Fun Facts On Hair - Why It Curls, Why It Turns Gray And Other Questions
Hair comes with different color and shapes. Do you know why? Let’s find out here!
What is hair made of?
Hair is primarily made of a protein called keratin. Fingernails are also made of keratin, but it appears colorless because it lacks the pigment called Melanin, a dark-brown substance that “colors” our hair and our skin and products us from radiation from the sun.
What determines the color of our hair?
The color of our hair depends on the amount of melanin on each strand. Black hair contains the most, while blonde contains the least. Brown, red, and chestnut-color hair are somewhere in between.
Why do hair turn gray as we grow older?
Under our scalp, we have lots of tissues called follicles where each strand of our hair grows out, and follicles contain pigment cells producing Melanin.
As we age, the pigment cells in the follicles begin to degenerate and less Melanin is produced, making the hair color less and less intense. Therefore, our hair gradually turns gray, or even completely white.
When does this aging process start? it depends a lot on the genes, so if either of your grandparents get white hair at young age, your parents will likely follow (so will you!). Certain disease such as anemia may cause graying of hair as well.
Will stress lead to gray hair?
My mom used to say that but this theory has not been supported by scientific studies. Too bad, can’t use the same trick on our children!
What makes my hair curly?
It all came down to genetics, and is determined by your hair follicles. Follicles making curls tend to be oval-shaped and produce hair with more “disulfide bonds”. What’s that?
As we have learned from the above, hair is primarily made of proteins. Within this protein compound there are sulfide atoms. When sulfide atoms are close together, they form a bond called disulfide bonds (”di” means two). If they are further apart but manage to form the disulfide bond, these strong bonds will bend the protein, thus making the hair curly.
Some of us may choose to perm our hair, and the curls and waves is achieved by chemically altering the number of disulfide bonds in the hair. We can also perm our hair straight based on the same chemical process.
Although the verb “perm” comes from “permanent wave”, it does not mean that we can have our hair permanently curled or straightened. This is because the the portion of hair grown after the perming process will not have the altered characteristics, and we have to keep perming to get the result.
Also, people with natural curly hair may notice that your hair tends to get more curled in humid environment. The air actually acts as a natural “air conditioner” and make your hair appear in its original curly state. In general, curly hair is drier and unfortunately frizzier than straight hair because the curls make it more difficult for the oil (from the root of the hair) to reach the tip of the hair.
Why can we temporarily style our hair by wetting then drying it?
Our hair is made of a type of keratin wounded in the shape of a coil. This “coil” is tightly held together by hydrogen bonds (bonds between hydrogen and other atoms).
When the hair is wet, these hydrogen bonds are broken down and we are able to stretch (slightly uncoil) our hair. When it is dried, the hydrogen bonds are re-formed and the stretched hair will stay in its form temporarily. However, this newly formed hydrogen bond is not strong enough to alter the natural curliness (or lack of) of our hair and thus our hair will go back to its original state within a few hours.
Finally… some cool hair stats:
1. How many strands of hair do we have?
On average we have around 100,000 strands of hair. Red-heads have the least (around 90,000) while blondes have the most (around 145,000).
2. How long can our hair grow?
Some people has shown that their hair can grow beyond their body height, but most stop growing somewhere between the waist and the ankle (makes sense, so you won’t step on your hair).
3. When will hair stop growing?
Each hair follicle can grow approximately 20 hairs in one’s lifetime. In general, men tend to get bald earlier than women.
4. How much hair do we lose each day?
About 100 strands a day for a healthy person. So no need to freak out when you see quite a few strands on your comb!
Stephanie writes a daily blog answering funny, wacky, plain out-of-the-blue questions from kids around the world. Finally, mommy and daddy can take a good break.
Parents and the young-at-hearts, check us out at http://www.momshotline.com Let’s learn something new and interesting everyday!
Tags: bald, color, curl, curly, disulfide, follicle, gray, hair, keratin, locks, loss, melanin, straight, strand, style