Hair

Posted on 30. Jul, 2010 by in Beauty

There are some pretty interesting facts about human hair. On average, there are about 5 million strands of hair on the human body at any given moment. There are about 100,000 hair follicles on the human scalp alone, and of that total, about 80 of them are likely to fall out. Human hair consists of a protein called keratin, and it is the same material that fingernails are made of. Hair grows from follicles located deep inside of the dermis and grows through the epidermis. At times, the hair can instead grow sideways along the epidermis, causing the condition of an ingrown hair, along with an infection of the hair follicle.

There are three distinctive types of hair that humans have. The first type is present while a human is still in the womb, as it covers the entire body of a developing fetus. This hair is called Lanugo and it disappears shortly before birth. Lanugo can reappear in cases of malnutrition or during extreme cases of anorexia, as a means to insulate itself due to the lack of proper body fat. Vellus hair is another type of human hair that covers most of the human body. It is extremely short, fine and barely noticeable. Terminal hair is fuller, thicker and longer than vellus hair, and it appears in specific places. Hair textures can usually be described as either fine, medium, or coarse.

Natural hair color depends on the production of pigment. When a person ages, their hair follicles produce less pigment, causing the hair to change to a grey appearance. The thinning and/or loss of scalp hair also accompany aging in males and females. Some people are also affected by the heraldry condition of pattern baldness.

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