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This article is about the body feature. For the stage production, see Hair (musical). For the film, see Hair (film).
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This article has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
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Human hair under 200-times magnification
Hair is an outgrowth of protein, found only on mammals. definition askoxford.com It projects from the epidermis, though it grows from hair follicles deep in the dermis. Although many other organisms, especially insects, show filamentous outgrowths, these are not considered "hair". So-called "hairs" (trichomes) are also found on plants. The projections on arthropods, such as insects and spiders are actually insect bristles, composed of a polysaccharide called chitin. The hair of non-human mammal species is commonly referred to as fur. There are varieties of cats, dogs, and mice bred to have little or no visible fur. In some species, hair is absent at certain stages of life.
The main component of hair fiber is keratin. Keratins are proteins: long chains (polymers) of amino acids.
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Close-up of human hair
Historically, several ideas have been advanced to explain the reduction of body hair in humans. Many were faced with the same problem that there is no fossil record of human hair to back up the conjectures nor to determine exactly when the feature evolved. However, recent research on the evolution of lice suggests that human ancestors lost their body hair approximately 3.3 million years ago.Wade, N. (2007). In Lice, Clues to Human Origin and Attire. New York Times, 156(53877), A17-A17.
Savanna theory suggests that nature selected humans for shorter and thinner body hair as part of a set of adaptations to the warm plains of the savanna, including bipedal locomotion and an upright posture. There are several problems (including balding) with this theory, not least of which is that cursorial hunting is used by other animals that do not show any thinning of hair.
Another theory for the thin body hair on humans proposes that Fisherian runaway sexual selection played a role here (as well as in the selection of long head hair). Possibly this occurred in conjunction with neoteny, with the more juvenile appearing females being selected by males as more desirable; see types of hair and vellus hair.
The aquatic ape hypothesis posits that sparsity of hair is an adaptation to an aquatic environment, but it has little support amongst scientists and very few aquatic mammals are, in fact, hairless.
In reality, there may be little to explain. Humans, like all primates, are part of a trend toward sparser hair in larger animals; the density of human hair follicles on the skin is actually about what one would expect for an animal of equivalent sizeG.G. Shwartz & L.A. Rosenblum, Allometry of primate hair density and the evolution of human hairlessness, American Journal of Physical Anthropology vol. 55 issue 1. The outstanding question is why so much of human hair is short, underpigmented vellus hair rather than terminal hair.
Traditional Hopi hair style, photo by Edward S. Curtis, 1922
Humans have three different types of hair:
Hair texture is measured by the degree of which one\'s hair is either fine or coarse, which in turn varies according to the diameter of each individual hair. There are usually four major types of hair texture: fine, medium, coarse and wiry. Within the four texture ranges hair can also be thin, medium or thick density and it can be straight, curly or wavy. Hair conditioner will also alter the ultimate equation and can be healthy, normal, oily, dry, damaged or a combination. Hair can also be textured if straighteners, crimpers, curlers, etc are used to style hair. Also, an expert hairdresser can change the hair texture with the use of special chemicals.
Hair is genetically programmed to be straight, curly or wavy, and it tends to change over time.
For many years, it was believed that the shape of a person’s hair was determined by the individual hair shafts, and that curly hair was curly because the cross-section of the hair shaft was flatter and had more intertwined layers than straight hair, which was round. But scientists have determined that whether your hair is curly or straight is determined by the shape of the follicle itself and the direction in which each strand grows out of its follicle. Curly hair is shaped like an elongated oval and grows at a sharp angle to the scalp.
Curly hair has a different biological structure from straight hair. It tends to be much drier than straight hair because the oils secreted into the hair shaft by the sebaceous glands can more easily travel down the shaft of straight hair. People with very curly hair may find that this hair type can be dry and often frizzy.
Hair, whether it is curly or straight, is affected by the amount of humidity in the air. It serves as a "truth serum" for the hair, forcing water back into the hair fiber and forcing hair shaft to return to its original structure. This may be more noticeable in somebody with curly hair because it tends to get frizzy when the humidity rises.
Hair texture variation is likely to have resulted from a significant event in human evolutionary history. Evolutionary biologists agree that the evidence suggests that genus Homo arose in East Africa approximately 2 million years ago. During this time body size increased in response to richer dietary intake. This increase was most likely a reflection of rapidly increasing brain size among members of this genus, which facilitated an increasing intellectual capacity that made more varied dietary access possible (i.e. via new hunting and scavenging techniques etc.). Jablonski et al (2004) postulate that as body size increase, it became evolutionarily necessary to expel heat from the body at a more rapid rate. As a result, humans developed the ability to sweat. They also lost body hair in order to facilitate sweat evaporation and hence cooling of the body.
Older people tend to develop grey hair because the pigment in the hair is lost and the hair becomes colorless. Grey hair is considered to be a characteristic of normal aging. The age at which this occurs varies from person to person, but in general nearly everyone 75 years or older has grey hair, and in general men tend to become grey at younger ages than women.
It should be noted however, that grey hair in itself is not actually grey; the grey head of hair is a result of a combination of the dark and white/colorless hair forming an overall \'grey\' appearance to the observer. As such, people starting out with very pale blond hair usually develop white hair instead of grey hair when aging. Red hair usually doesn\'t turn grey with age; rather it becomes a sandy color and afterward turns white. In fact, the grey or white appearance of individual hair fibers is a result of the absence of melanin in the cortex which is 90% of the structure of the hair, and therefore the empty space is replaced by air bubbles that reflect light in the central cortex and the hairs that have medula will have that effect too. Some degree of scalp hair loss or thinning generally accompanies aging in both males and females, and it\'s estimated that half of all men are affected by male pattern baldness by the time they are 50"Uncovering the bald truth about hair loss." Springfield News-leader, May 10, 2005. "Half of men" estimate is made by the American Academy of Dermatology and specifically estimates prevalence in the U.S. population, though this should reflect prevalence in other populations.. The tendency toward baldness is a trait shared by a number of other primate species, and is thought to have evolutionary roots.
It is commonly claimed that hair and nails will continue growing for several days after death. This is a myth; the appearance of growth is actually caused by the retraction of skin as the surrounding tissue dehydrates, making nails and hair more prominent.
Drugs used in cancer chemotherapy frequently cause a temporary loss of hair, noticeable on the head and eyebrows, because they kill all rapidly dividing cells, not just the cancerous ones. Other diseases and traumas can cause temporary or permanent loss of hair, either generally or in patches.
The hair shafts may also store certain poisons for years, even decades, after death. In the case of Col. Lafayette Baker, who died July 3, 1868, use of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer showed the man was killed by white arsenic. The prime suspect was Wally Pollack, Baker\'s brother-in-law. According to Dr. Ray A. Neff, Pollack had laced Baker\'s beer with it over a period of months, and a century or so later minute traces of arsenic showed up in the dead man\'s hair. Mrs. Baker\'s diary seems to confirm that it was indeed arsenic, as she writes of how she found some vials of it inside her brother\'s suitcoat one day.
According to The Physics Factbook, the diameter of human hair ranges from 17 to 181 µm.Ley, Brian (1999). Width of a Human Hair. The Physics Factbook.
For human beings, the term hairstyle generally refers to the cutting or styling of head hair, although it may also refer to the cutting and styling of facial hair. Hair is generally adorned as a form of the expression of personality, religious practice, or rank in society. Most hairstyles conform to socio-cultural influences and are gender biased. Fashion trends may have the greatest influence on hair styling today.
People from different cultures have invented various ways to arrange, or "style" their hair.
The remarkable head hair of humans has gained an important significance in nearly all present societies as well as any given historical period throughout the world. The haircut has always played a significant cultural and social role.
In ancient Egypt head hair was often shaved, especially amongst children, as long hair was uncomfortable in the heat. Children were often left with a long lock of hair growing from one part of their heads, the practice being so common that it became the standard in Egyptian art for artists to depict children as always wearing this "sidelock". Many adult men and women kept their heads permanently shaved for comfort in the heat and to keep the head free of lice, while wearing a wig in public.
In ancient Greece and ancient Rome men and women already differed from each other through their haircuts. The head hair of women was long and pulled back into a chignon. Many dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adorning it with fresh flowers. Men’s hair was short and even occasionally shaved. In Rome hairdressing became ever more popular and the upper classes were attended to by slaves or visited public barber shops.
Maasai warriors with their traditional hair styling
The traditional hair styling in some parts of Africa also gives interesting examples of how people dealt with their head hair. The Maasai warriors tied the front hair into sections of tiny braids while the back hair was allowed to grow to waist length. Women and non-warriors, however, shaved their heads. Many tribes dyed the hair with red earth and grease; some stiffened it with animal dung.
Contemporary social and cultural conditions have constantly influenced popular hair styles. From the 17th century into the early 19th century it was the norm in Western culture for men to have long hair often tied back into a ponytail. Famous long-haired men include René Descartes, Giacomo Casanova, Oliver Cromwell and George Washington. During his younger years Napoleon Bonaparte had a long and flamboyant head of hair. Before World War I men generally had longer hair and beards. The trench warfare between 1914 and 1918 exposed men to lice and flea infestations, which prompted the order to cut hair short, establishing a norm that has persisted.
It has also been advanced that short hair on men has been enforced as a means of control, as shown in the military and police and other forces that require obedience and discipline. Additionally, slaves and defeated armies were often required to shave their heads, in both pre-medieval Europe and China.
Long hair was almost universal among women in Western culture until World War I. Many women in conservative Pentecostal groups abstain from trimming their hair after conversion (and some have never had their hair trimmed or cut at all since birth). The social revolution of the 1960s led to a renaissance of unchecked hair growth. Hair length is measured from the front scalp line on the forehead up over the top of the head and down the back to the floor. Standard milestones in this process of hair growing are waist length, hip length, classic length (midpoint on the body, where the buttocks meet the thighs), thigh length, knee length, ankle length and even beyond. It takes about seven years, including occasional trims, to grow one\'s hair to waist length. Terminal length varies from person to person according to genetics and overall health.
A thriving salon culture in Detroit gave rise to the Detroit Hair Wars in 1991. Using the medium of human and synthetic hair, elaborate fantastical head pieces, such as spider webs, flowers and flying "hair-y copters", have been made by participants.[1]
Mark Twain, Shirtless. A human male with body hair.
The attitudes towards hair on the human body also vary between different cultures and times. In some cultures profuse chest hair on men is a symbol of virility and masculinity; other societies display a hairless body as a sign of youthfulness.
In ancient Egypt, people regarded a completely smooth, hairless body as the standard of beauty. An upper class Egyptian woman took great pains to ensure that she did not have a single hair on her body, except for the top of her head (and even this was often replaced with a wigDersin, Denise, et al. (Eds.) (1996). What Life Was Like On the Banks of the Nile. Richmond, Virginia: Time-Life Books.). The ancient Greeks later adopted this smooth ideal, considering a hairless body to be representative of youth and beauty. This is reflected in Greek female sculptures which do not display any pubic hair. Islam stipulates many tenets with respect to hair, such as the covering of hair by women and the removal of armpit and pubic hair (see five physical characteristics traits of fitrah).
In Western societies it became a public trend during the late twentieth century, particularly for women, to reduce or to remove their body hair. The bikini and Brazilian waxing fashion as well as the sexual imagery in advertising and movies are major reasons for this development. This media trend began in the United States and is becoming ever more popular throughout other Western countries. It was also beginning to gain currency among men, among whom shaving or trimming one\'s body hair is sometimes jokingly called "manscaping".[citations needed]
Hair care for humans is a major world industry with specialized tools, chemicals and techniques. The business of various products connected with human hair has become an important industrial and financial factor in Western societies.
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To meet Wikipedia\'s quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup because it is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (February 2008) |
The highly visible differences between male and female body and facial hair are a notable secondary sex characteristic.
Hair has had social and sexual significance in a number of societies, as a sign of masculinity in men, and femininity in women when in the "right" place, and as a sign of effeminacy in men and unfemininity in women when in the "wrong" place. Where the right and wrong places are differs from one culture to another.
Look up hair in
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| Human anatomical features | ||
|---|---|---|
| Head | Skull · Forehead · Eye · Ear · Nose · Mouth · Tongue · Teeth · Jaw · Face · Cheek · Chin |
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| Neck | Throat · Adam\'s apple | |
| Torso | Shoulders · Spine · Breast (Tail of Spence) · Chest · Ribcage · Abdomen · Navel Sex organs (Clitoris · Vagina · Penis · Scrotum · Testicle) – Hip · Anus · Buttocks | |
| Limbs | Arm · Elbow · Forearm · Wrist · Hand · Finger (Thumb · Index · Middle · Ring · Little) · Leg · Lap · Thigh · Knee · Calf · Heel · Ankle · Foot · Toe (Hallux) | |
| Skin | Hair | |
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