When it comes to hair care, there’s no such thing as having too much knowledge! While you may be an expert on styling your hair and keeping it looking its very best, there is still a great deal of fascinating information about hair that you may still be unfamiliar with. We’ve compiled a list of twelve fascinating yet unusual facts that will give you a whole new perspective on hair!
- Hair Grows Faster in Warm Climates
Yep, you read that correctly. In warmer weather, the high temperatures causes an increase in blood flow, allowing for the hair follicles to increase their production. The result? A hair growth rate that spikes in warm weather, meaning the summer is the ideal time to grow out that long mane!
- You Lose 50-150 Hairs a Day
Hair loss is one of the most commonly shared fears of aging, but did you know that you lose about 50-150 hairs on a daily basis? It is a common part of the hair’s lifecycle to fall out, being replaced by a newer, healthier strand of hair in its place. While this number may seem like a lot of hair, keep in mind that the average head of hair has tens of thousands of hair strands at a given time!
- Hair is Made of Keratin
You may have heard about keratin, with many products including hydrolyzed keratin in their ingredients list. But what is keratin, exactly? You may not know this, but keratin is the same protein structure that makes up your skin and nails! Just as your skin and nails require constant care, so too does your hair, as keratin is a delicate protein that requires proper moisture and hydration.
- Wet Hair can Stretch 30%
Hair is at its most flexible when it is wet, which allows it to stretch a stunning 30% of its normal length when dry! This occurs due to the fact that wet that hair is an incredibly porous bodily tissue, meaning that it absorbs water and expands when it is wet. Be careful, however, as hair can still break when overstretched in its wet state, which makes brushing wet hair a very dangerous activity!
- Black is the World’s Most Common Hair Color
At nearly 75% of the global population, black hair is by far the most common hair color on the planet. At the other end of the spectrum, red hair is the least common, with less than 1-2% of the global population having red hair. Surprisingly, blonde hair is only slightly more common than red hair, with just a shade over 2% of the world’s population having blonde hair.
- A Single Hair Has an Average Lifespan of 5 Years
With an average lifespan of 5 years, a single hair span can spend a long time on your head. With longer hair, that number can reach even higher, which makes you realize just how long it takes to grow your hair out! Because of this, a lab analysis of an individual strand of hair can reveal a stunning amount of information, as several year’s worth of genetic data is encoded within each individual hair strand.
- Hair Colors Have Different Numbers of Hair Strands
While many people think that each head of hair has a similar amount of hair strands, the reality is that the number of hair strands can vary wildly by hair color. Blonde hair, for instance, can average 150,000 hairs per head, while red hair averages around 90,000. Funnily enough, however, this difference in hair quantity is not nearly as noticeable as it should be, as lighter hair looks less thick and full than darker hair does.
- Each Hair Strand Can Support 6.5lbs
You may imagine your hair as this delicate, fragile part of your body, but the reality is that hair is much stronger than meets the eye! With an ability to support up to 6.5lbs without breaking, your hair can really carry its own weight! When you put all the hairs in your head together, your entire head of hair can support about 60 tons, making it one of the strongest tissues in the body!
- Rapid Dieting Can Cause Temporary Hair Loss
Crash dieting, in which someone dramatically reduces their daily caloric intake, can lead to a temporary reduction in hair growth. This is due to the hormonal changes caused by crash dieting, leading to the body to reduce its average rate of hair growth. Thankfully, this loss of hair growth is temporary, but it goes to show that slow and steady dieting is the best solution!
- Hair Becomes Drier with Age
While your hair may be oily and require little in the way of moisture today, you may be surprised to learn that your hair may become much drier and require more moisture in the future. As we age, our scalp produces less sebum, aka oil, which our hair requires in order to stay supple and hydrated. With a reduced sebum production, our hair gets much drier as we age, which makes moisturization and proper conditioning that much more important for older hair types.
- Men’s Hair Grows Faster than Women’s Hair
While women are typically thought of as having longer hair types than men, it may come as a shock to realize that male hair actually grows faster than female hair. Due to an increase in testosterone production, men’s hair grows at an increased rate than women, requiring more frequent trimming than women.
- Hair Grows Everywhere on the Body – Aside from a Few Unusual Spots
Your hair can grow in just about every inch of your body (95% of your body to be exact), but there are a handful of places in which it is impossible for hair to grow. These areas include the lips, the bottoms of your feet, and the palms of your hands, partly due to the thickness of the skin located in each of these regions.
