack of fat. It is a type of pelage. It occurs on fetuses and it is normal for the unborn fetus to consume the hair, which then contributes to the newborn baby's first faeces (meconium). Lanugo hair is usually shed and replaced by vellus hair at 36-40 weeks gestation. The presence of lanugo in newborns is a sign of premature birth.

Weird.....

[Dondrei]

Go read my link, it was over 5 meters.

Oh, I missed the first one. Huh. I wonder if that's the length anyone can get it, or if that's a genetic abnormality or something.


Hair as infinite length. It just falls out after a certain length. Hair with finite length is called fur.

So my eyebrows are fur?

[ragnar_ii]

So my eyebrows are fur?

No, eyebrow hair falls out all the time. At least mine do.