Hi everybody.
I went to the hair salon yesterday for a cut and as Tony was blowing my hair dry, I started to think to myself, “Where does hair come from? How does it grow?” and thought it would be a good thing to write about.
When we first think of hair we usually think only of the hair on our heads. But actually hair grows on almost all part of the body. The only places on the body that don’t have hair are the lips, the palms of our hands and the soles of our feet. Hair on your body (like your head and eyebrows) is easy to see, but other hair, like on your cheek, is almost invisible. (I didn’t even know I had hair on my cheek until I read about it.)
Also, depending on where hair is, it has different jobs. The hair on your head keeps your head warm and provides a little cushioning for your skull. Eyelashes protect your eyes by decreasing the amount of light and dust that go into them, and eyebrows protect your eyes from sweat dripping down from your forehead.
OK, so where does hair come from? Well, I learned that whether hair is growing out of your head, arm or ankle, it all rises out of the skin in the same way. It starts at the hair root, which is a place beneath the skin where cells band together to form keratin (the protein that hair is made of). The root is inside something called a follicle (fol-ih-kul), which is like a small tube in the skin.
As hair cells are being made, they are injected with coloring substances called pigments. When we get older, the production of these pigments gradually stops and the result is that hair grows out white or gray. As the hair begins to grow, it pushes up from the root and out of the follicle, through the skin where it can be seen. Tiny blood vessels at the base of every follicle feed the hair root to keep it growing. But once the hair is at the skin's surface, the cells within the strand of hair aren't alive anymore. Can you believe that the hair you see on every part of your body contains dead cells? That’s right! That's why it doesn't cause pain when someone cuts your hair with scissors!
Another important aspect of the follicle is that some hair follicles are structured in a way that produces curly hair, whereas other follicles send out straight hair. Follicles also determine if your hair will be thick and coarse or thin and fine.
Nearly every hair follicle is attached to a sebaceous (sih-bay-shus) gland, which is sometimes called an oil gland. These sebaceous glands produce oil, which makes the hair shiny and a bit waterproof. Sometimes, like during puberty, these glands can pump out too much oil and a person's hair may look greasy.
OK, now get this: You have more than 100,000 hairs on your head, but you lose some every day. About 50 to 100 hairs fall out each day while you're washing your hair, brushing or combing it, or just sitting still. But don't worry; new hairs are constantly replacing the ones that have fallen out. Each hair on your head grows for about 2 to 6 years. Then it rests for a few months and finally falls out. It is replaced by a new hair, which begins to grow from the same hair follicle. This cycle of hair growing, resting, falling out, and being replaced helps to maintain just the right number of hairs on your head.
Want to hear something amazing? If hair is not cut, it can grow up to 5 feet long! But this takes a real long time. Hair on the head grows slowly, about ½ inch every month. At that rate it would take about 10 years to grow your hair to 5 feet long!
No matter what type of hair you have, it’s very, very important to keep it clean, to wash and brush it regularly, and to eat a healthy diet. Why is a healthy diet important? Because a nutritious diet helps your body from the inside out!
Until next time …
