Questions tagged [hair]
Hair is a biopolymer mostly made from keratin, which grows from the skin. Hair is exclusively found in mammals.
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Is the amount of pigment in one feature (e.g. hair, eyes, skin) connected to the amount of pigment in another?
Let's say, genes allowing it, you have a red-haired child with hazel eyes. The hair is a darker/deeper orange color, so (if I recall correctly) having some degree of eumelanin—not much compared to ...
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Can human hair, animal fur and birds feather get cancer?
Hair, fur and feather protect skin from cancer(sun UV light).
I am interested can human hair, mammal fur or birds feather get cancer?
(Some migration birds like swifts spent 10 months in year in the ...
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Does the duration of the head-hair growth phase differ between men and women?
I found one website which claims the following
The growth phase of the hair is called the anagen phase. It lasts
about 3 years in men and 5 years in women.
Another website makes a very similar claim....
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Why do short hairs get longer with age?
I know that short hairs such as eyebrows, eyelashes, nasal hairs will stay a certain length because the lifespan of the follicle only allows them to grow to a certain length.
My question is why do ...
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Genetic modifications to produce blue hair
The following animals are known to produce blue pigmentation:
Linckia laevigata (blue star, study reveals blue carotenoprotein, linkiacyanin)
Nessaea batesii (obrina olivewing, study reveals blue ...
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Why is African hair different in texture to European or Asian hair?
Most Africans with the exception of Ethiopians and Somalians have relatively kinky/coiled hair. The texture is very different to that of Europeans or Asians. Why is that?
I've heard it has to do with ...
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The animal with the fastest hair growing rate
we know that human hair usually grows about 1/2 inch a month.
My question is what is the species with the fastest hair growing rate? (including fur for example).
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How can you diagnose albinism in a naturally light-colored person? [closed]
Not all albinos have white hair. There is a type of albinism where the affected person has light yellow hair and the skin color can be the same as a normal North European person.
How can you diagnose ...
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Do we know all the possible human hair colors?
I occasionally see people with blue hair and I always assume it is dyed. I wonder how justified is that assumption. Have biologists determined all the possible human hair colors? Or is it possible ...
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What would cause red-haired people to become fewer?
There is this misconception that red-haired people are going to die out. This person on the Internet ("howstuffworks") also connected it to a marketing campaign of a hair dyer company. But I'...
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Why is male balding so common in comparison to female balding?
I have heard that over 30% of men will be bald by 30, and that 60% will be bald by 50. However, I hardly ever see a bald woman unless it is a story about a cancer survivor or someone going through ...
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How long to regrow hair?
This is one of the questions I wasn't exactly sure where to post. Basically, I want to make an X-Men parody, and for the part of Professor X I need to shave off my hair. Now I have a simple french ...
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Evolutionary selection pressure for human hair patterns?
Are there hypotheses or conjectures that postulate any selection pressures or benefits that account for the patterns of non-pubic human hair? Particularly:
Humans do not grow notable (i.e., non-...
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How many hairs per sq. cm. (or inch) do hamsters have on average?
How many hairs per square centimeter (or inch) do common pet hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus or Phodopus sungorus) have on average?
I thought this would be easy to find by googling, but the best I've ...
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Do people with higher body hair growth (eg. Women with hirutism) need more protein? [closed]
Hair is protein. Does that mean that the body of a woman with hirutism is using more than usual protein to make hair and thus she needs more for building and repairing muscles?
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Is hair made of protein or dead cells or both?
Some sources say hair is made of dead cells:
it's mentioned in many titles of Google searches, so I'm linking the Google search search
Other sources say hair is a protein filament:
Protein filament ...
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Aging: Only humans have grey hair?
I am not sure if I ever saw a monkey or a bird age and lose hair pigment as it grows. It maybe due to my lack of information. But it appears to be a general presumption that only humans age and lose ...
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Why does hair turn white but not skin?
From my understanding melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) stop being produced and we have a finite reserve that gets depleted with time. They're at the origin of melanocytes that create hair and skin ...
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What function does a mane serve in animals that possess it?
Horses, Donkeys, Antilopes and Bovines grow masses of hair on top (and sometimes below) the neck. What function does it serve? Is that to hinder predators biting?
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Why does eyebrow growth stop after it reaches a specific length?
When compared to hair that grows forever after we cut it, why do eyebrows stop growing? What genes measure current length of eyebrow to ensure it stops growing after a specific length?
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Do bald people not grow hair, or does their hair simply fall out immediately? [closed]
This image is not directly related but it made me wonder if there was a relationship between the nature of the hair follicle and baldness, namely that the follicle cannot 'hold' the continuously ...
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How can I extract DNA from horse hair?
For my project I have to find an inexpensive, quick and simple-to-use method to extract DNA from horse hair. The sample does not have to be purified because the sample will be used for LAMP and not ...
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Why are there sporadic lightly pigmented hairs in facial hair?
My body and scalp hair are entirely black. Until recently, I thought this was the case with my facial hair also, until I noticed a small handful of hairs that were anywhere from light brown to copper-...
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Identify the fluff that I have found in tea
I have just opened a new pack of a black Pu'er tea that I've bought at the local store selling it by weight, and found a piece of fluff in there. To me it looks much like some kind of a bird fluff. It ...
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Do individual mammal hairs absorb water?
In my look into the world of shaving I've seen claims that it is better to shave after a shower because the hairs will absorb water and soften, making the shave easier. Likewise, I've seen it claimed ...
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What is the biological/evolutionary advantage to baldness? [duplicate]
Male pattern baldness is a common genetic trait. With a distinctive pattern/ density gradent (as apposed to general old age thinning as the body ages)
Hair has an advantage of protection from the sun/...
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Why do men have a greater chance of suffering from hair loss?
If we look around we'll find that men are more likely to suffer from hair loss when compared to women. Is there is any specific reason for this?
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Why does our hair turn white before we get old? [duplicate]
White hairs are considered a sign of old age, but they often occur in young boys. I want to ask why my hair is turning white? And why black hair turns white?
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What is the structural/chemical difference leading to different shapes in facial/head/pubic hair?
Different hairs have different shapes, thicknesses, properties.
What exactly is different between these types of hairs? a previous post implies that the root of the differing length (pun intended) ...
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The onset of hair loss in men
I've seen men starting to lose hair in almost all ages. Why is the onset of hair loss in men different? Is there a normal distribution?
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Number of hair cycles in humans
I've seen several websites claim the amount of hair cycles a follicle will go through is predetermined at around 25-30 complete cycles. Is there any genetic evidence to validate this claim? How can ...
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How large are the inner ear hairs?
I was always under the impression that the auditory hairs located deep within the ear, past the ear drum, are microscopic.
After taking a shower today, I was softly padding my outer ear with some ...
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Whitening of hair at old age [duplicate]
Human beings have evolved from their ancestors to their modern forms adapting many changes in structure and I would assume that every change has a significance.
So, what is the cause of our hair ...
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Can hair follicle miniaturisation affect hair color?
We all know that follicle miniaturisation affects hair texture, making it look thinner(the hair shaft/root itself will be thinner), but does it affect hair color as well? So if an individual has thick ...
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Why does the scalp hair become grey first?
I understand that when the hair follicles produce less melanin or stop producing melanin altogether, hair becomes grey. But it seems like it is the scalp hair that becomes grey first. If follicles are ...
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Why do Asian people have black hair and Northern people have golden hair? [closed]
I have got two questions.
Why do majority of Asian people have black hair?
Why do majority of people from the northern countries (Sweeden, Norway, Finland) have light (golden) hair?
Thanks for an ...
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Why do hair on head not get pilo-erected?
Whenever we have "goosebumps", there is a momentary piloerection, due to which hair on our elbows and legs get "erected" and "stand" almost perpendicular to the surface of our skin. But why do our "...
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What does static electricity generated by plastic combs do to our hair?
It is said that wooden combs should be preferred to comb hair as compared to plastic combs. Reason is that plastic combs generate static electricity.
Question: What does static electricity do to our ...
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Pigment returning to my grey [closed]
In the past I dyed my hair to cover the grey, but it became a more frequent event so I decided to just go grey. My hair has been almost entirely white for nearly 20 years. The pigment has been ...
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Why do some moles grow longer and darker hair than the rest of the skin?
In different parts of the body I have skin moles or in medical terms, nevus.
In some of them hair grow seemingly either darker/thicker (I'm not sure how much of the two) and notably longer. Here are ...
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Do pulled hair from the root grow back?
There is not much to explain, I'm wondering if pulled hair, for example of the head, normally does grow back again or not. In reddit, It says this may depend on the follicle integrity, if the follicle ...
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Why does hair know when it needs to stop to grow [duplicate]
I'm still not quite sure if head hair grows endlessly, or if it stops at some point, but that's not the question.
When the hair on my leg grows, it obviously doesn't grow endlessly, but it also stops ...
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Hair becoming white in one night after tremendous stress
You have surely heard about soldiers during the war whose hair became white in one night due to the tremendous stress.
I was wondering how is this possible biologically ?
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Is Infra Red light safe to use on your scalp? [closed]
I own an Anodyne Infrared therapy device which I use to treat ligament/tendon/muscular pains and it works nicely.
I see other infrared products used to combat hair loss (e.g. https://www.amazon.com/...
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Were Neandertals as Hairy as We Are?
What I mean to say regards facial and androgenic hairs. There are many theories as to why some people have both kinds of hairs, while others have one or the same and others still have neither. The ...
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Why are bald heads so "shiny"?
Why do males with baldness have shiny skin on their head, whereas we don't experience such "shiny skin" in other parts of body without hair.
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Why does the wavelength in curly hair differ?
Different people and animals have different wavelengths in the curls in their hair. I understand what purposes hair serves in protecting the skin from light and bugs. I am wondering about the eventual ...
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Why human hair is losing its color over time? [duplicate]
Human hair is losing its color over time, that's a known fact.
I would like to know why, meaning what biological processes are involved in this?
Also, is it part of the DNA somehow, i.e. the exact ...
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Why do some men have patchy beards?
Why do some men have patchy beards? Or more specifically, why would some hair follicles lack sufficient 5-alpha reductase while others nearby don't when their genetic code is identical and they are ...
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How do disulphide bonds in hair cause curling?
I understand that there are several characteristics of curly hair which differ from straight hair (such as an asymmetrical distribution of disulphide bonds in curly hair), but really am struggling to ...
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