Tag: Hair

H is for Hair

Donna5 Comments

Over the last 7 years I have posted quite a few things about hair: my hair or lack of hair, fake hair, facts about hair, hair quizzes, etc…

Unfortunately, links for the most entertaining of these no longer work so for today it’s:

First posted in September 2008

Nine Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Hair

  • Facial hair grows faster than any other hair on the body. If you’ve ever had a covering of stubble on your face as you’re clocking out at 5 o’clock you’re probably pretty familiar with this. In fact, if the average man never shaved his beard it would grow to over 30 feet during his lifetime, longer than a killer whale.

  • Every day the average person loses 60-100 strands of hair. Unless you’re already bald, chances are good that you’re shedding pretty heavily on a daily basis. Your hair loss will vary in accordance with the season, pregnancy, illness, diet and age.

  • Women’s hair is about half the diameter of men’s hair. While it might sound strange, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that men’s hair should be coarser than that of women. Hair diameter also varies on average between races, making hair plugs on some men look especially obvious.

  • One human hair can support 3.5 ounces. That’s about the weight of two full size candy bars, and with hundreds of thousands of hairs on the human head, makes the tale of Rapunzelmuch more plausible.

  • There are as many hairs per square inch on your body as a chimpanzee. Humans are not quite the naked apes that we’re made out to be. We have lots of hair, but on most of us it’s not obvious as a majority of the hairs are too fine or light to be seen.

  • Blondes have more hair. They’re said to have more fun, and they definitely have more hair. Hair color determines how dense the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.

  • The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. While you quite a few hairs each day, your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they aren’t subject to any trauma. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own.

  • You must lose over 50% of your scalp hairs before it is apparent to anyone. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Half of the hairs on your pretty little head will have to disappear before your impending baldness will become obvious to all those around you.

  • Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from it’s flammability, human hair decays at such a slow rate that it is practically non-disintegrative. If you’ve ever wondered how your how it clogs up your pipes so quick consider this: hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.

    • From 100 Very Cool Facts About The Human Body link via The Presurfer

    and also this photo collage (mostly because my dad reads this blog and will probably show this photo to my mom) of me first posted in June of 2008 as A lifetime of bad hair
    2015 A to Z Disclaimer

    I’m Still Cancer Free

    Donna3 Comments

    Yesterday I had my lungs x-rayed, had a bunch of blood tests and saw my oncologist. Everything is fine. If I only didn’t have to deal with MS, I’d be healthy.

    I’m getting my haircut on Saturday and I’m trying to decide whether to get bangs. My hair curls and hangs down in front of my face and I’m sick of bobby pinning it back.

    The only picture I could find of me with long hair and bangs is my passport picture from almost 20 years ago.

    Looking at these pictures, I’m definitely one of those people who’s nose lengthens and looks more prominent with age. (A bunch of articles on the Internet state that the nose doesn’t grow as we age but the National Institutes of Health report on Aging Changes in the Face states that it does in some people.)

    I Saw My Oncologist Today

    DonnaLeave a comment

    And everything is fine.

    I’m supposed to see her every three months, so I was overdue. (I last saw her in January). I wanted to go on the Mediterranean Cruise and then deal with things when I got back. Last year, I found out I had cancer and had to have surgery within 2 weeks. Then when I finally healed I had to start chemo in the next 4 days… Figured if I saw her in April, I might not be able to go on the vacation. She was very understanding.

    I made my 3 month follow up appointment for October 16th. I’ll have my lungs x-rayed (they were perfect last year, but the left one did get hit with radiation) and once again get 3 vials of blood drawn (complete blood count and 2 tumor marker tests).

    A woman started talking to me in the waiting room between having my blood drawn and seeing the doctor. She complemented my hair. I rolled my eyes. She laughed. Hers came back the same way, the 2nd time. After she had chemo, her hair first came back all white and straight. A couple of months later that fell out. Then it came back in tight little curls, just like mine did. She showed me her drivers license picture, and it was just like mine in February. Now her hair looks really nice. She does style it, but she said that if she doesn’t it’s just sort of wavy, like my drivers license photo (from 4 years ago).

    I wanted to ask her more questions, but I got called in to see Dr. MacRae.

    Hair Update

    DonnaLeave a comment

    Jimmy took this last week before I went to get my hair cut. I fluffed it out as much as possible to emphasize the length. There is a chance that my hair is going to look close to the way it did before.

    • The color is about the same.
    • The tight curls are only at the end.
    • The cowlicks seem to be in their usual places.

    Devolve Me

    DonnaLeave a comment

    The Open University released Devolve Me to honor Charles Darwin’s birthday.

    See yourself travel back through the evolutionary time line… it’s not an exact science but it is a lot of fun!

    3.7 Million Years Ago

    2.2 Million Years Ago

    1.8 Million Years Ago

    500,000 years ago.

    Saturday morning before heading out to get my hair cut.

    Hair Update

    Donna2 Comments


    This was taken just minutes ago. Although it may not be obvious because it’s so kinky-curly, my hair is actually growing. It’s still not long enough to be cut and styled. But that’s actually a good thing. Wigs are warmer than hats! I’ll debut my real hair come warmer weather.