40 Interesting Facts About Hair

Our hair is quite fascinating. While combing our hair in the morning, we rarely think about how strong it is or how much of it we have… Generally, we only think about it when choosing a shampoo or styling it. But there’s more to hair than meets the eye! There’s a lot to say about hair, especially since we’ve been able to study it thoroughly thanks to the development of science and the invention of microscopes.

Facts About Hair

1. Hair follicles consist of 6 layers.
2. The shape of the follicle directly influences whether your hair is straight, slightly wavy, or curly.
3. Hair itself is made up of 3 layers, with the outer part composed of keratin scales that overlap each other.
4. The natural oil on your hair, which sometimes makes it shine, contains an antiseptic that helps the body fight off foreign microorganisms.
5. The living part of the hair is beneath the skin’s surface. The visible part is already dead.
6. Hair loss is a completely normal process, as old hairs are replaced by new ones.
7. At any given time, about 93% of the hair on a person’s head is in the growth phase.
8. On average, a person has between 90,000 and 150,000 hairs on their head. Each square centimeter of the scalp holds between 200 and 460 hairs.
9. Redheads typically have more hair than people with any other hair color.
10. There are three primary hair colors—brunette, blonde, and red—but there are about 300 different shades.
11. Hair often serves as evidence found at crime scenes. While a lot can be learned about a person from their hair, determining their gender from it is impossible.
12. By examining a hair, experts can determine if a person has used drugs recently.
13. There are about 5 million hair follicles on the human body, most of which produce fine, soft hair that covers nearly the entire body.
14. Hair follicles form around the fifth month of fetal development in the womb.
15. Wet hair becomes heavier and elongates by 15-30% compared to dry hair.
16. Less than 2% of the world’s population has red hair. The highest concentration of redheads is found in Scotland and Ireland.
17. Black is the most common hair color in the world.
18. On average, about 20 hairs grow from each hair follicle over a person’s lifetime.
19. Hair grows faster than any other tissue in the human body, except for bone marrow.
20. The officially recorded length of the longest hair is 6.8 meters.
21. In ancient Greece, it was believed that red-haired people would turn into vampires after death.
22. Losing 40 to 150 hairs per day is considered normal.
23. Native Africans’ hair grows more slowly than that of other ethnic groups.
24. Hair removal, or epilation, first appeared in ancient Egypt. Notably, the famous queen Cleopatra was known to have used it.
25. In general, hair grows slower in cold climates than in warm ones.
26. Scientists believe that thick hair remained on the human head during evolution because the skull lacks fat tissue to protect it from the cold.
27. Wigs made from natural blonde hair are always more expensive than those made from dark hair.
28. A healthy person can go completely gray from severe stress in less than two weeks.
29. About 50% of men over the age of 50 show some degree of baldness.
30. On average, hair on a person’s head grows at a rate of about 1 centimeter per month.
31. An adult’s hair grows about 30-35 meters per day.
32. In Renaissance Italy, horse urine was used to lighten hair.
33. A healthy human hair can support up to 100 grams of weight. The hair on an average person’s head could theoretically support the weight of two adult elephants.
34. Contrary to popular belief, regular trimming does not make hair grow faster. However, it does get rid of split ends, making hair less prone to breakage.
35. Blondes usually have more body hair than brunettes, but it is less noticeable.
36. Ancient Egyptians often shaved their heads due to the heat, both men and women. For ceremonies, they wore wigs.
37. No one has perfectly straight hair. For those who appear to have straight hair, the degree of curl is simply too subtle to be noticed with the naked eye.
38. If a man never shaved, his beard could grow up to 9-10 meters over his lifetime.
39. Lice do not appear in hair due to dirt. However, they can be transmitted through the use of someone else’s combs or hats.
40. Red hair is more resistant to dyeing than any other hair color due to its high melanin content.