Loading ...What actually is Hair?
For more than centuries people have been impressed, annoyed, obsessed over and even been disgusted by hair. They have been purposefully growing it long, shaving it off, coloring it, curling it and what not, without even realizing its true nature and purpose. Nowadays, hair has given rise even to some of the world’s largest industries manufacturing and selling products to make your hair look more vibrant as well as alive.
Scientifically hair is something very dead and actually a part of skin. Unlike finger or toenails, it separates from the skin as it grows but, being dead does not mean we don’t need to take good care of it, as the complex growth part of every hair is carefully nestled inside our skin in hair follicles and not taking good care can cause permanent damage to those causing premature hair loss.
An average human body is covered with 5 million follicles, with approximately 100,000 on your head. The growth phase of every hair follicle is divided into two phases; Anagen or growth phase where the hair follicle makes hair grow up to about 1/2 an inch every month and Telogen phase or resting phase where the follicle usually takes a rest from producing any hair and for the time being hair from that follicle disappears. At any particular point of time about 90% of the follicles are in Anagen or growth phase and the rest 10 % in Telogen or resting phase. Average human hair stays in growth phase and can grow up to lengths of 1 1/2 – 3 feet before it falls out naturally.
What is the Purpose of Hair?
Being dead doesn’t mean that hair has no purpose; rather hair serves several biological functions, growing even in the most unwanted of places. Hair usually serves following biological functions:
- Protection of scalp and head.
- Acting as insulation in summer or winter.
- Provides protection against sunburn.
- Protects the nerve endings that sense those irritating mosquito bites.
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Ethnics origins of hair
The morphology of hair is directly controlled by the gene(s) which is the structural and functional unit of heredity. Although different racial groups share some common hair characteristics but due to diversity in gene pool hair of every individual varies in many traits. The generalities of hair characters are as follows:
- The Caucasians people possess highest number of hairs on their head with an average of two hundred hairs per centimeter, although the morphology of their hair thickness differs in most of the cases.
- Asians are having the thickest and coarsest hair on their head with an average density of hundred and fifty hairs per square centimeter.
- The thinnest and finest hair belongs to African Americans but it appears thicker more than that of Caucasian or Asian hair due to its matted nature. The average density is hundred and thirty hairs per square centimeter.
The three above mentioned examples clearly indicates that the morphological difference of hairs are strongly influenced by ethnicity and race and allow us to understand why people are not equal with respect hair. Due this divergent pattern of evolution of hair, lot of questions can arise in your mind regarding the relation between the ethnicity and the type of hair you posses but that kind of details us away from the propose of this website. A deep relationship exists between this specialized organ called hair and the surrounding environment. For example, the African people have dark skin acting as a shield against Sorong sunlight and sun burns while the kinky hair acts as a good insulator and protect from sun to keep the body cool.
Some unexplained features of hairs still exists in different races when it comes to the comparison between the straight, lower density hair of Asians to the high density ones of Caucasians of North Europeans.
- Caucasian hair: Caucasians possess the highest number of hairs on scalp and the average density is 200 hairs per square centimeter. Normally 100,000 follicles on the scalp producing thicker terminal hairs is an important sign of a healthy Caucasian person. The production of fine, vellus hair scattered around the body is controlled by five million non-clap follicles as compared to the Caucasians. The dense nature of hair distribution makes the scalp of a Caucasian less visible and adds to the thickness of the hair in comparison to the Asians and Africans.
- Asian hair: As compared to Caucasian the Asian scalp contains fewer hairs having an average of 140 to 160 hairs per square centimeter. A normal Asian posses near about 80,000 follicles. It tends to be straight with a low density in comparison to the curly or wavy and high dense Caucasian hairs. Due to its straight appearance the Asian hair does not cover well but the coarse and thick nature often compensate this.
- African/African American hair: The hairs belong to this group has the lowest density of distribution ranged between 120-140 hairs per square centimeter. The normal disease free scalp of this race posses 60,000 follicles. The morphological appearance is fine in some cases and kinkier in other. Due to sticky nature sometimes the hairs appeared highly dense in their distribution which is not the actual scenario. The dark skin complexion of Africans obscures the lower density for low contrast between skin color and hair.