Why are some so pleased to find a single coarse hair?

[MinderMutsig]

I've seen several people mention that they were happy to find a coarse hair among their otherwise fine of medium hair and I wonder why that is?

I have fine blond hair and I have found a couple of coarse darker hairs. They are more curly compared to the rest of my hair and real tangle magnets so I'm not to happy with them.

Should I be? And why are you?

[Igor]

Coarse hair seems to be stronger and more resistant than finer hairs :shrug:

[spidermom]

No clue. I find that my white coarse hairs are as likely to split as the fine hairs.

I've also read threads where people were very unhappy to find coarse hairs and plucked them out.

[MinderMutsig]

No clue. I find that my white coarse hairs are as likely to split as the fine hairs.

I've also read threads where people were very unhappy to find coarse hairs and plucked them out. I do that too.
They are very curly and stick to the finer hairs making everything tangle.

I wouldn't mind having all coarse hairs but I'm not crazy about the mix.

[JayLee]

That's weird to me. When I find one, my first impulse is to pluck it out. They are usually curly or frizzy and bug me.

[alwayssmiling]

If I pluck all mine out I would be partially bald :eek: I used to pluck them out when I was a teenager and first noticed them, but when they grew back they looked worse and keeping up with it became a constant, unhealthy obsession.

I have learned not to mind them too much now because they are nowhere near as brittle as the rest of my hair, they are thick and give my hair shineand body when its styled nicely. However, saying that when they are playing up they are a PITA. Sticking out like coiled wires from my head :(. I have experimented and I have now discovered they do not like oil, nor do they like shampoo. Heat makes them more coarse as does any kind of wind and blow drying (on any setting). I think we have come to a mutual understanding :p

[Angeletti]

I don't mind if I find them, it gives me hope that more hairs will come in thicker because my thin hair bugs me sometimes, I would love to have thicker hair but oh well.

[Merewen]

I have them. I like them.

Why is hard to say. I just have this inexplicable fondness for them. They're unique among my other hairs and it makes me happy whenever I find one. They've never stood out or caused trouble or anything. So... I don't know. I just like them.

[Carolyn]

I used to find a couple of those type hairs sprouting near my part on the top of my head. They drove me nuts so I always plucked them out. I thought they were rather nasty looking standing up like they did. I don't pull them out if they are hidden on the sides or back.

[Qwackie]

I'm not excited when I find a coarse hair, I'm scared there will be more when I fine a medium or fine one. I have a load of coarse hairs.

[smileycat]

I find one every once in a while. I don't like them because mine are always an extremely dark mahogany brown, and I am having a hard enough time accepting my ever-darkening blonde hair. Oddly, or maybe not so, they look just like my sister's hair (and her hair is super thick and GORGEOUS), but seem out of place on my head.

I leave them, however. Obsessing and plucking hair out of my head just seems like a really bad idea.

[pepperminttea]

I have a few, but the amount I've found is still small enough to count on my hands, though I think it might be the way my hair is going age - darken and become more coarse, and then grey/white later. That's how my mother's greying anyway. When I first started finding them I pulled them out; a habit I soon stopped when I found the small collection of hairs sticking up like dark wires, too short to have a hope of laying with the rest of my hair. Now I just leave them, and they're long enough to stay in updos now.

(Terrible pun warning): They're growing on me. :p

[clairenewcastle]

I used to find coarse dark hairs all the time but reading this thread made me realise that I haven't done so for years......which leads me to wonder why they have stopped growing.

[jaine]

I used to find coarse dark hairs all the time but reading this thread made me realise that I haven't done so for years......which leads me to wonder why they have stopped growing.

I made some diet changes 10 months ago and my hair became less coarse. Now I frequently find shed hairs that are coarse and wiry at the ends, with about 6-8 months of fine or medium hair near the root.
It was the paleo/primal diet ...

[little_cherry]

My hair is a mixture of fine, medium and coarse. Not all the hairs on your head are the same coarseness.

Coarsies are more resilient...I used to pluck them out until I found that plucking can cause damage to the hair follicle and hair may not grow back. Personally, I'd rather a coarse hair than a bald spot.

[MsBubbles]

I was over the moon to find my two coarse hairs because they were red!

[Beatrix_Kiddo]

My hair is fine, but I have coarse hair anyways. I don't like them, but I prefer to let them be, because I don't want to cause damage

[sneakybea]

I have them, and am okay with mine. If anything, they rather amuse me; I like to run them between my fingers because they feel so odd. I really just have a wide variety of colors and textures in my hair, from fine to coarse and blond to dark (and now silver, too!).

[Juneii]

I find them amusing, I found this one strand where it was coarse and wiry (like 4b hair) for about 1 inch or so, and then smooth and tinycorkscrew curly (like 3b) for another inch or so, and then back to coarse and wiry, and then back to curly... repeated several times throughout the length!

irrelevant to the topic, I also found a strand where it alternated between blond/white and dark black a few times. My hair just can't stick to one type of hair and hair color, oh no :nono:

[JaneinMarch]

@ Juneii - not all 4b hair is coarse and wiry.

The coarser hairs I find are in the front and some on the crown. They tend to be more wavy than curly. The majority of my hair is fine/medium.

[daisygirl]

How funny! I currently have a coarse little corkscrew hair that's only about 5 inches long in the front of my hair! I keep playing with it and can't help myself! I have tons of them throughout my hair and I used to be a plucker. Finally I decided to let them just be - but I agree that with my fairly fine blonde hair, they do cause some nasty snaggles (but then having 2 cats with 4+ inch long hair doesn't help the snaggles either!)

I just can't stop looking cross-eyed at this one silly hair! I don't have bangs, they're fully grown out to the length of the rest of my hair so having this little goofball is making me semi-batty. I even keep showing it to my fiance who thinks I'm a total fruitcake now!

I'm SO glad it's not just me!

daisy

[FrannyG]

I simply can't imagine that I would get excited over finding a couple of coarse hairs. It wouldn't bother me either. In fact, I don't think I would give it a thought, to be honest.

[LadyLongLocks]

I shed a coarse hair a couple weeks ago, it is 3x thicker than my average. It is also darker.
I wonder why a few grow like that. If all my hair was like that I think I could grow it to floor and still have a thick hemline. I had not found one of these in years.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

I heard more complaints than yays about finding a coarse hair. Things people said even broke us coarse-haired ones' hearts :D (i remember the term "head pubes")

[chelseamichelle]

I have tons, I don't particularly like them nor hate them.

No idea why people would be happy about them though :shrug:

[Isabel]

To me they're an indication of healthy hair, so I'm happy whenever I happen to find a strand. I tend to find more of them when I'm eating a healthy diet. I used to have a lot of them until I had a big shed due to hormonal reasons when I was in my mid-twenties, after which they seemed to disappear almost completely for a few years. Now I've been rediscovering a few really coarse strands again, and I'm taking that as a sign that all of those dietary changes and vitamins I've been eating weren't for nothing.

[clairenewcastle]

I made some diet changes 10 months ago and my hair became less coarse. Now I frequently find shed hairs that are coarse and wiry at the ends, with about 6-8 months of fine or medium hair near the root.
It was the paleo/primal diet ...

That's interesting to read for in recent years I improved my diet with grains and seeds, so maybe that has something to do with me not growing coarse hairs any more.

[mali]

I actually like them.They're coarse -> thicker, so I like to rub my index finger and my thumb to make a comparation to my actuall hair.I would never pluck them.

[Vermelha]

Funny, nearly all of my hair is coarse, with a few medium strands in the front and edges... Not sure why anyone would be happy to find a few strays in a head full of thin hair, but if it makes you happy then =D

[Eolan]

I think it's exiting to see how you change over the years. I now have some greys wich are coarser and I'm all happy and curious about them, because it's new and well, that just exites me for some reason. :) And you know, they're hairs and I like hair! :D

[MinderMutsig]

I heard more complaints than yays about finding a coarse hair. Things people said even broke us coarse-haired ones' hearts :D (i remember the term "head pubes") I think there is a difference between those occasional coarse hairs I find in between my fine blond wavy hair and actual coarse hair. Head pubes is actually a pretty good description for these single dark, wire-y, curly, rough and porous freaks. :o

My SIL and my sister both have coarse hairs but they look nothing like my freaks. It's like having a metal wire in tinsel, they screw everything up and cause tangles. Their coarse hair is just wonderful, thick, flowy and strong.

[leslissocool]

All of my hair is really thick and coarse. I really like it, even if it's not as soft as I'd like, I feel like I'm the girl in that Garnier commercial who's ripping that metal bar with her hair only :)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIZJfkt7RPk&feature=related

I don't use Garnier... but the commercial is awesome :)