The Growth of Human Hair

Just guessing but I would say it aids in temperture regulation of the brain. It seems you were trying to draw some parralel between hair and intelligence. Hair retains heat. Ever been near hypothermia? You start to slur words and loose coordination. Put on a hat and those effects diminish a bit. You alluded to another reason in your last sentence. Hair is often considered attractive. Its shine, color, condition at a glance gives some indication of a persons health or at least how well they care for themselves. Subliminally, perhaps instinctively it indicates suitability for breeding. Like birds that primp and proudly display their plumage, we style our hair to gain attention. Possibly to intimidate the same sex, impress the opposite sex. For the sake of arguement, assume long blonde hair is attractive. People with long blonde hair attract healthy mates and procreate leaving us with lots more people with long blonde hair in their genes. Natural selection at work. It is a superficial trait but highly selective.

Let me start by saying that I think this is a great question. I would point out that we are not the only mammals that have hair on our head that grows much longer than the rest of our hair on our bodies. In other mammals it is called a mane. Mammals such as horses and lions grow manes, goats grow beards, so the genes that lead to patches of long hair is not unique to man. As for why humans have manes, well that's natural selection, though the argument of keeping our brains warm seems like a good one.

I should have left the humarous overtones out of my question. I know that Lions and goats etc. have manes or beards and they seem to have a legit reason for being there. (protection in fights). All animal hair stops growing at some stage but not the human hair. To argue that hair could have heatsink properties is not acceptable because people with short hair would then always be too "hot under the collar" as they say. Bold headed humans would be on heat more than the ones with hair on their sculp. I know of the suggestion that bold men have a stronger sex drive and have more testostarone in their system but this does not answer the question. All responses to this question are speculative and do not get to the point. If there are several answers then some must be wrong or all have to be combined to explain for this difference between animal and human. Long hair can be very attractive and could be interpreted as a signal "mate with me". I still think that being able to "bring home with the bacon" is more of a selection criteria. I have had long hair for much of my life and used it as a form of statement about who I was and what I stood for. It realy got me nowhere and was very time consuming to keep clean and good looking. It was realy impractible is the bottom line. This was the reason to find out why it was growing out of my head in the first place. Not knowing which suggestion or answer is right and not excepting multiple choice I will refrase: is the potentialy endless growth of human hair a genetic disorder? This would be a more satisfactory answer at the moment. I appreciate that this could be the wrong forum for such a question but I was encouraged by the responses so far. Thank you. Ky.

You Said "All animal hair stops growing at some stage but not the human hair.".

This is your assumption, it is wrong. Some animal hair can keep growing, the hair breaks off in the wild.

You're confused because animals on farms and zoos are groomed to keep them healthy since they are kept in restricted areas.

So again, we are not the only animals that have hair that keeps growing. We are just the only animals that live in conditions where we can keep it from ripping or breaking.

It is possible that we are corrupt. Or maybe some time along the path to modern human a caveman said "Honey you'd look alot better with your hair down" Or it is possible that some time long ago there were conditions that required long hair for better survival. Isn't everyting about better survival?

There are several reasons fo rour hair in the growth patterns.

First, as far as other mammals and their hair growth, their hais does continue to grow as ours' does. The only reason it looks like it does grow much more, is that they are all outside and on the constant move in the elements. Thus, their hair is under constant abrassions and it is always shedidng to replace the damaged hairs.

As far as the humans hair is concerned, our hair grows due to the ever changing diets and hormoin growth in our systems. Our bodies are set up for a constant growth pattern. Certain elements of the human molecular build never stop in the growth pattern. Our hair, ears, feet, nails, skin and eyes are always on a constant growth cycle. Hair is a key element in regulating our body temperature and protection to our skin. Some genohms in the human makeup are missing the required DNA structure for the hair growth. This is how the Albino and fair skinned make up comes into play. Over the years in the development of nations and races, this is due to the locations of human settlements, since the time of the fall of the great tower of Babal. As like languages come to gether in regions around the globe, their general DNA and genohm patterns had been forced to evolve with in their geographical regions.

Hair is a given element of perpetual growth. Some species of the human mammal grow more then others. While others hardly grow any at all. All this is due to the over worked DNA structures of remote regions in the world. History tells of a great flood in which only 10 humans servived this holocost. From these ten persons, the rest of the worlds population sprang. But this is a very controvercial history of man, taken from one book which recorded one history of one family. So, if you believe there was more then one family which could possibly have survived this great devistation on a global effect, then you can understand the scientific bounty of this notion.

DNA and developed genes are crucial to the correct answer of this question. One must learn to except all posibilities in the make up of each human being.

Sorry for the long winded answer, you asked a very complicated request, so for a complete answer, a full circle in the developement of the human species was required. Thus enabling all who read this, can actually have a more indepth understanding in our biological development as a species. The human mammal is the only species on this globe that procreates out of its general and regional groups.

This is the reason of why our species is no longer pure in text of each human groups.

Lions do not mate with tigars, or leopards, or panthers, or any other spacific groupings of the CAT family. Lions only bread with LIONS.

Do you get the picture now?....lol.....Food for thought.....

Maximo

That my hair keeps growing really does't concern me as much as the fact that the Grey grows a lot faster than my natural Brown hair.

Greying of hair is the case of one of our genes dieing as we grow older.

Thus our DNA composition does actually change as our inner structue grows weak from all the elements we have developed over the coarse of mankinds study in the science world. The quest of "Fountain of Youth" has plagued mankind for years. There are those who have not yet come to understand the reasoning of growing old. Our live hear on this planet is just the beginning in the circle of life. As our bodies grow old, our system is on the change to stay alive, certain genohms will change in order to keep the immune system in tact. Thus, the most unneccessary gene trait is now being stripped away to increase our immune system. The color of our hair is now loosing its' traits and going to a simple servival mode in order to help maintain the primary purpose of our hair, to protect our heads and help in the cooling of our crainial parts. If the brain is overheated in its' containment cell, it will simply shut down. Our max internal heat zone is 106*F, no more. Once we hit this critical temp. our brain will short circuit, thus shutting all unneccessary elements and the body will go into a self-preservation mode...commonly known as a coma.

Then it is up to those around that body form to help bring this temp back into a normal workable temp. And with all our medical facilities and the unknown problems of a comatose person.....we are just at the mercy of all those so called proffessionals who have no idea of what actually happens in this state of existance.

Wow, what a strange answer, but it is true to form with the reasons of your question. The body is in a constant mode of change for survival reasons. Man has created most of the problems in this world, and now must try to contain the worst of the ailments created. I hope this has helped in your quest.

Conclusion: interesting subject for phd. I'll leave that to the biologists and hope they can come up with answers that go full circle. You all helped closing the circle. Thank You. Ky.

Since you don't believe that God created man, and for this reason your mind is closed to the truth, you will likely never find a completely satisfactory answer to this question. Just keep washing and combing your hair so as to maintain good hygiene while you're still here.

Here in the top north of Australia there are plenty of water buffolos around. When we move into their terratory we want to "keep them out of our hair" as the saying goes. Welcome to the inquisetive world brother. Thank You for the reminder. Ky.

I think it is all to do with Nature's way of 'Keeping a Balance' - In this case, a balance between 'Total Length of Hair' of the species and the 'Number of Barbers' in the species. More barbers making a living means, more hair is being cut and hence more hair grows. Non humans don't have barbers and hence hair growth stops at a point.'Evolution' has learnt that humans cut their hair and other species don't. So everytime we cut our hair some sort of a signal must be going to our 'Genes'. We could test this theory in the sheep farms of Australia. Leave the wool be on some sheep whereas harvest as much on some others. Then watch how hair grows on their offspring.

Good question on the sheep....but, as the sheep hairs grow, their wool becomes thicker and longer. Eventually the sheep would be over burdon from the weight of its coat. Then as all other animals in the wild do, the sheep would actually start the rub down. They would do what ever was neccessary to balance out the load of their wool coat. And you would soon see sheep with a balanced load to their own capacity in what they themselves could tolorate and carry for the season.

Most animals in the wild actually go through a seasonal process of shedding their winter coats. As the temps. in the verious regions change, so does the natural element of balancing ones' body temp. Just as some humans who work outside in the severe weather, they either grow beards and their hair long for the cold extreams, or shoar the mop-tops for the heat. There is a natural balance point in all living species.

I do not know how you can come to the conclusion of who does not believe in God.

But it is really getting abit old in some of your remarks concerning who is the best God fearing person here on the forum. If you actually do believe in scriptures, you should actually pay more attention to the verses that warn mankind of being a judge towards other man and casting stones when you are not pure in heart.

I believe in the great creator, no matter what name others have given him. I have studied several religions in my college years and even went to seminary as student in Catholic schools. So you should refreign from casting these snide remarks about who believes in what please. It does not bother me persay in what you preach about being a good human being, but it does bother me when you actually start persecuting others for their beliefs. When someone in our great nation does act like a biggot and hypocrite, it reminds me of those horrid years on this planet when Hitler was around and crucified those who were different from him. So I really do not think you want to be known as a NATZI on this forum, especially if you are the moderator.

Remeber, we are all here for one purpose, that is to help one another in our times of despair on the road to learning humility and one day being worthy to return to the our Lord Jesus Christ and Our Father in Heaven.

Have a great day friend.

God loves you too.

Maximo

Believing in whatever is like a rubber steak! It doesn't matter, it's our actions and what we do that count. Belief int his or that has led to nothing but war and trouble.

Maximo: My mistake. After more carefully rereading the initial post it occurs to me that when the writer put God in quotations he did not, in fact, mean to say that he did not believe in Him. It's not the first time I have been guilty of jumping to conclusions and unfortunately probably won't be the last. Please accept my apology and forgive my hasty remarks. da Buffalo (as my friends call me)

water buffolo: I always thougt that Jesus was the one to forgive and not Maximo. Or is that splitting hairs? Never mind. I am quite busy at this stage of my life and am very happy with the results concerning my original question.

It was an inquiery and should not become an inquisition. I am an inventor and some times I feel like IT is looking over my shoulders. Some times the un-combinable makes sense, it just needed that grain of salt. It was supplied. I know that our own imagination is IT, and that infinity has always solved every thing. A true inventor trusts now one and believes in every thing. Trusting in a ready made religion becomes quite boring. (Like trusting the shape of a coke bottle). I too have studied the world religions and their all the same in principle. GOD would be more beautiful than that. He is. Trust me.

Excepted and still enjoying your added comments. We all are here to learn and help one another. This is one of my favorite forums as well and I believe we are all here special purposes.

I find it sad that one Christian can so unthinkingly and reflexively offend another. Although Water Buffalo may very well be a pretty good person, even in Jesus's eyes, it is clear that cramming one's faith down the throats of others, and criticizing another's faith are not things that Jesus would do. I'd suggest that Water Buffalo might ask himself WWJD when he is about to criticize others. Nowhere in scripture does Jesus suggest that others should be belittled for any reason.

My brother has a doctorate in divinity from Yale. He, like the vast majority of mainstream Christians, would find it horribly hypocritical to question the faith of another.

Blink, I had no intention of criticizing anyone's faith, nor their lack of faith. As I noted in my last post, it was just a mistake in the reading of the original post and my own hasty conclusion. That said, I don't think I was cramming my faith down anyone's throat. That seems to be a very common response any time a Christian should ever have the temerity to express himself in public. Some would probably say that this is not the forum for such a discussion, I disagree. Lost people are everywhere on the planet. My purpose in voicing my thoughts is simply to bring attention the fact that all people need Jesus, even if they themselves cannot yet see that. Just the other day I was talking with a brother and had to reflect on the fact that the Great Commission commands me to witness to all with whom I have contact because I never know who He might want to use me to reach. The wonderful thing about service to the Lord is that He basically does all the work but uses humans to do it, even with all of our flaws. So, do I do a perfect job of communicating the love of God to all I meet? To quote my daughter, "not even!", but the purpose is still to bring honor to Him.

Water Buffalo:

I can understand your enthusiasm, and likewise understand that there are several sects within the Christian world (and in other faiths) in which conversion of others is seen as valuable or even essential. At the same time, many Jews (many of whom have been brutally persecuted by followers of other faiths) would be deeply offended by your saying that all people need Jesus. The same would go for some Hindus (many of whom have been brutally persecuted by Christians and Muslims). Likewise, almost every Muslim would be deeply offended by your words: both that all people need Jesus, and your tagline: for them, praising Jesus as Lord would be a horrible sin. I have met and befrinded many Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians, and Buddhists, and know people from each of those belief systems with whom I would certainly trust my life, without question. Each of those people do onto others as they would have others do onto them. Not one would suggest that I Accept Jesus as Lord and Praise Him. Not one would ask that I accept Allah as the one God. Or Krishna as one among many. They would simply find it hard to be that rude.

In my own experience, some of the people who best act on the teachings of Jesus are, in fact, athiests. One friend gives a huge portion of his income to the poor, rides a tandem bicycle (with his 90 year old wife) whenever possible (even to the tune of 100 miles per day) to avoid harming the earth, devotes at least 10 hours a week to helping migrant workers receive fair treatment, etc. etc. He's a brillliant mathamatician, far better educated than me, and far more energetic in doing exactly the things that Jesus preached than I am. If only I could live up to his standard for compassion. He too, would find your tagline and advice that he needs Jesus to be offensive.

In this world, which already suffers so much from religious intolerance, the last thing we should be doing (I think) is telling others that their religion is inferior and that they need any particular view that one individual holds dear. Better to work from what we have in common.

This is all simply my personal take on things, and I have argued elsewhere that is not necessary to leave religion completely out of this forum. In fact, I've have argued that you, who bring religion into every forum by virtue of your tagline, should not be excluded from the community. After all, as you have said, we all act on our beliefs, whatever they are, and the person who believes himself to be purely scientific is no doubt naive.

The marvelous thing to me is not that head hair never stops growing, but that hair in various places grows to specific lengths and stops. How does the root know to stop growing hair cells when the hair in my eyebrow reaches 1/2 inch? when my eyelash reaches 1/4 inch? when the hair on my arm reaches 3/4 inch? How does the root "Know" how long the hair is? This is a wonder to me.

-Bill Morrow

It is obvious to me that GOD told my eyelashes how long to grow..as well as my eyebrows and such....He created all of us from Dust and therefore it was his decision...

"It is obvious to me that GOD told my eyelashes how long to grow"....

Certainly! But you don't want to stop there do you? We are commanded to fill the earth, subdue it, and to husband (care for) its creatures. As scientists and engineers we are fulfilling that command by seeking to understand how His creation works. If mankind lives another million years we will never reveal all the glory of God's creation. But every time we peel back another layer of understanding how biological systems work, every time we discover another subatomic particle, every time we discover a new class of star- we who are of the family of faith see another facet of God.

Amazing, you guys have an actual dialog with God! You should be elevated to the highest positions of mankind! Maybe you can get him on fox news, the ratings would really soar!

How is it that the hairs on your cumulative heads continues to grow where as mine have all but departed? Possibly I suffer from some abnormal genetic mutation or am the precurser for the next genre of dominant human head traits?

-Cool Headed ChromeDome

I will be in the DNA lab in Atlanta tommorow, I am sure when I ask this question, there will be a few people scratching there heads, or should I say hair.

Actually, human hair works just like a mane: when it gets very long, it's growth rate slows down (apparently due to gravity effects). It also tends to break off. This abrasion happens more quickly in animals, because of less protection in the environment. But aside from environmental differences, I think human hair and animal hair growth and shedding patterns are very similar.

I think its more than that, Ken. There is a sensing system that stops growth at a certain point. This system begins to break down as we men age and we get "wild hairs" in our eyebrows, on our ears, in our nose, etc., that begin to grow without limit and have to be trimmed.

I agree, there is more to it than that. I was actually responding more to the differences between humans vs other mammals, rather than to the actual mechanisms controlling growth. I think hair growth is pretty similar between humans and other mammals: manes on well-protected horses can grow very long as can human head hair. Eyelashes grow to a particular length and stop in both humans and other mammals. Etc.

But as to the actual mechanism at work, I can only guess. I've heard that when women grow there hair very long, that the stress on the folicles (from gravity) slows the growth rate. Perhaps there is a stress level for each type of hair that the follicle senses, and growth occurs until that stress level is met or exceeded. I suppose a very generic answer might be that there are all sorts of things on the human body that grow to a certain point and then stop, or slow. And other things that continuously grow (such as fingernails). A gene in each cell says grow until X condition is met. That condition is presumably one that allows us to better survive.

That all this starts with a single cell that then splits and differentiates time and time again is astonishing. Or at least if not astonishing (how can it be astonishing it is has happened billions of times before?) then incomprehensible.