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Dreamkitty
November 14th, 2010, 11:33 AM
I know that hair is obviously much thicker in the beginning, for example when you start a plait and it gradually gets more thinner, right till the end. But why does this happen?

Why is hair most thickest at top and thinnest at the very bottom?:o

spidermom
November 14th, 2010, 11:36 AM
Each hair has its own shed and regrow cycle. Some only grow for a few months, others for a few years. I think hair gets thinner towards the ends because the percentage of hairs that grow the longest is smaller than the percentage that sheds out earlier. (I've come to this conclusion by observing my hair grow with no cuts, only trims for the past 10 years.)

nytquill
November 14th, 2010, 11:50 AM
Even if you are gentle on your hair, there is always some damage and breakage that happens, which means not every hair makes it to the longest length.

But I think if your hair is in good shape and you haven't had a hairstyle with layers, the biggest reason is that not all hair comes from the same spot on your head. When you gather all your hair to make a braid, some hair is coming from the front, some from the sides and some from the back. The front and sides have the longest distance to cover to reach the place where you are gathering it up, so by the time they get there they are shorter than the rest and they "run out" higher up in the braid, so from that point on the braid gets thinner. The hairs in the back have the least distance to go so they are the longest and by the time you get to the end of the braid these are the only ones left to work with.

Also front hairs tend to be shorter to begin with for most people, a combination of having a naturally shorter growth style and being more exposed to glasses, zippers, and other forms of damage.

Dreamkitty
November 14th, 2010, 11:54 AM
Hm interesting theory spidermom and nytquill, for example today I found a few strands of my hair that was about BSL length and I thought how the hell did this happen, has this hair already shed? so I gently pulled it to see if the hair was part of my scalp and it was. Found it very strange though:confused: because most of my hair is midway between APL and then my mum told me its because not every single strand on your hair is the same length, some are older then others.

I had this idea that the individual hair strands were the thickest at the top and then began thinning down towards the ends, because the ends are more exposed to the environment I guess lol and harder to take care of. But that doesn't make sense.

Madora
November 14th, 2010, 01:50 PM
As other have noted, your hair is constantly changing. New ones sprout, old ones come out, others grow longer.

Also, you should be especially careful of the delicate hairs around your forehead and hairline. They are particularly vulnernable and prone to get the worst of the damage.

Hair grows at different rates too. The hair on the right side of my head always grows faster than the left, for some reason.

Igor
November 14th, 2010, 02:13 PM
Sorry, but I simply have to ask… Are you serious about this question? :confused:

ericthegreat
November 14th, 2010, 02:29 PM
Each hair has its own shed and regrow cycle. Some only grow for a few months, others for a few years. I think hair gets thinner towards the ends because the percentage of hairs that grow the longest is smaller than the percentage that sheds out earlier. (I've come to this conclusion by observing my hair grow with no cuts, only trims for the past 10 years.)

I agree with spidermom. Different hairs on different parts of our head all have different terminal lengths. The hairs around our hairline and our temples always grow to be much shorter than the hairs on the back of our head. Also, because each of our individual hairs are all shedding at different rates, we will always have hairs of all different lengths growing all over our heads.

danacc
November 14th, 2010, 02:38 PM
In addition to reasons already mentioned:
Some strands have a shorter terminal length than others
Damage / breaking / cutting / trimming will artificially shorten the eventual length of any shortened strand
Some strands are starting at a "closer" or "lower" growing-out point on your head


One of the biggest reasons for taper is that each strand is on its own cycle, so to speak. The strands did not all start growing at the same time. Some have only reached 1-2 inches, and are very young. Others are 2-3 inches, others 3-4 inches, others 4-5 inches and so forth down to the length of your longest strands.

But all of the ones in the 1 inch - total length are present at the 1 inch mark. The only ones "missing" at the 1 inch mark are the newest, less-than-1-inch strands. All of the ones 2 inches - total length are present at the 2 inch mark. The ones "missing" are those that are less than 2 inches long in their cycle. At the 3-inch mark, the ones "missing" are those that are less than 3 inches long in their cycle. You get the picture. By the time you reach your ends, any strand that isn't old enough to reach 24 inches is missing. Your longest strands are your oldest set. Younger ones have not reached this length, yet, and that causes some degree of taper starting at the top of the braid, and running all the way down it.

spidermom
November 14th, 2010, 02:50 PM
Sorry, but I simply have to ask… Are you serious about this question? :confused:

I wouldn't doubt it. When I first joined, one of the things I hoped to find out was how people got all their hair to be the same length. When I saw a person with long hair, I didn't see that they had all different lengths in their hair. But when I got serious about growing my own hair, I didn't understand why some hairs were so much shorter than other hairs. I was kind of disappointed to find there was no secret and everybody's hair grows like this. But then I also started noticing that nobody had hair all one length; everybody has hairs of all lengths (unless, of course, they keep all their hair cut very short).

lhangel9
November 21st, 2010, 02:26 PM
IMO: I simply think that the hair is thinner towards the ends because it's the oldest hair that you have. As your hair grows and it's being properly nourished, the new growth is prone to growing in thicker than the older hair.

jane53
November 21st, 2010, 02:59 PM
My hair is pretty much the same thickness throughout because I trim it a lot.