What percentage of hair is on the human body. Interesting facts about hair and haircuts

Hair, according to some experts, is one of the most mysterious human organs. This is probably why so many myths and beliefs are associated with them. Scientists have refuted some of them, others have been confirmed, and others still remain unstudied. During the research process, many surprising discoveries were made.

Hair facts

Scientists have carefully calculated how many hairs there are on the heads of people with different colors hair. It turned out that blondes have the most of them - 120-140 thousand. Brunettes are less fortunate - they have 100-110 thousand. But red-haired people have only 80-90 thousand. However, visually, hairstyles different people are no different, and all because redheads have the thickest hair, and blondes have the thinnest.

The number of follicles on the head depends on heredity. On average, up to 20 hairs appear from one hair, each of which grows from 2 to 5 years, after which it falls out. It is considered normal if a person loses about 100 hairs per day. Compared to the hundreds of thousands that are on the head, this loss seems insignificant.

The first fuzz on a baby's head appears in the womb. It falls out during the first year of life and new, still delicate and thin hairs grow in its place. With age they become tougher. It has been proven that teenagers between 14 and 17 years old have the strongest and thickest hair. Then every year they become thinner. Gradually, the lush hair in youth turns into hairstyles that are quite modest in volume.

It is estimated that on average hair grows 1 cm per month. Interestingly, they grow better in spring and summer, as well as during daylight hours. Scientists cannot yet explain the obvious analogy with plants.


Many people want to have long hair, but not everyone succeeds. No help folk remedies and the most latest developments cosmetologists and chemists. This phenomenon was found scientific explanation. As it turns out, it all depends on the strength of the roots. Typically, hair grows to about 90-100 cm and then falls out under its own weight.

Human hair just seems fragile and thin. In fact, it can support 100 grams of weight (for example, a chocolate bar). However, it can stretch about 1/3 of its length before breaking. If the roots could hold out, an adult could lift two African elephants with his hair.

There are exceptions to every rule

All studies above reflect statistical averages. However, there are cases that go far beyond those indicated by scientists.

For example, Russian woman Tatyana Pismennaya has hair 2.7 meters long and has been growing it for about 40 years. She is not going to stop there and dreams of breaking the record of the Chinese woman Xie Quipingt, who has the most long strand has already reached 5.6 m. To be fair, it is worth noting that that the Russian woman’s hair looks simply luxurious along its entire length, but the Chinese woman’s beautiful hair at the roots gradually turns into a thin strand.

The longest hair among men (6.8 m) was from Vietnamese Tran Van Hei. True, he didn’t cut them not out of a desire to break a record or surprise others. He did not care at all about caring for them, twisting them into a rope and wrapping them around his head like a turban. In his case, he had to give up cutting his hair, since even a simple trimming of the ends ended in illness. An explanation for this phenomenon was never found, but they remembered the legend of Samson, who, having lost his hair, lost his strength, that is, his health.


The achievements of Bruce Khlebnikov are no less amazing. He doesn't just have long enough hair for a man. They have amazingly strong roots and are 4 times thicker than ordinary person. He moves multi-ton buses, tram cars, airplanes and pleasure boats by tying them to his hair in a ponytail.

Unusual use

Since hair has always attracted people, it was sometimes used in the most unexpected ways. This is how magicians of all times created damage and the evil eye with the help of a stolen strand. But some peoples kept the first cut lock of hair as a receptacle of primordial power. In ancient times, they found a very practical use for strands - they were used to weave strong strings for bows.

Hair is not left alone even today. Their ability to absorb oily substances was used in 2007 in San Francisco to collect spilled oil. To do this, activists collected cut hair from hair salons in the city, filled nets with it and pulled it across the surface of the water.


Italian designer Maria Lucia Mungo found a more aesthetic use for her curls. She covered her car with them inside and out, making the most unusual car tuning in the world.

As you can see, hair is quite an amazing part of our body. Many are sure that this is not the end of the scientists’ discoveries, and they will surprise us more than once with their mysterious and unpredictable properties.

1. Our hair, skin and eye color are determined by genes. Melanocytes are specialized skin cells that produce the pigment melanin. Melanin in the hair structure is presented in two forms: eumelanin and pheomelanin. Hair color is determined by the interaction of these two forms of pigments, eumelanin and pheomelanin, which are synthesized by melanocyte cells. As we age, melanocytes break down and our hair begins to turn grey, later turning white.

2. Dark hair contains higher levels of carbon than blonde hair.

3. Hair Growth Facts: Hair is the second fastest growing tissue in the human body. The first place in terms of growth rate is bone marrow after transplantation. Research shows that men's hair grows faster than women's.

4. Contrary to popular belief, trimming your hair does not affect the rate of hair growth or its texture.

5. The average lifespan of a strand of hair is five and a half years.

6. If all the hair on your head is woven into a rope, it can hold two African elephants. This is comparable in strength to aluminum or Kevlar cable.

7. Amazing facts about human hair: based on a single hair, scientists can determine many things about you, such as your diet in the past month or environment or the region where you lived.

Hair can be used for forensic drug testing and can reveal significant information in an investigation. However, there is a lot of information that hair cannot reveal, such as your gender.

8. Fun facts about grey/hair loss and race: average age The age at which Caucasians begin to go gray is 34 years, while for Africans and Asians, the average age is 47 years. Statistically, Asian people are less prone to baldness than Africans and Caucasians.

9. Contrary to popular belief, combing your hair is much healthier than brushing your hair.

10. To maintain strong and healthy hair, your diet should include eggs, salmon, carrots, green vegetables, and vitamins C and D.

11. Many anti-dandruff shampoos actually cause hair damage. Instead of removing dandruff, they cover the hair with wax, damaging its condition.

1. Women in Ancient Rome used a device similar to modern curling irons. Wigs and elaborate hairstyles were a sign of social status.

2. Coconut and almond oils, honey and ghee (clarified butter) have been used in India for hair treatments as far back as the 7th century.

3. Fun facts about hair coloring: The ancient Egyptians dyed their hair black with henna, the Romans bleached their hair with hydrogen peroxide, while medieval beauties turned to natural remedies and spells.

4. During the Renaissance, women removed all the hair on the front of their faces to make their foreheads wider.

5. Fun facts about hair hygiene: Before the 19th century, European women washed their hair much less often than they do now (but no less than once a month). They combed their hair in the evening and cleaned it to remove old oil.

6. When they washed their hair, they used lye-based soap, and if they washed their hair more often, this mixture would have too negative an effect on the hair.

1. Fun facts about red hair: Red hair is a genetic mutation. This is a recessive trait and can reappear after several generations.

2. Only 4% of the world's population have red hair. The highest percentage of redheads in the world is in Scotland (13%), followed by Ireland (10%).

3. In the Middle Ages, red hair was believed to be hallmark witches, as well as freckles, moles, warts and birthmarks. About 45,000 women suspected of witchcraft were tortured and burned at the stake or drowned.

4. In Elizabethan England, many women tried to imitate Queen Elizabeth's natural red hair by dyeing their hair with spices and flower extracts or wearing curly red hair wigs.

5. Natural red hair contains a record amount of pigments, making it the most difficult to dye.

6. In Egypt, redheads were buried alive as sacrifices to the god Osiris.

March 30, 2013, 01:47

1. Each hair consists of 14 different elements, including gold.

2. Anticipation of sex makes hair grow faster.

3. Human hair can be used as a food additive. L-Cysteine, which is part of hair, is added to dough for baking hl:) and other baked goods.

4. Healthy hair when wet, they can stretch up to 30 percent of the original length.

5. Every day we lose about 40-150 hairs.

6. A head of hair can support the weight of 12 tons or 2 African elephants.

7. Hair is the most common piece of evidence. The cross section of your hair can tell you what race or nationality you are.

In people of Asian descent round form hair

People of African descent have very flat shape hair

Europeans have oval hair

Gender is the only feature, which cannot be determined by hair.

7. Hair stores information about what is in your blood, including minerals and drugs.

8. The only part of the hair that is not dead is inside the scalp.

9. Only 2 percent of the world's population are blonde.

10. Dark color hair is the most common in the world.

11. Redhead is the most rare color hair that occurs in 1 percent of people in the world. 13 percent of Scots have red hair. This is the largest percentage in the world.

12. According to surveys, women are perceived differently according to their hair color. At the same time: blondes are considered funny and flirty, brunettes are considered smart and serious, and redheads are considered strong.

13. In addition, blond hair is one of the most expensive and costs about $1,600 per 100 grams.

14. Haircut does not affect hair growth.

15. Women's hair grows slower than men's.

16. Hair is the second fastest growing tissue in the human body after bone marrow.

17. Hair grows faster in warm weather.

18. Hair lives from 2 to 7 years. Average life cycle hair - 5.5 years.

19. Hair consists of 50 percent carbon, 20 percent oxygen, 17 percent nitrogen, 6 percent hydrogen and 5 percent sulfur.

20. On average, a person has 100,000 hairs on his head. Blondes have about 146,000, dark-haired people have 110,000, people with chestnut color hair -100,000, and for redheads - 86,000 hair.

21. There are 5 million hair follicles on the human body. They are formed when the child is still in the womb at the age of 5 months.

22. Hair covers the entire body, with the exception of the soles of the feet, palms of the hands, mucous membranes and lips.

23. The word "shampoo" comes from the word "champa", which is translated from Hindi as "rub, massage".

24. Women spend about $780 a year on hair products.

25. On average, women spend about 1 hour and 53 minutes washing, drying and styling their hair per week. By age 65, they will have spent about 7 months of their life on their hair.

26. People think you're going bald when you lose 50 percent of your hair.

27. Grey hair appear 13 days after stress, shock or aging.

28. On average, men spend about 5 months of their lives shaving their hair.

29. If you never shave your beard, it will grow up to 9 meters in your entire life.

30. Frequent washing scalp does not lead to more hair loss.

31. Combing is less damaging to hair than brushing.

32. Problems with thyroid gland and iron deficiency are reversible causes of hair loss.

33. Hormonal imbalances and diets can lead to temporary hair loss.

34. More than 50 percent of men will begin to go bald by the age of 50. male type. About 40 percent of women will experience female pattern (hereditary) hair loss when they reach menopause.

41. Africans and Europeans are more prone to baldness than Asians.

42. Representatives of the Caucasian race begin to go gray on average at 34 years old, while Africans and Asians at 47 years old.

43. B Ancient Greece light brown hair associated with prostitution.

44. During the Renaissance, it was fashionable to pluck hair along the growth line to make the forehead appear larger.

45. In 1705, Peter introduced a beard tax to get closer to the West.

46. ​​B Victorian era they made pendants and jewelry from the hair of deceased loved ones.

47. The ancient Egyptians were the first to remove unwanted hair from the body.

48. In ancient Rome, women dyed their hair blonde using pigeon dung.

49. During the Renaissance, women in Venice dyed their hair light brown using horse urine.

50. The ancient Greeks believed that redheads turned into vampires after death.

Hair grows to protect the body from negative impact environmental factors. In addition, hair makes a person's appearance attractive, stylish and even sexy look. As you know, hair can grow throughout your life. There are also certain signs with hair. So they say that the hair of babies should not be cut or thrown into the street. Therefore, we suggest further reading more interesting and mysterious facts about hair.

1. The most thick hair Natural blondes can boast.

2. The hairs are thickest natural brunettes. A black man's hair can be three times thicker than a white man's. But Indian women have especially thick hairs.

3. Every third inhabitant of the planet dyes her hair.

4. One in ten men dyes their hair.

5. Only 3% of men decorate their hair with highlights.

6. Usually, the hair growth rate is 1 cm per month.

7. Than older man, the slower his hair grows.

8. Hair grows fastest in teenagers.

9. Hair grows from two to five years, then stops growing and falls out.

10. Normally, a person can lose more than a hundred hairs a day.

11. 56% of middle-aged men and only 30% of women of this age wash their hair every day.

12. A quarter of all women use hairspray daily

13. Nine out of ten women call shampoo the main means of personal care.

14. Due to its structure, hair absorbs moisture well

15. Women's hair“live” 5 years, but males only 2 years.

16. A red-haired couple is almost 100% likely to have a red-haired baby.

17. Female baldness is considered an extremely rare phenomenon, which cannot be said about men.

18. Hair appears in the baby while still in the womb.

19. Red hair grows thickest. Although in terms of the number of hairs, owners of red hair are far behind blondes and inferior to brown-haired people.

20. With the exception of five percent, all human skin is covered with hair.

21. The amount of hair, its thickness, density and color are genetically determined. Therefore, it is a common belief that cutting and shaving can make hair thicker - a misconception.

22. 97% of hair has a protein base. The remaining 3% is water.

23. On average, up to 20 hairs can grow from one follicle during a person’s life.

24. Eyelash hairs are renewed every 3 months.

25. Much better hair grow during the day than at night.

26. By carefully combing your hair every evening, you can make it smooth and manageable.

27. It has been proven that the condition of hair affects a person’s self-esteem and mood.

28. Hair growth rate in different places body is very different.

29. It is believed that the most acceptable water temperature for washing hair is 40 degrees.

30. Men find more attractive women who have long hair.

31. In winter, hair grows slower than in hot weather.

32. Europeans begin to go gray after thirty, Asians after forty, and blacks begin to have their first gray hair after fifty.

33. Gray hair appears earlier in men.

34. Due to changes in hormone levels, pregnant women note that their hair becomes softer.

35. If your hair is not cut, it can grow no more than a meter. But there are people who have become famous due to abnormal hair growth. Chinese woman Xie Quipingt grew her hair to 5.6 meters in 13 years.

36. Frosty weather makes hair drier.

37. If we compare the strength of human hair and copper wire of a similar diameter, the first one will be stronger.

38. 90% of the total hair is constantly growing.

39. A balding person loses as much hair as anyone else. It’s just that in case of baldness, new hair does not grow in place of the lost hair.

40. Much more remedies have been invented for baldness in the world than for any other disease.

41. The only tissue in the human body that grows faster than hair is bone marrow immediately after transplantation.

42. During a lifetime, a person grows up to 725 km of hair.

43. Residents of Asia go bald much less often than residents of other parts of the world.

44. B Ancient Egypt For reasons of hygiene, it was customary to shave your head and wear a wig.

45. Due to the richness of pigment, red hair is the worst to dye.

46. ​​Only 4% of the planet’s inhabitants can be proud of having red hair. Scotland is considered the country where greatest number red-haired people.

47. In literature, Rapunzel is considered the most famous owner of hair.

48. By studying human hair, you can determine general state body. Due to the ability of hair to accumulate various substances. For example, after examining a strand of Napoleon's hair, scientists came to the conclusion that he was poisoned with arsenic.

49. B dark hair contains much more carbon than light ones.

50. Women's hair grows slower than men's.

51. Leaning on green vegetables, eggs, fatty fish and carrots can improve the condition of your hair.

52. In the Middle Ages, the owner of red hair could be called a witch and burned at the stake.

53. Stubble on a beard can grow in five hours. Therefore, it is believed that hair appears on the face faster than on any other part of the body.

54. Only after losing 50% of all hair will signs of baldness become obvious.

55. In women, hair follicles are embedded in the thickness of the skin 2 mm deeper than in men.

56. Hair is used in devices such as a hygrometer because the length of the hair can change depending on the degree of humidity.

57. On woman's head on average 200,000 hairs grow.

58. Total There are 600 hairs in a person's eyebrows.

59. To lighten hair, women Ancient Rome, used pigeon droppings.

60. Thanks to its porous structure, hair is able to absorb odors.

61. There is an opinion that hair growth strongly depends on the phases of the moon.

62. In the old days, it was considered indecent to wear loose hair. Since this was considered an invitation to intimacy.

63. Dentists have noticed that red-haired people need stronger anesthesia.

64. U natural blondes there is a higher level female hormone– estrogen.

65. Hair grows much faster on the top of the head than on the temples.

66. The fear of red-haired people is called gingerophobia.

67. All over the world, with the exception of Japan and England, hair care products are divided according to the type of fat content into dry, normal and oily. And only in these countries there are shampoos for thick, medium and fine hair.

68. Marie Antoinette used the services of two hairdressers to style her hair. One of them was busy every day, the second was invited to the court only according to the mood.

69. At the beginning of the twentieth century, women spent up to 12 hours getting a perm.

70. Thanks to the established stereotype, blondes are considered frivolous and laughing, redheads are considered perky “tomboys,” and brunettes give the impression of thoughtful intellectuals.

71. B chemical composition One hair can contain 14 elements, including gold.

72. There are only 2% of natural blondes in the world.

73. Using melt water is useful for washing your hair.

74. Hair does not grow only on the soles, palms, lips and mucous membranes.

75. Women, on average, spend up to two hours a week washing and styling their hair. Therefore, out of 65 years of life, 7 months are allocated to creating a hairstyle.

76. Blonde hair in Ancient Greece they were a sign of a fallen woman.

77. People with high level hair contains more intelligence zinc and copper.

78. " Ponytail" is the most popular hairstyle in the world.

79. The most expensive hairstyle in the world is considered to be the work of the famous “star hairdresser” Stuart Philips. This masterpiece cost Beverly Lateo 16,000 US dollars.

80. Psychologists say that a person who wants to shave his head is most often subconsciously dissatisfied with himself and strives to radically change his life.

81. In ancient times, long hair was a sign of wealth.

82. You can hold a hundred gram weight on one hair.

83. A student superstition says that you should not cut your hair before an exam; supposedly, cutting off your hair will cause you to lose some of your memory.

84. Human eyelashes grow in three rows. In total, there are up to 300 hairs on the upper and lower eyelids.

85. When a person gets scared, muscles involuntarily contract, including those on the head, which sets the hair in motion. So the phrase “hair stood on end” reflects reality.

86. Hot curling irons pull moisture out of your hair, making it brittle and dull.

87. Short hair grow much faster.

88. The amount of fat consumed in food does not affect the oiliness of hair.

89. Two types of hair grow on the human body: vellus and shaft.

90. In addition to decorating a person, hair also has quite practical functions. For example, they protect the scalp from hypothermia and sunburn, and protect against excess friction.

91. Scientists say that gray hair caused by severe stress will appear only two weeks after the event.

92. Regular lack of sleep and stress negatively affect the condition of hair.

93. Locket with a lock of hair loved one in the old days it was a very popular decoration.

94. Regular massage will help make your scalp less dry.

95. Side effect some medicines is hair loss.

96. By moving the parting line a small distance every day, over time you can significantly increase the volume of your hair.

Surprisingly, we are born without even knowing that just a couple of weeks before birth we were completely covered with hairs. Hair on a baby's body begins to grow while he is in the womb. Baby fuzz (lanugo) is a thin, weak hair that appears on the fetus around the 12th week of conception and falls out at the 40th week, before the baby is born. These hairs do protective function.

2. There are three types of body hair.

Lanugo or baby fuzz, discussed above, is the first type of body hair. These hairs are very thin, colorless and similar to the hairs that we see on the skin of a peach. Baby fuzz covers the skin and is not attached to the skin by roots and follicles. The hairs that appear on a child’s body from birth to puberty are light, thin and weak. These hairs belong to the second, intermediate type. They are not attached to the sebaceous glands and are easily and painlessly removed from the roots. The third type is the terminal stage of body hair formation. During puberty, hairs (especially in boys) become darker and stiffer, and their roots are firmly attached to the hair follicle and sebaceous glands.

3. Body hair is protected by microscopic glands

The sebaceous glands, which are connected to the hair follicle, perform a protective function: they produce sebum, which protects the skin and hair follicle from the penetration of bacteria. If the hair is removed from the root, work sebaceous glands does not stop, and they continue to perform their protective function. Moreover, removing body hair has certain benefits: the hairs accumulate sebum along their entire length, which can cause unpleasant odor bodies. By removing hairs, you solve this problem.

4. Evolution deprived us of hair, but rewarded us with subcutaneous fat in return.

On initial stages evolution, the human body, like the body of most primates, was covered with thick hair. However, according to one scientific hypothesis, thanks to the fact that humans learned to swim and often came into contact with water, nature decided to “make it easier”: in order to have a more streamlined body, we began to lose hair. However, in order to prevent the body from becoming hypothermic, nature has provided us with a layer subcutaneous fat, which is very thin in non-water-exposed primates, but can be very thick in humans. Thus, the function of protecting the body from hypothermia, which was previously performed by dense vegetation on the body, is now performed by subcutaneous fat.

5. Body hair has two main functions.

Body hair serves for thermoregulation. In cold weather, they stand on end to protect us from the cold, and in hot weather, they absorb sweat, like a moisture-absorbing napkin. However, as noted earlier, during the process of evolution we have lost most of the vegetation on our bodies. Now it is not so thick to fully perform the functions of thermoregulation. The hair on our body is not enough to fully protect us from the cold, nor to absorb sweat in hot weather.

6. The hairier a person is, the more intelligent he is.

According to research by American psychiatrists, people whose bodies are covered with dense dense vegetation have more high performance mental development compared to those who have virtually no body hair. Research has shown: than more hair on a person's body, the higher his IQ. Surely the people discussed in our article 10 hairiest people in the world had/have not only the most unusual appearance, but are also very smart.

7. Body hair contains muscle cells.

Surprisingly, the hair root consists of several types of cells, including even cells muscle tissue. It is these cells that are responsible for the phenomenon when your hair stands on end, when you are cold, or when you are afraid. By the way, goosebumps (a consequence of the hairs on the skin standing on end) can also appear on a dead body.

8. Body hair grows faster in summer

Body and scalp hair grows a little faster in spring-summer season than in autumn or winter. This is due to the fact that in warm time year, metabolism in the human body occurs faster than during the cold period. The rate of hair growth is also determined by the level of hormones in the body. The more in the body male hormones, the thicker, denser and darker the hair on your body will be. Sometimes in women's bodies there can be hormonal disorders, as a result of which a woman’s body may be covered with dense vegetation. This disorder is called hirsutism, and simple hair removal sessions may not be enough to cope with this problem. Hormone therapy may be required.

9. Body hair attracts the opposite sex

Although few people find the appearance of body hair aesthetic, body hair can accumulate a special, subtle odor that, on a subconscious level, attracts and excites members of the opposite sex. sexual desire. In this regard, scientists have found that most often victims of rape are women who do not remove hair in the bikini area, because it is in this area of ​​the body that pheromones (substances that have this very special smell) accumulate the most. What is noteworthy is that the “chance” of being raped for a woman who does not remove hair from her bikini area increases in windy weather, especially if she is wearing Casual clothes or not wearing underwear.


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