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Of the Fae
March 14th, 2012, 12:05 PM
I was wondering that.
Cats or horses are not able to grow hair to their ankles from their head down, and neither are monkeys.. so what's the deal here? Why can we? Our pubes and leghairs don't grow absurdly long either by the way, so why do the hairs on our head?

Does anyone know?

Let me hear what you think, I am curious about the theories that may come up:)

GlennaGirl
March 14th, 2012, 12:10 PM
Horses don't grow their manes as long as we grow our hair (proportionately), but their tails are quite long proportionate to their heads, aren't they?

Our head hair may be a sexual indicator, or it may be some other sort of indicator (it's doubtful it's for warmth -- very short, very compact hair would work better for that). That's similar to many animals that have extraneous lengths, colors, etc. of hair or feathers when it's not actually biologically required for survival (i.e. a peacock's feathers).

We're human and this is how we roll. :)

turtlelover
March 14th, 2012, 12:21 PM
Here is some super long horse hair for you!
http://www.oldoregonphotos.com/linus-the-circus-horse-bred-in-oregon-1890s.html

mzBANGBANG
March 14th, 2012, 12:28 PM
I wish I had any sort of idea but no answer really makes sense and even after reading a few articles online it seems like no one has a solid answer. Maybe studying baldness would lead to the right path.

My guess is purely sexual. We know males tend to grow shorter hair (ignoring the societal norm of getting it cut) and women tend to have hair with more body, thicker, and longer.

Thinking about my norwegian roots, that is the reason I am blond and fairskinned -- due to my ancestors' climate. If you look at hair textures and climate there are stark differences. I know this doesn't account for length tendencies, but it is something to think about, too.

Amber_Maiden
March 14th, 2012, 12:33 PM
Has to do with sex, I'm pretty sure...
And also it gives us something to obsess over! LOL

Of the Fae
March 14th, 2012, 12:43 PM
Here is some super long horse hair for you!
http://www.oldoregonphotos.com/linus-the-circus-horse-bred-in-oregon-1890s.html


Wow! That is awesome!



Hm yeah, sex. It would make sense!
It is proven that a lot of hair is sexy to other humans :P
But could there be other explanations?

spidermom
March 14th, 2012, 12:46 PM
Somebody a long while back wrote a book regarding his theory about humans evolving near the water, running into the water for protection from land-based predators. If you're in the water and have long hair so that it's fanning out around you, it offers protection from the sun. Also eyebrows and eyelashes offer some protection from glare on water.

But I don't know whatever became of that theory.

NaiadOreiad
March 14th, 2012, 01:08 PM
Somebody a long while back wrote a book regarding his theory about humans evolving near the water, running into the water for protection from land-based predators. If you're in the water and have long hair so that it's fanning out around you, it offers protection from the sun. Also eyebrows and eyelashes offer some protection from glare on water.

But I don't know whatever became of that theory.

I love this theory. I saw a short documentary once about how we share so many striking resemblences (i.e skin texture, fat placement, body hair etc.) with many sea mammals as well as apes that is is possible that some of our genes came from water dwellers as well (or we all split off somewhere, some going to water and some staying on land.) I can't remember the precise details but it was fascinating.

GlennaGirl
March 14th, 2012, 01:28 PM
And also it gives us something to obsess over! LOL

Ha...we have our answer. :p

p.s. MsBANGBANG, I don't think women biologically grow longer or thicker hair than men.

Ocelan
March 14th, 2012, 01:29 PM
All I've read about a similar subject is about fair skinned people of the north and the darker people living closer to the equator.
The hair on darker people who get lots of sun from directly above needed to have curly and coarse hair that sticks more up (like for example a tight afro) to protect from the sun coming from up. The northern people where sun usually shines from a lower angle needed protection for their neck also got straighter hair which grew downwards and covered also the neck.

Why it grows so long, I don't know, but my theory is that it's meant to be not taken care of so well so to keep it in the head when it keeps breaking off it needs to constantly grow. Kind of like teeth for rodents and nails for all animals.
That and the sexual attractiveness thing.

ETA: And then I obvioisly had to google. Here's some interesting info or atleast speculations: http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-is-human-head-hair-so-long.html

mzBANGBANG
March 14th, 2012, 05:43 PM
p.s. MsBANGBANG, I don't think women biologically grow longer or thicker hair than men.

I read something about the male hormone being more prone to alopecia specfically around the nape of the neck, the hairline and near the ears. This is not necessarily true for all men, just a tendency. This causes a shorter terminal length and/or loss of hair.

torrilin
March 14th, 2012, 06:42 PM
Actually, quite a number of animals can grow longer proportionally than humans can. "Persian" guinea pigs might well have hair that is more than 3 times as long as the pig is tall. An owner trying to maintain the long coat has to do a form of pin curling to let the animal move at all. Maltese, Pekingese, Lhasa Apso, Japanese Chin etc all can grow their coats out to longer than the animal is tall. With care similar to a guinea pig, it can sometimes grow to similar lengths. Just like us tho, it depends on the animals genes.

I'm not aware of any cats that would put up with that sort of maintenance, so long haired cats don't tend to get all THAT long. Horses will tho, and if the owner is interested, their manes and tails can get to floor length or (sometimes) further.

Most wild animals will not grow really long hair or fur tho. Just like it's a safety hazard for us... it is for them too. It seems to be much more a domestic animal thing.

EdG
March 14th, 2012, 06:43 PM
Here is some super long horse hair for you!
http://www.oldoregonphotos.com/linus-the-circus-horse-bred-in-oregon-1890s.htmlThat's one thudworthy horse. :thud:

I'm pretty sure that humans have bred long hair into ourselves. The story goes something like this:


Many years ago, the long-haired caveman chased after the long-haired cavewoman, and the long-haired cavewoman, upon seeing the long-haired caveman, didn't run as fast as she could. That's why we have long hair.

MsBANGBANG, you might be surprised by the length of hair on both the ladies and gentlemen of the LHC. :D
Ed

Georgies
March 14th, 2012, 06:49 PM
That's a damn good question OP! In addition to the sexual display theory, which makes sense to me, I also wonder if humans really did grow very long hair in evolutionary history. I mean, LHC'ers take some pretty elaborate precautions to protect their hair, and we also eat much more luxuriantly than when we were hunter gatherers, without long periods of famine. Not to mention that we have modern means of fighting off disease and living much longer. So probably not so many knee length types running around back in the day.

Still, interesting question!

mzBANGBANG
March 14th, 2012, 06:51 PM
MsBANGBANG, you might be surprised by the length of hair on both the ladies and gentlemen of the LHC. :D
Ed

I often am. :)

LoveAngelBeauty
March 14th, 2012, 09:24 PM
I don't think sexual attraction has anything to do with why people are able to grow long hair. I also don't think we are biologically pre-disposed to find long hair women more sexually attractive (which hasn't been said here but I have read it on this forum). Not all cultures across the world have been obsessed with women with long hair.

jacqueline101
March 14th, 2012, 09:32 PM
Its sexual men prefer to like women with long hair. It has to do with femininity.

LoveAngelBeauty
March 14th, 2012, 09:41 PM
Let's be specific then. There isn't a universal standard for hair preferences across the world. Not everyone comes from a culture that associates hair length with femininity. Especially if these people grow hair up and out rather than long and down.

LittleOrca
March 14th, 2012, 09:52 PM
Horse manes can grow really long as well. Like human hair, it takes care to get it long and neglect (or natural forces for wild horses) can keep the hair short if the owner is not cutting it already.

https://www.google.com/search?q=long+mane+horse&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=DWdhT9WhApH8iQKlrvXlBA&biw=1280&bih=868&sei=FWdhT9btFoGWiQKTwqHHBA

CurlyCap
March 14th, 2012, 10:10 PM
I think humans are just one of the few species that have the luxury of protecting their entire length long enough and well enough to allow long growth. If I was living in a forest and just surviving, my hair would probably be about an inch long. I depend heavily on modern niceties to moisturize my hair and protecting it from mechanical damage.

My dog used to have hair that grew extremely long...as long as I detangled frequently. When I just let her be, it was about 6" long.

Charlotte:)
March 15th, 2012, 01:34 AM
I'm pretty sure that humans have bred long hair into ourselves. The story goes something like this:



Many years ago, the long-haired caveman chased after the long-haired cavewoman, and the long-haired cavewoman, upon seeing the long-haired caveman, didn't run as fast as she could. That's why we have long hair.


Ed

This is the explanation I'm going with from now on. I like it :)

Arya
March 15th, 2012, 02:02 AM
Many years ago, the long-haired caveman chased after the long-haired cavewoman, and the long-haired cavewoman, upon seeing the long-haired caveman, didn't run as fast as she could. That's why we have long hair.


As far as anthropologists can tell, most early humans tended to practice mother-goddess worship. There is very little evidence to support the caveman dragging his cavewoman into the cave by her hair theories. You had to take care of the women, otherwise your tribe dies out.

Of the Fae
March 15th, 2012, 02:42 AM
Actually, quite a number of animals can grow longer proportionally than humans can. "Persian" guinea pigs might well have hair that is more than 3 times as long as the pig is tall. An owner trying to maintain the long coat has to do a form of pin curling to let the animal move at all. Maltese, Pekingese, Lhasa Apso, Japanese Chin etc all can grow their coats out to longer than the animal is tall. With care similar to a guinea pig, it can sometimes grow to similar lengths. Just like us tho, it depends on the animals genes.

I'm not aware of any cats that would put up with that sort of maintenance, so long haired cats don't tend to get all THAT long. Horses will tho, and if the owner is interested, their manes and tails can get to floor length or (sometimes) further.

Most wild animals will not grow really long hair or fur tho. Just like it's a safety hazard for us... it is for them too. It seems to be much more a domestic animal thing.


Hey I didn't know that :) wow, that's pretty cool! But as you said, those are domestic animals. Is it bred in by humans or a natural development? For if it would be, then maybe it has to do with living circumstances, otherwise it may well have to do with human preference for long hair and then still lead back to us :p



In reply to the last two posts: I think EdG means that the long haired cave woman wasn't pulled by her hair, but simply did not feel much like running after she saw the long haired caveman, thus created long haired cavebabies and those in turn did the same with other long haired cavepeople.

Spidermoms watertheory is interesting too, but would we still be swimming a lot as full humans then? Or would it be an interspecies with long hair?
Babies can swim instinctively, just like many other baby animals can!

Rilig
March 15th, 2012, 06:57 AM
Going with the accepted theory that we originally evolved in Africa on this one. Humans of African descent have kinky hair which tends to stay over the top of the head as it grows, protecting their most exposed body part, the scalp, as they walk upright. As they migrated to other, less sunny parts of the world over the generations, less protection was needed and hair straightened out, but kept it's length.

ETA: And probably sexual display for males and females, too.

jasper
March 15th, 2012, 07:18 AM
I was going to speculate that long animal hair, like horse manes and tails, might grow to extreme length if it wasn't broken off in the natural course of being that animal. I'm imagining a wool goat growing ankle length curls, which would end up snagged on bushes and brambles.

hmmruka
March 15th, 2012, 07:30 AM
Hair is something exclusive to mamals and truely only exists for protection of the skin below it and to keep warm. As we "evolved" over time and began to make clothes and move about the world we lost our body hair for the most part because it became less necessary (this is why our body hair is a different kind of hair than we grow on our heads and has a shorter termanal length). We kept our thick long hair on our heads because that is the spot on our body where it is almost inevitable to have excessive sun exposure, as well as significant heat loss in cold enviroments. If you end up with frostbite on your feet or hands you can survive, but kinda hard to live without a head. Also just like skin color and eye color, hair type and color also reflects the evolution of your ancestors adapting and acclimating to thier surroundings. Dark eyes, dark skin dark hair, protect better from the sun ect. But as humans have advanced more we dont need our hair nearly as much so it is mostly now viewed for adornment and is greatly influenced by an individuals culture and beleifs.

mz_butterfly
March 15th, 2012, 08:32 AM
I imagine it's about survival. An animal isn't going to be able to outrun a predator or chase prey for food if they are tripping over their hair. Since they don't have the ability to secure long hair or arrange an updo, nature limits the growth to what they can support.

ilovelonghair
March 15th, 2012, 08:39 AM
My guess is purely sexual. We know males tend to grow shorter hair (ignoring the societal norm of getting it cut) and women tend to have hair with more body, thicker, and longer.


There is no proof of men having shorter terminal lenght.

I guess being able to grow hair long is to show off one's health (male and female, if it was only for females, men wouldn't be able to) and that makes better candidates for reproduction. I doubt cave people cut their hair, so everybody would have had it long. Short hair is a relatively new thing.

ilovelonghair
March 15th, 2012, 08:43 AM
I read something about the male hormone being more prone to alopecia specfically around the nape of the neck, the hairline and near the ears. This is not necessarily true for all men, just a tendency. This causes a shorter terminal length and/or loss of hair.

True, but men would have reproduced before that happened, so women were still able to judge health by hair.

What I don't get it, if hair is protection against sun, why do some males go bald, wouldn't be good regarding sun strokes, skin cancer etc. But maybe they didn't live long enough to get those issues.



ETA: And then I obvioisly had to google. Here's some interesting info or atleast speculations: http://evoandproud.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-is-human-head-hair-so-long.html


That article is very male centered: as if only females try to attract males by looks and not the other way round. It goes both ways.

bumblebums
March 15th, 2012, 08:46 AM
Somebody a long while back wrote a book regarding his theory about humans evolving near the water, running into the water for protection from land-based predators. If you're in the water and have long hair so that it's fanning out around you, it offers protection from the sun. Also eyebrows and eyelashes offer some protection from glare on water.

But I don't know whatever became of that theory.


I love this theory. I saw a short documentary once about how we share so many striking resemblences (i.e skin texture, fat placement, body hair etc.) with many sea mammals as well as apes that is is possible that some of our genes came from water dwellers as well (or we all split off somewhere, some going to water and some staying on land.) I can't remember the precise details but it was fascinating.

Ahem, it's called the Aquatic Ape theory. Evolutionary biologists do not take it seriously.

As to hair growing long, you don't see ankle-length hair on other animals in the wild for the same reason that you wouldn't see ankle-length hair on humans who live in the woods--wear and tear. The lovely horse picture illustrates that horse mane terminal length can be quite long.

I don't know about horse manes, but human manes are almost certainly the result of sexual selection, just like lion manes--the only mystery is why there isn't more sexual dimorphism wrt human head hair. There is dimorphism in body hair, obviously--women are normally nowhere near as hirsute as men (though there is a lot of racial variation even in the amount of body hair for men).

bumblebums
March 15th, 2012, 08:48 AM
I imagine it's about survival. An animal isn't going to be able to outrun a predator or chase prey for food if they are tripping over their hair. Since they don't have the ability to secure long hair or arrange an updo, nature limits the growth to what they can support.

Traits that evolve by sexual selection often are at odds with naturally selected traits. The peacock's tail is Darwin's classic example: it is heavy, it is bright and attracts predators, but it also attracts peahens.

Here you go, a vid: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_09.html

racrane
March 15th, 2012, 09:27 AM
Really interesting thread! I don't know the answer myself but the theories are very cool. :)

It just might be a combinations of things: attracting a mate, protection, etc. We may never know.

kitschy
March 15th, 2012, 09:36 AM
My Poodle can grown his hair all the way to the floor - all over his body.

terpentyna
March 15th, 2012, 10:05 AM
Here is some super long horse hair for you!
http://www.oldoregonphotos.com/linus-the-circus-horse-bred-in-oregon-1890s.html

Next LHC poll: Oregon water - has it worked for you?

And as for the O.P - it's a sex trait that was first useful for protection from heat/cold/branches falling on your head. We have eyebrows and eyelashes as well, we like to groom them and play them up, and they also protect from extreme conditions.

Neneka
March 15th, 2012, 10:16 AM
I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if this have been said already. It protects the head and the back from the sun and UV-radiation that is dangerous for hairless creatures. (There is also some theories about why we are so "hairless" but I wont go there now) It also protects the head from things and it's obviously sexual thing.

mzBANGBANG
March 15th, 2012, 10:25 AM
As for hair on the head, it was most likely retained to help shield against excess heat on the top of the head. That notion may sound paradoxical, but having dense hair on the head creates a barrier layer of air between the sweating scalp and the hot surface of the hair. Thus, on a hot, sunny day the hair absorbs the heat while the barrier layer of air remains cooler, allowing sweat on the scalp to evaporate into that layer of air. Tightly curled hair provides the optimum head covering in this regard, because it increases the thickness of the space between the surface of the hair and the scalp, allowing air to blow through. Much remains to be discovered about the evolution of human head hair, but it is possible that tightly curled hair was the original condition in modern humans and that other hair types evolved as humans dispersed out of tropical Africa.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-naked-truth-why-humans-have-no-fur&page=4

Still doesn't account for the length question, but the topic is so intriguing...

Changling
March 15th, 2012, 10:30 AM
Somebody a long while back wrote a book regarding his theory about humans evolving near the water, running into the water for protection from land-based predators. If you're in the water and have long hair so that it's fanning out around you, it offers protection from the sun. Also eyebrows and eyelashes offer some protection from glare on water.

But I don't know whatever became of that theory.

I read a book about that theory once, it was fascinating! And it does seem to make sense, we can eat fish and seaweed raw, we love to play in the water, we waste so much water sweating. It's like we were meant to live right on the coast (the most popular place to live in the world!).

The book mentioned that maybe our hair grows so long because if we left it alone in seawater, it dreadlocks up and grows into long ropes that our infants can hang onto in the water. I thought that was kind of a cute theory.

mzBANGBANG
March 15th, 2012, 10:31 AM
Check out this theory:


But let me say something that no one has ever asked the question, which I think is even more interesting because it's more easy to answer: why is the hair on the human head so long. Left to its own devices human head hair will grow up to 3 feet and I think this is a much easier thing to address. Because hair that's three or even four feet long must be maladaptive, there's no way that could be an evolutionary advantage because no other species has anything like that, and hair that long running through the savannah, running through the trees, is going to snag, it's going to get caught on things, predators are going to be able to grab it and of course it gets greasy, slimey and full of horrible insects, it's a real problem.

We could only have evolved hair like that after we had developed tools, after we had developed intelligence. That is not speculation, that is only logic, reason. We could only have done it because by the time we had grown that sort of hair we already had razors made of shells or flints that we could sculpt our hair, we could cut it. People are obsessed with their hair and I think the evolution of human head hair is the first biological response actually to intelligence, to tool making. We evolved it because people could shape the hair, cut it, and do exciting things with it to look sexy.


http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/full-transcript/3453800

Check this one out! It addresses the water adaptation theory, too. Very interesting read!

Edit: And randomly, some pics of overly hairy animals :)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8_OjIivHHz0/TTiVbNIimKI/AAAAAAAABJI/krlpqx7vtLM/s320/Angora.jpg
^^Angora Rabbit

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8_OjIivHHz0/TTiVfUQ6SvI/AAAAAAAABJQ/KnDRqeXpZ2Y/s320/Merino.jpg
^^Merino Sheep -- thinking about wool in general, there is an animal that needs maintenance because of the wool growing so much.

prosperina
March 15th, 2012, 11:12 AM
Well, long hair is an indicator of good nutrition and health. And if human beings are programmed to find anything attractive it's good health. Hair is not essential, so if something is wrong with you: bad nutrition, illness, your hair will show it: if you get really sick your hair will stop growing and thin out.

Hair is a record of your past, of your health history. So if a person can grow healthy long hair it means he/she is and has been healthy; indeed, if a person has long hair the body is getting more than adequate nutrition since you have enough nutrients to spare to grow something non-essential. The choice to grow hair or not is cultural, but I would wager that the ability to grow it to long lengths has benefits with regard to sexual selection.

And in many cultures, long hair is and has been a symbol of feminine *and* manly beauty, and choosing to cultivate beauty and taking joy in beauty and health is quite natural and human.

ouseljay
March 15th, 2012, 11:19 AM
Check out this theory:

But let me say something that no one has ever asked the question, which I think is even more interesting because it's more easy to answer: why is the hair on the human head so long. Left to its own devices human head hair will grow up to 3 feet and I think this is a much easier thing to address. Because hair that's three or even four feet long must be maladaptive, there's no way that could be an evolutionary advantage because no other species has anything like that, and hair that long running through the savannah, running through the trees, is going to snag, it's going to get caught on things, predators are going to be able to grab it and of course it gets greasy, slimey and full of horrible insects, it's a real problem.

We could only have evolved hair like that after we had developed tools, after we had developed intelligence. That is not speculation, that is only logic, reason. We could only have done it because by the time we had grown that sort of hair we already had razors made of shells or flints that we could sculpt our hair, we could cut it. People are obsessed with their hair and I think the evolution of human head hair is the first biological response actually to intelligence, to tool making. We evolved it because people could shape the hair, cut it, and do exciting things with it to look sexy.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/full-transcript/3453800

Check this one out! It addresses the water adaptation theory, too. Very interesting read!

Edit: And randomly, some pics of overly hairy animals :)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8_OjIivHHz0/TTiVbNIimKI/AAAAAAAABJI/krlpqx7vtLM/s320/Angora.jpg
^^Angora Rabbit

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_8_OjIivHHz0/TTiVfUQ6SvI/AAAAAAAABJQ/KnDRqeXpZ2Y/s320/Merino.jpg
^^Merino Sheep -- thinking about wool in general, there is an animal that needs maintenance because of the wool growing so much.

(Bold mine.) That's simply not true. As bumblebums has mentioned, sexual selection can be extremely strong. If hair length were a sexually selected trait, then it could very well overcome (to a point) some selection against it as a physically detrimental trait. A classic example is the Long-tailed Widowbird. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long-tailed_Widowbird) The males have very long tails, long enough to cause them difficulty flying and foraging, but the females are drawn to tails even longer than most males naturally exhibit. In this case the sexual selection has cause something that is actually harmful to the male that has it.

The other point I've been thinking about is that if hair were naturally kept short by friction and snags (as a few people have suggested) and it's not a sexually selected trait, that its terminal length would be, in an evolutionary sense, arbitrary. You can't select for or against a trait that isn't expressed. (Although that leads me to wonder about the energetic requirements of longer vs. shorter terminal lengths. I think the difference is probably negligible.)

holothuroidea
March 15th, 2012, 11:19 AM
There might have been an evolutionary reason why long hair increased survival rates but I wouldn't be surprised if there is no reason.

Humans wouldn't be the first animals to evolve a completely useless and purely aesthetic trait. It also may or may not have to do with sex, but as far as evolution goes most things are about sex.

khrystyne572
March 15th, 2012, 11:43 AM
Thanks for the link to that article Ocelan. Very interesting!

skaempfer
March 15th, 2012, 12:01 PM
Yeah, it must be sex. Examples of overlong hair/feathers in animals are either clearly to attract mates (like the peacock and lyre bird, mentioned above) or were bred that way by humans for useful (sheep) or asthetic (cats, horses) purposes. Ther is no case of naturally ground-dragging hair in animals, is there?

kitschy
March 15th, 2012, 12:08 PM
Yeah, it must be sex. Examples of overlong hair/feathers in animals are either clearly to attract mates (like the peacock and lyre bird, mentioned above) or were bred that way by humans for useful (sheep) or asthetic (cats, horses) purposes. Ther is no case of naturally ground-dragging hair in animals, is there?

I believe the genetic tendency toward extremely long hair in animals must exist in order for humans to have manipulated it.

I know that horse tails can grow to the ground but they are worn off by a process similar to erosion. I believe the Musk Ox grows hair until it drags the ground and is worn off. I could be wrong.

skaempfer
March 15th, 2012, 01:14 PM
I believe the genetic tendency toward extremely long hair in animals must exist in order for humans to have manipulated it.

I know that horse tails can grow to the ground but they are worn off by a process similar to erosion. I believe the Musk Ox grows hair until it drags the ground and is worn off. I could be wrong.

Yes, but these animals have both been domesticated for thousands of years. That's not natural selection.

kitschy
March 15th, 2012, 01:17 PM
The Musk Ox was only domesticated during my lifetime.

skaempfer
March 15th, 2012, 01:19 PM
The Musk Ox was only domesticated during my lifetime.

Lol; I missed the *musk* bit.

mzBANGBANG
March 15th, 2012, 01:40 PM
There is no proof of men having shorter terminal lenght.


The difference in male and female hair I was talking about was baldness, which stunts the anagen phase too. Men are more likely to experience balding over the period of their life than women:


Over 50% of men are bald or have significantly thinning hair by age 50. Whilst 20% of women are thinning and 5% are losing their hair in clumps around the crown by the same age. http://firstscience.com/home/articles/humans/slaphead-science-a-brief-history-of-baldness-cures_1282.html

I wasn't saying this to imply men have different strands of hair than women. The hair examined up close appears the same, and unless you do mitochondrial DNA testing on the root, you can't tell the sex of a strand of hair. Not every man has MPB and plenty of women experience balding, however it is more likely that a man would have it than a woman. It is the hair growth cycles that are affected and are different.

Though I'm :horse: I wanted to explain what I meant as not to offend the male LHCers. By "tendency" I meant "more likely." And since it doesn't occur within the entire population the point is moot.

Kinkycurlygurl
March 15th, 2012, 01:47 PM
I suspect that it has to do with genetics and cultivation. We are the only species that cultivates hair on certain parts of the body, animals don't. We protect the hair on our heads from friction and other trauma, we condition it and treat it very gently to avoid breaking individual hairs.

I think if we really let it go and cared for it the "unwanted" hair on the rest of our bodies could get astonishingly long. I for one have had leg hairs that you could cornrow. I waxed for years to tame those beasts.:luke:

turtlelover
April 22nd, 2012, 01:19 PM
I saw a video of a horse on youtube w/ super long hair, and I remembered this thread and just HAD to share it! :cheese:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nB4L6p381FE&feature=related