100 Fun Facts About Hair

Hair is made mostly of which protein?

The same protein forms fingernails, feathers, hooves and horns.

Hair is a distinguishing feature of which class of animals?

Even whales and dolphins have a few hairs at some stage of life.

Which part of a hair is actually alive?

The visible shaft has no biochemical activity, which is why a haircut does not hurt.

What determines whether a person's hair is straight or curly?

Round shafts give straight hair; the flatter and more oval the shaft, the curlier the hair.

Which pigment dominates in red hair?

Brown and black hair are dominated by eumelanin; blond hair simply has very little pigment of either kind.

Why does hair turn grey?

White patches present from birth or early childhood are a separate condition called poliosis.

The three phases of the hair growth cycle are anagen, catagen and what?

Anagen is the growth phase, catagen the transition and telogen the resting phase before the hair sheds.

Roughly how fast is scalp hair commonly said to grow?

Reality varies from 0.6 to over 3 cm a month, and thicker hairs grow faster than thin ones.

Which natural hair colour goes with the highest number of hairs on the head, about 150,000?

Redheads have the fewest, around 90,000, but each strand tends to be thicker.

Does hair keep growing after death?

The apparent growth of hair and nails on a body is an illusion caused by water loss.

What tiny muscle makes hair stand on end and gives humans goose bumps?

In furrier mammals the same reflex fluffs the coat for warmth or to look bigger.

Smita Srivastava, who set the 2023 record for longest hair at 7 ft 9 in, is from which country?

She had been growing it for 32 years; the earlier record-holder Xie Qiuping of China had hair over 5.6 metres long.

The three layers of a hair strand, from the outside in, are the cuticle, the cortex and the what?

The cuticle's flat cells overlap like roof shingles; the cortex holds the protein bundles and the pigment.

Which country has the world's highest share of redheads, at around 13% by one estimate?

Around 40% of people in south-east Scotland carry a red-hair gene variant, even if their own hair is not red.

Red hair is caused mainly by variants of which gene, found on chromosome 16?

Around 80% of redheads carry a variant of the gene, which also makes their skin hard to tan.

Which is the rarest natural human hair colour?

It occurs in only 2 to 6% of people of north-western European ancestry.

In medieval and Renaissance European art, which biblical figure was traditionally painted with red hair?

The ancient poet Xenophanes had described the Thracians as blue-eyed and red-haired.

Roughly what share of adults in Europe and North America are naturally blond?

Blond hair usually darkens with age, so it is far more common in children than in adults.

Outside Europe, natural blond hair is common among the native people of which region?

The mutation appears in about a quarter of Solomon Islanders and is found nowhere outside Oceania.

In ancient Greece and Rome, blonde hair was strongly associated with which profession?

They dyed it with saffron dyes or coloured powders to attract customers.

By age 50, pattern hair loss affects roughly what share of men?

About a quarter of women are affected by the same age; minoxidil and finasteride are the standard drug treatments.

Why did the ancient Egyptians invent the wig?

Wealthy Egyptians topped their wigs with scented cones of animal fat that melted through the day.

Which French king pioneered wig-wearing in 1624 after going bald early?

Wigs also had a hygiene benefit: a shaved head and a delousable hairpiece beat a lice-ridden natural head.

The word 'wig' is a shortening of what?

Periwig itself came from the French 'perruque'; Samuel Pepys fretted about buying one during the plague year of 1665.

The red-and-white stripes of a barber's pole recall which medieval sideline of the barber's trade?

Red stood for the blood, white for the bandages; the basin on top represented the vessel that held the leeches.

Which biblical strongman lost his power when his hair was cut?

His uncut hair was part of a Nazirite vow; Delilah arranged the haircut for the Philistines.

Complete the fairy-tale line: 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, ...'

The Grimms published it in 1812, adapting a French tale, Persinette, that itself came from an Italian one.

In Sikhism, the practice of never cutting one's hair is called what?

It is one of the Five Ks ordered by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699; the hair is combed twice daily and tied under a turban.

Chicago stylist Margaret Vinci Heldt modelled the 1960 beehive hairstyle on what?

A reporter named it after Heldt added a bee-shaped hat pin; the B-52's later took their band name from the style.

The beehive is also nicknamed the 'B-52' because it resembles what?

Band members Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson wore beehives, and the band took its name from the hairstyle.

Which hip-hop group does the OED credit with coining 'mullet' for the haircut?

Their 1994 song 'Mullet Head' spelled it out: 'number one on the side and don't touch the back'.

The bob haircut became a symbol of which 1920s young-woman archetype?

Dancer Irene Castle is said to have introduced her 'Castle bob' to America in 1915; Louise Brooks made it iconic.

Which British hairdresser revived the bob in the mid-1960s with sharp geometric cuts?

His five-point cut turned the flapper style into a modernist statement.

What is the wide-toothed comb used to shape a rounded 1970s hairstyle colloquially called?

The style peaked in the late 1960s and early 1970s with figures such as Angela Davis, Jimi Hendrix and the Jackson 5.

The historical hairstyle of the actual Mohawk people differed from the punk 'mohawk' how?

The modern strip-down-the-middle look is closer to styles worn by the Pawnee.

What is the strip of hair 16th-century Ukrainian Cossacks left after shaving their heads?

Also called a chupryna, it was often braided or tied in a topknot.

The 1968 rock musical 'Hair' is set among a 'tribe' of long-haired hippies protesting against what?

It defined the 'rock musical', used a racially integrated cast and ended with the audience invited on stage for a 'Be-In'.

Why do shaved hairs seem to grow back thicker?

The hair itself never actually thickens; waxed hair, pulled from the root, often grows back finer.

Western monks' shaved crown, a ring of hair around a bald patch, is called what?

Head-shaving has also been used as punishment and, in the military, as a uniform haircut.

The Chinese 'queue' hairstyle shaved the front of the head and did what with the rest?

The front and top were shaved every ten days in a style that mimicked pattern baldness.

Where is a hair transplant's balding-resistant 'donor site' usually located?

The same technique can restore eyelashes, eyebrows and beards or fill in scars.

What is a 'merkin'?

The Oxford Companion to the Body dates it to the 1450s, when people shaved against lice and then covered up.

The most widely used hair-typing system was created by the hairstylist of which celebrity?

Andre Walker's system runs from Type 1 straight hair to Type 4 kinky, tightly coiled hair.

What is the fine, short body hair that most people have, as opposed to thick terminal hair, called?

Vellus hair is a juvenile trait that stays visible in women, while men grow coarser terminal hair after puberty.

Roughly how many hairs does the average person with black hair have on their head?

Blondes average about 150,000, brunettes 110,000 and redheads 90,000.

Which gene locus explains the thick, straight hair predominant among people of East Asian descent?

The mutation is thought to have arisen within the past 65,000 years or so.

Hair originated in the synapsids, the common ancestor of mammals, roughly how long ago?

Fossils rarely preserve soft tissue, though Permian coprolites hint that non-mammalian synapsids had fur.

According to Jablonski, why was Afro-textured hair an evolutionary advantage in equatorial Africa?

She argues the word woolly is a misnomer, since sparse springy coils create a sponge-like, breathable structure.

Per one study, how does thick hair's monthly growth compare with thin hair's?

The same research found no significant difference between men and women, but faster growth in Chinese subjects than French or African ones.

Eyelashes rarely grow beyond what length?

They act like a cat's whiskers, sensing when dust or dirt is too close to the eye.

Which Arctic animal has black skin and hollow, transparent hairs, even though its coat looks white?

Polar bear guard hairs are hollow, a design that traps heat and helps the animal float in water.

Which US president grew his famous beard after 11-year-old Grace Bedell wrote suggesting it?

Abraham Lincoln got her letter weeks before the 1860 election and had a full beard within a month. He met Grace on his inaugural journey, sporting the new whiskers.

Which pop star's hair caught fire from pyrotechnics while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984?

Michael Jackson suffered second-degree burns to his scalp in the accident. He donated his $1.5 million settlement to a California hospital, which named its burn centre after him.

George Lucas said Mexico's women revolutionaries inspired which 'Star Wars' character's hairstyle?

Princess Leia's 'cinnamon buns' came from what Lucas called a 'Pancho Villa woman revolutionary look' from turn-of-the-century Mexico.

The phrase 'hair of the dog that bit you' names a folk cure for which complaint?

A hangover drink borrows the name of an old remedy for a rabid dog bite: placing hair from the dog in the wound.

Which noblewoman of legend rode naked through Coventry, covered only by her long hair?

Lady Godiva's ride also gave English 'Peeping Tom', after a townsman who, in later versions of the tale, watched and was struck blind or dead.

Which French queen gives her name to a syndrome in which hair is said to turn white overnight?

Marie Antoinette's hair was reported to have gone stark white after her capture during the failed royal flight to Varennes. Doctors call the alleged condition canities subita.

Which way of disguising a bald head earned a father and son from Florida a US patent?

The comb-over patent of 1977 went to Donald and Frank Smith, whose version swept long hair across the bald scalp from three separate directions.

Which layered 1990s haircut was named after Jennifer Aniston's character in the sitcom 'Friends'?

The Rachel was designed by stylist Chris McMillan to repair Aniston's damaged hair and grow out her fringe. It became one of the decade's most requested salon styles.

Which Russian tsar taxed beards in 1698 to push his subjects toward clean-shaven Western fashion?

Peter the Great made payers carry a 'beard token', a coin stamped with a nose, mouth, whiskers and beard, as proof they had paid.

Which Gorgon of Greek myth had living snakes for hair and was beheaded by the hero Perseus?

Medusa's severed head kept its power to turn onlookers to stone, so Perseus used it as a weapon before giving it to Athena for her shield.

Which Mexican painter made her joined eyebrows a signature feature of her many self-portraits?

Frida Kahlo is famous for the unibrow she painted again and again. The medical name for eyebrows that meet in the middle is synophrys.

Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber of Victorian penny dreadfuls, keeps his shop where in London?

Fleet Street's demon barber first appeared in the 1846 serial 'The String of Pearls', cutting throats while Mrs Lovett baked the victims into meat pies.

In 'Little Women', which March sister sells her long hair to raise money for her sick father?

Jo comes home with twenty-five dollars and a cropped head, telling her startled family she only sold what was her own.

Which nickname did the British press give the Beatles' shaggy, fringed early-1960s haircut?

Mop-top hair was widely mocked by adults, yet it was so tied to the band that Disney's 'The Jungle Book' gave the cut to four vultures in a scene its producers hoped the Beatles would join.

Which Addams Family relative is covered in floor-length hair and speaks in high-pitched gibberish?

Cousin Itt's television costume was first built from real hair, then switched to a fire-retardant synthetic because so many people smoked on set.

In Norse myth, which god sheared off the golden hair of Sif, the wife of Thor?

Loki was forced by Thor to have a golden headpiece made for Sif, and the errand produced five more treasures for the other gods.

Which very short women's haircut did Audrey Hepburn popularise in the 1953 film 'Roman Holiday'?

Pixie cut fans of the 1960s included Mia Farrow, who wore one in 'Rosemary's Baby', and the British model Twiggy.

What is the name for a V-shaped point of hair at the centre of the forehead, once seen as an omen?

Widow's peak comes from the pointed hood of a mourning wife: a hairline of that shape was believed to foretell early widowhood.

The bows used to play violins and cellos are traditionally strung with hair from which animal?

Horse tails supply the hair, which is coated in rosin for grip. A bow maker uses between 150 and 200 hairs for a single violin bow.

Which annual men's-health fundraiser takes its name from Australian slang for a moustache?

Movember joins 'mo', an Australian diminutive for a moustache, to November. Men grow one for the month to raise funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and suicide prevention.

Sideburns are named after which Union general of the US Civil War?

Ambrose Burnside joined thick side whiskers to a moustache but kept his chin clean-shaven. The style was first called 'burnsides' before the word flipped.

Which swept-up hairstyle worn by Elvis Presley is named after a French king's mistress?

Pompadour hair has nothing in common with Madame de Pompadour's own style: she wore her hair back and low, with no extra volume on top.

The musical 'Hairspray', about dance-mad teenager Tracy Turnblad, is set in which American city?

Baltimore's real 'Buddy Deane Show' was the model for the musical's 'Corny Collins Show', the local TV dance programme Tracy dreams of joining.

The chonmage, a topknot once worn by samurai, is now most associated with which Japanese sport?

Sumo wrestlers keep a style that began as a way to hold a samurai's helmet steady in battle and then became a mark of status.

Which autoimmune condition makes hair fall out in round or oval patches that often regrow?

Alopecia areata usually begins as small bald patches, and in more than half of sudden patchy cases the hair grows back within a year.

Which name for the eggs head lice glue to hair shafts gave English a term for petty fault-finding?

Nits are glued to the hair near the scalp, and the fiddly chore of picking them out by hand gave English 'nitpicking'.

Farrah Fawcett's feathered hairstyle became a worldwide craze thanks to which 1970s TV series?

Charlie's Angels made the 'Farrah-flip' an international trend, even though Fawcett left at the end of the first season.

Mötley Crüe and Poison led which 1980s rock genre, later mocked for its big backcombed hair?

Glam metal picked up the put-down 'hair metal' in the early 1990s, as grunge gained popularity at its expense.

The word 'shampoo', first used in English to mean a massage, comes from which language?

Hindi 'champo' meant to press or knead. Dean Mahomed, a traveller and surgeon, is credited with introducing the practice of 'shampooing' to Britain.

Which cosmetics giant grew from a hair dye French chemist Eugène Schueller sold to Paris salons?

L'Oréal was registered in 1909 as the Safe Hair Dye Company of France. Schueller formulated and made the dyes himself, calling his formula 'l'Auréale'.

Which hair-regrowth drug, sold as Rogaine, was first introduced to treat high blood pressure?

Minoxidil was brought to market as a blood pressure medicine, and excessive hair growth turned out to be one of its side effects.

Which marine animal keeps warm with the densest fur in the animal kingdom?

Sea otter fur was so prized that hunting between 1741 and 1911 cut the world population to as few as 1,000–2,000 animals.

The crew cut most likely takes its name from Ivy League university teams in which sport?

Rowing crews at Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Cornell kept their hair short so it would not blow into their faces as the boat raced down the course.

The 'playoff beard', left unshaven until a team's season ends, began in which sport?

Ice hockey's New York Islanders were the first team documented wearing them, in 1980, and the superstition has since spread to many other sports leagues.

Saga hero Harald Fairhair vowed not to cut or comb his hair until he ruled which country?

Norway took him ten years, the sagas say. Only then did he have his hair trimmed, trading the nickname 'Shockhead' for the one he is known by.

Which celestial objects take their name from the Greek for 'wearing long hair'?

Comets were 'long-haired stars' to the ancient Greeks, and the Roman writer Pliny likewise described their tails as long hair.

Which Roman ruler, wrote Suetonius, loved wearing a laurel wreath because it hid his baldness?

Julius Caesar was so troubled by gibes about his baldness that, of all the honours the Senate voted him, the wreath was the one he used most gladly.

Which rainforest animal has grooved hair hosting green algae that helps camouflage it in the trees?

Sloth fur is a small ecosystem: the algae also nourish sloth moths, some species of which live only on these animals.

Which American figure skater's wedge haircut became a craze after she won Olympic gold in 1976?

Dorothy Hamill's cut, created by the stylist Yusuke Suga, started a fad known as the 'short and sassy' look.

Which constellation is named for the hair an Egyptian queen sacrificed as an offering to the gods?

Coma Berenices is Latin for 'Berenice's Hair'. Queen Berenice II vowed her hair for the safe return of her husband, Ptolemy III, from war, and the court astronomer Conon named the stars for it.

What is the scientific name for the whiskers that cats, rats and seals use as touch sensors?

Vibrissae take their name from the Latin 'vibrare', to vibrate. The word first meant the stiff hairs inside the nostrils and was applied to animal whiskers only later.

Which hormone, made from testosterone in the scalp, is the major contributor to pattern hair loss?

DHT, short for dihydrotestosterone, is produced by the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase, whose levels are highest in the scalp and the prostate gland.

Which 1940s film star changed her peek-a-boo hairstyle to promote safer hair for women war workers?

Veronica Lake changed her look at the government's urging, to help cut accidents in which women's long hair was caught in factory machinery.

Physicist John Wheeler quipped that which cosmic objects 'have no hair', only mass, charge and spin?

Black holes look identical from outside apart from those three properties, with no other distinguishing detail. Wheeler later said Jacob Bekenstein coined the phrase.

What is the name for the fine, soft hair that covers a human fetus and is usually shed before birth?

Lanugo is normally shed at around seven or eight months of gestation, and the fetus swallows the loose hairs as it drinks the amniotic fluid.

Which weather instrument, in a version first built in 1783, uses a stretched human hair as its sensor?

Hygrometer readings rely on hair changing length with the humidity of the air. The Swiss physicist Horace Bénédict de Saussure was the first to build a hair-based one.

Antimacassars, the washable cloths Victorians draped over chair backs, protected fabric from what?

Hair oil was so fashionable for men that housewives covered their chairs against it. The cloths are named after macassar oil, reputedly made with ingredients from the port of Makassar.

Which poet's mock-heroic 'The Rape of the Lock' treats the theft of a lock of hair in epic style?

Alexander Pope based the poem on a real quarrel: Lord Petre had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor's hair without permission, and the row split their two families.

Which Italian Renaissance painter gives his name to a brownish-orange shade of hair?

Titian so often painted women with hair of this colour that his name was in use as a hair-colour term in the United States by the 1800s.