Fifteen Facts About Human Hair

Ever wonder what a monk's hairstyle is called? How8. For every human, hair is the fastest growing tissue
about the name for the fear of hair? This articleon the body.
contains plenty of fun facts about human hair --9. On the television show Arrested Development, Ed
some of which might surprise you!Begley Jr. portrayed a character suffering from
1. Ever notice how pre-20th Century military leadersalopecia universalis - a complete lack of any human
like Andrew Jackson and Ulysses S. Grant had long,hair. Another such character is Judge Holden in the
flowing locks and full beards? That's because theCormac McCarthy novel Blood Meridian.
trend favoring short hair on uniformed men didn't10. The world's longest documented human hair can
begin until the World War I, when trench warfarebe found atop the head of Xie Quiping of Guangxi
created a breeding ground for lice. Since then, militaryProvince in China. Her hair is just under eighteen and a
men have cropped their hair close to their scalps.half feet long.
2. The myth that human hair and fingernails continue11. Human hair isn't the only kind of hair subject to
to grow after we die is just that - a myth.baldness. Primates such as the chimpanzee and the
Decomposition only makes it appear that way.stump-tailed macaque sometimes develop pattern
3. Human hair likes company: Your head hasbaldness after adolescence.
anywhere from 90,000 to 150,000 hairs on it.12. If you have chaetophobia, you may want to take
4. Human hair can't stand too much dandruffa trip to the barber. Chaetophobia is the fear of hair.
shampoo. Because of this, you should use such13. In the Sherlock Holmes story The Red-Headed
products only when you need them. Otherwise youLeague, Arthur Conan Doyle describes a bank
risk damaging your hair and scalp, and even creatingrobber's plot to distract a red-headed pawnshop clerk
more dandruff.by offering him a high-paying job based solely on the
5. If your hair feels oily, it's because of an excess ofcolor of his hair. The purpose? To keep him out of
sebum, a fatty oil that's produced at the base ofthe pawnshop while the robber tunnels through its
each human hair follicle.cellar to a bank vault next door.
6. Liberty spikes - the long, stiff, often multicolored14. The main component of human hair is keratin,
spikes of hair popular within the punk subculture -which is also found in gazelle horns, reptile scales,
can't be achieved with conventional hair products.tortoise shells, and - very probably - the defensive
Many enthusiasts use egg whites or even Elmer'sarmor of dinosaurs like Stegosaurus and
glue to get the desired stiffness.Ankylosaurus.
7. Just today, your scalp will shed about a hundred15. The name for the shaved-scalp hairstyle popular
hairs.with monks is a tonsure.