- Humans are one of very few land mammals to have almost bare skin. But even humans have soft, downy hair all over, with thicker hair in places.
- Lanugo is the very fine hair babies are covered in when they are inside the womb, from the fourth month of pregnancy onwards.
- Vellus hair is fine, downy hair that grows all over your body until you reach puberty.
- Terminal hair is the coarser hair on your head, as well as the hair that grows on men’s chins and around an adult’s genitals.
- The color of your hair depends on how much there are of pigments called melanin and carotene in the hairs.
- Hair is red or auburn if it contains carotene.
- Black, brown and blonde hair get its color from black melanin.
- Each hair is rooted in a pit called the hair follicle. The hair is held in place by its club-shaped tip, the bulb.
- Hair grows as cells fill with a material called keratin and die, and pile up inside the follicle.
- The average person has 120,000 head hairs and each grows about 3 millimeters per week.
Hair Facts
Tags: facts about hair, hair facts, interesting facts about hair