Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Hellbent

The Great Hair Mystery

Recommended Posts

Okay... now I've researched this on Google and the pervading answer seems to be that body hair falls out after a certain amount of time, preventing it from getting indefinitely long like the hair on your head. But if this is true, why are the only hairs I find around my room are the ones from my head??? Shouldn't I also find my body hair that keeps falling off accumulating in my small room? Don't I have more body hair follicles than head hair follicles? Seems I should be seeing more body hairs on my bedroom floor. How would one go about testing this? Lock someone in a small white room for two months, feeding them liquid smoothies only so no crumbs could interfere with the finding of any fallen hairs. Dust collects, but not hairs.

The point of this post is this: if body hairs don't fall off after a period of time, then do they stop growing after a certain point and if so how do they know when to stop? If you cut a hair, it will soon be replaced.

Share this post


Link to post

I imagine most of them would be in your clothes, bed or too small to easily see.

Share this post


Link to post

Hair, like any other tiny organic matter excreted/shed by your body, decomposes into something we call 'dust'.

I take it you've never observed those particles floating in the air under a sunbeam?

Share this post


Link to post
Joe said:

I imagine most of them would be in your clothes, bed or too small to easily see.

hmm... good point... but I still prefer to believe the hairs are alive and know what's going on.

Share this post


Link to post

They're not alive at all. They are just strands made up of keratin - a fibrous protein.

Share this post


Link to post

The only thing that stops the hairs' fall is the floor.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't know about you, but I have no trouble finding people's stray pubes in... certain places, if I bother to look. Does that count?

Share this post


Link to post

It turns into grass. That's why there's so much outside.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

Okay... now I've researched this on Google and the pervading answer seems to be that body hair falls out after a certain amount of time, preventing it from getting indefinitely long like the hair on your head. But if this is true, why are the only hairs I find around my room are the ones from my head??? Shouldn't I also find my body hair that keeps falling off accumulating in my small room? Don't I have more body hair follicles than head hair follicles? Seems I should be seeing more body hairs on my bedroom floor. How would one go about testing this? Lock someone in a small white room for two months, feeding them liquid smoothies only so no crumbs could interfere with the finding of any fallen hairs. Dust collects, but not hairs.

The point of this post is this: if body hairs don't fall off after a period of time, then do they stop growing after a certain point and if so how do they know when to stop? If you cut a hair, it will soon be replaced.

Someone might've beat me to this (limited time), but your hair on your head ALSO has a growth limit, and varies by hair type, and growth rate. Some can grow hair to their feet, while others can't get it to their shoulders.

Share this post


Link to post

It's perfectly healthy to loose anywhere 50 to 100 strands of hair a day. For us males hour "resting phase" of life span of our hair is shorter that of females and shed a little quicker. A resting phase means when a hair grows for around 4-6 or less years it will desist growing and go into a phase where it just remains at that length until a new follicle grows and pushing it out.

I'm lucky enough to have my grandfather’s genes, which provide me with an abundance of body hair for my age, and I find it everywhere. I also find a substantial amount of hair from my head as well.

Depending on your age you could be experiencing shorter life spans of a follicle indicating that your hair follicles are shrinking and going into a permanent resting phase (Male pattern baldness.)

Share this post


Link to post

Well, after all we descend from the apes, don't we?

We even start looking like them as we age: body hair gains ground, head hair recedes, stomach grows and before you know it you're like a bald, sausage-gut orangutan. Or Al Bundy, whatever.

Share this post


Link to post

Male chimps also suffer from male pattern baldness too.

On a side note, I just recently clogged my sink when I trimmed my sideburns.

Share this post


Link to post

No idea what you're talking about. I'm a fairly hairy dude, and I notice a good amount of body hair gathering around the corners of my tiled bathroom, under my keyboards, etc.

I used to live with a really hairy guy, and his toweled-off body hair would coat the bathtub in a furry mat after about a week.

You probably just notice head hair more because it's thicker and longer and darker. Arm hairs etc would disappear between the pile of the carpet, and be harder to spot because they're usually lighter in color.

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah, I'm guessing Hellbent has less body hair, which makes any fallen accumulation less noticeable.

Maes said:
Well, after all we descend from the apes, don't we?

We are apes.

Technician said:
Male chimps also suffer from male pattern baldness too.

I was making faces earlier today, stretching my mouth and opening my eyes, and I looked rather chimpy.

Share this post


Link to post

I remember having a debate with someone. I just couldn't get it through that we didn't descend from primates but are primates. It's a hard concept for some people to except a taxonomy that includes a human with an animal (though we are animals) species.

Share this post


Link to post

I don't know how you do it, hellbent...but if I could never see body hairs it would be nice...

Actually I don't care - anyway I've seen bright red pubes before

:D

Share this post


Link to post

Body hair is a mystery; I've never seen my own body hair on the floor, on my clothes, etc. except that it always appears on my blue carpet. Either the carpet works like a body hair magnet, or the body hairs think of it as some kind of a promised land, or a hair graveyard.

Share this post


Link to post
Hellbent said:

hmm... good point... but I still prefer to believe the hairs are alive and know what's going on.


They are alive and they know perfectly well what's going on. Each day they grow in numbers and it's only a matter of time before there's enough of them to wipe us out and take what rightfully belongs to them.

Share this post


Link to post

I guess the next test would be to measure the hairs on your arm. If they're all different length then the prevailing theory is probably right. But if they are mostly all the same length, then seems to me that would not bode well for the current theory. If hairs are continuously falling out and growing back in, then their growth should be at intermediary stages.

Share this post


Link to post

If you look closely at your follicles, you can see that there is not just a single strand of hair that pokes out, but there are two or three in that same follicle, often different lengths.

Share this post


Link to post

Oddly enough the hair on my head seems to be falling out when i comb it with great frequency lately. It is super-long, but has stuck at about this length since 2004 due to the ends tangling and then being ripped off when i comb it in the shower, the falling out has only started now.

Maybe i just have radiation poisoning.

Share this post


Link to post

I think it's called getting old.

I myself am starting to get grey hairs.

Share this post


Link to post

You should NEVER comb your hair in the shower or even when it's wet. Wet hair damages and or separates from the follicle easier when it is wet. And get normal bi-monthly trims you cheap bastard to get rid of dry split ends. And remember to condition or oil your hair.

Share this post


Link to post

I'd just give the conditioner advice. In addition to the ones you use after shampooing, there are also combing conditioners to use after washing, when hair is moist. Just be careful when combing: Undo any tangles carefully instead of ripping through with your comb.

I've gotten more damaged hair from combing it while dry than wet, because once tangled and dry it's hard to undo. As for hairs falling off, that shouldn't be a problem unless the follicle gets damaged because it grows back.

Looks like we have more in common with Romero than just DOOM :p

Share this post


Link to post
Technician said:

You should NEVER comb your hair in the shower or even when it's wet. Wet hair damages and or separates from the follicle easier when it is wet. And get normal bi-monthly trims you cheap bastard to get rid of dry split ends. And remember to condition or oil your hair.


I'm combing the conditioner into it (using a comb with very widely seperated teeth i may add), and i can cut the ends off myself for free. Still happens, though

Share this post


Link to post
Danarchy said:

I think it's called getting old.

I myself am starting to get grey hairs.


I got quite a few of those.
It's better that they are gray, then not being there at all. :)

Share this post


Link to post
Danarchy said:

I think it's called getting old.

I myself am starting to get grey hairs.


I'm considering "Just For Men"

Share this post


Link to post
Georgef551 said:

I got quite a few of those.
It's better that they are gray, then not being there at all. :)

Tell me about it :/

Share this post


Link to post

Heh yeah, on the bright side I at least have the genes that will allow me a full head of hill until the day I die.

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×