While we take great care of our hair daily, it can be a complete mystery to most of us. Even if the hair is most natural, it still holds many unexpected secrets, whether by its physical properties, cultural meaning, or our care in styling it. The PAI Medical Group highlights for you some interesting facts about hair!
WHO KNEW IT? MY HAIR HAS SUPERPOWERS!
One full head of hair is equal to about 100,000 strays of hair. This number sounds entirely implausible, but when you consider the thickness of a single hair, i.e., 0.1 mm, 100,000 becomes more realistic! Divided into three different layers (the medulla, the cortex, and the cuticle), hair should be one of the superheroes we all know.
From its tiny diameter, a single hair can support the equivalent of more than 85 g. Imagine the weight that 100,000 hairs can support. More than twelve tons! No wonder we sometimes compare hair’s strength to steel; a hair will stretch more than 50% of its length before it breaks – and up to 70% when it is wet.
HAIR: A COMMON THREAD IN CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD
Traveling around the world and through time, one can see that hair has played a significant role in beauty rituals.
In China, in the Huang Luo village, women still follow a very unusual tradition today. Their hair, which they will never cut, will be washed twice a week with a comb mixture of rice water and various natural ingredients. The result? The women of Huang Luo village have silky hair, without a trace – or so they say – of gray hair. These “Rapunzel” women will proudly display their hair by carefully placing it according to the different stages of their lives.
In African civilizations, the way hair was styled allowed to identify a person’s family origin, social status, religious beliefs, tribe, and even whether the person was married, with or without children, or single. These styles are still widespread in Africa today and are gaining popularity worldwide; Fulani braids, from the world’s largest nomadic tribe, the Fula tribe, are worn by many celebrities!
THE MULLET: NOT AS SHORT-LIVED AS YOU MIGHT THINK!
If you think that the mullet is only emblematic of the ’80s, think again! Many people have worn this hairstyle since the Greco-Roman civilization. That’s right! By reading Homer’s Iliad, one can see passages where there’s a description of a hair “short in front and long behind” as the one worn by lancers soldiers.
Closer to home historically and geographically, it is easy to see portraits of Benjamin Franklin wearing with distinction the mullet, which, in his case, represented this modest appearance quite symbolic for the late 18th century.
Before falling into those haircuts that everyone may regret having had, the mullet was the one that broke the gender barrier. Not conforming to the status quo of short-haired men and long-haired women, David Bowie made this cut a real revolution. Ziggy Stardust’s persona would not have been the same without his mythical orange-red mullet, just like Glam Rock and the many celebrities who copied it afterward!
Hair holds many mysteries, but hair transplants and the various solutions tailored to hair loss have no secrets for the PAI Medical Group! Would you like to know more? Make an appointment at the clinic nearest you now!