Where Did That One Thick, Dark Hair Come From?

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  • Опубликовано: 16 мар 2023
  • Visit brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30 day free trial.
    Some days you look in the mirror and find a long dark hair where it didn't use to be. Maybe you're going through puberty, pregnancy, or menopause. Maybe you're not. But either way, that hair didn't appear out of nowhere. It just went through a bit of a transformation.
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    Sources:
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    www.jidonline.org/article/S00...
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    royalsocietypublishing.org/do...
    www.sciencedirect.com/science...
    academic.oup.com/bjd/article/...
    www.frontiersin.org/articles/...
    Image Sources:
    www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
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    www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
    www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
    www.gettyimages.com/detail/ph...
    commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
    www.gettyimages.com/detail/vi...
    commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

Комментарии • 833

  • @SciShow
    @SciShow  Год назад +110

    Visit brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30 day free trial.

    • @Mahbu
      @Mahbu Год назад +4

      Okay, cool. Now explain the white or silver. . maybe transparent hair that is super thin and grows to obnoxious lengths in seemingly short spans of time and is all alone

    • @Mors_Ontologica
      @Mors_Ontologica Год назад +1

      ​@@Mahbu aliens

    • @WetDoggo
      @WetDoggo Год назад

      I'm curious if there's a pathway to turn termal hair into vellous hair?

    • @CritterKeeper01
      @CritterKeeper01 Год назад

      @SciShow Can a hair transform in the other direction, from Terminal to Vellus? Or is it a one-way trip?

    • @PoisonNuke
      @PoisonNuke Год назад

      ok what about those single strands of hair that are like SUPER thick, Im talking about up a millimeter in diameter. Especially inmids of the beard or eyebrows, there are sometimes super dark and super thick strands of hair, that are soft as well. I was thinking this video is about these crazy mutations

  • @Kirasuva
    @Kirasuva Год назад +2932

    This is one of the things I love about SciShow, an answer to a random question I've always had but never thought to ask. Thanks guys!

    • @michaelwaldorf88
      @michaelwaldorf88 Год назад +16

      Got one on my knuckle and always plucked the "one dark hair"

    • @CatsForTheCatGod
      @CatsForTheCatGod Год назад +15

      Always the chin hairs too 😩

    • @DanielBParada
      @DanielBParada Год назад +6

      Need this episode got 4 nonadjacent forearm hairs driving me crazy

    • @jf2801
      @jf2801 Год назад +5

      Now if only they can tell me why my genes make my facial hair patchy and wiry. Like actually coarse like nylon.

    • @IntrepidFraidyCat
      @IntrepidFraidyCat Год назад +2

      Exactly! 😆👍🏻

  • @jacko666
    @jacko666 Год назад +1794

    Now I’m going to need a sequel video about the random 3” long + super wispy hairs that seem to magically sprout up overnight on your face/arm/back that surely you would have noticed growing before they got that long… 😅

    • @Kairi-ou
      @Kairi-ou Год назад +187

      Right??? My question is, how did it get so long so fast????

    • @yaki_ebiko
      @yaki_ebiko Год назад +305

      ​@@Kairi-ouusually, they don't. some hair would grow much longer and got covered up by the cuticle. when you sleep and rubbed it off during night the whole hair pops out and wola, instant hair.

    • @rhov-anion
      @rhov-anion Год назад +157

      That hair was lying just under the surface, waiting to pop out and scare you.

    • @sleazybtd
      @sleazybtd Год назад

      Sorry. That was me. Every once in a while, I sneak into your bedroom when you're sleeping and I implant that hair into your skin. I then hide and watch you until you find it. I enjoy watching people's reaction.

    • @cameroneridan4558
      @cameroneridan4558 Год назад +93

      ​@@yaki_ebiko oh my god that makes so much sense!
      Also it's Voilà

  • @greenredblue
    @greenredblue Год назад +411

    My pet theory for why terminal hairs are in the groin and underarms is that these are places where large patches of occasionally sweaty skin unavoidably rubs against itself, potentially causing chafing and infection, and thicker hair can serve as a buffer.

    • @xaviotesharris891
      @xaviotesharris891 Год назад +34

      Your theory makes sense. It doesn't explain my back hair, but I like it.

    • @macberg5806
      @macberg5806 Год назад +74

      It’s exactly why they’re there. I realized this working out at the gym. I had trimmed my armpit hairs, and after doing so there was noticeable friction in my armpits. Rather uncomfortable and it made it very clear to me instantly why these hairs are there. Definitely practical

    • @gabrielleperson4794
      @gabrielleperson4794 Год назад +9

      Except most American women shave their pits regularly and don't chafe our armpits

    • @Casocki
      @Casocki Год назад +51

      ​@@gabrielleperson4794 speak for yourself; mine always got irritated and clammy

    • @bee-yq3wb
      @bee-yq3wb Год назад +36

      @@gabrielleperson4794 most American women aren’t super active

  • @thetwentiethman3008
    @thetwentiethman3008 Год назад +587

    In my early twenties I sported a bushy black beard and a blonde mustache. In the midst of all this hair, on my left cheek I discovered a single thick hair. It was about five times as thick as the rest of my beard hairs and about three-quarters to an inch long, straight, stiff, conical, and rubbery. I plucked it painlessly. This only happened once. That's what I thought the title of this video was about.

    • @cynthiakeller5954
      @cynthiakeller5954 Год назад +24

      Same!

    • @thetwentiethman3008
      @thetwentiethman3008 Год назад +42

      @@cynthiakeller5954 You had a a bushy black beard?

    • @NathalieCwiekSwiercz
      @NathalieCwiekSwiercz Год назад +7

      ​@@thetwentiethman3008 😂

    • @icarusbinns3156
      @icarusbinns3156 Год назад +40

      My dad had a hilariously-red mountain man beard in college (the photos are a riot!) But he has dark brown hair for the rest. Well, it’s all grey now.
      But the red beard looked dyed! It was natural

    • @longemen3000
      @longemen3000 Год назад +4

      Same

  • @Johnnyoity
    @Johnnyoity Год назад +849

    The reverse is also true - hair that "goes bald" actually miniaturizes from terminal hairs into vellus hairs - DHT is also a culprit in that. Drugs like Rogaine and Propecia are DHT blockers.
    Looking at the role of androgens in hair length and color changes is a major area of study to reverse/cure baldness.

    • @jonaspavelek1333
      @jonaspavelek1333 Год назад +124

      (don´t mean to insult but) Rogaine is minoxidil topical cream, if I am not mistaken. Maybe there are finasteride pills (idk). But minoxidil works by improving bloodflow to the hair follicles, helping them grow better, not by blocking dht.
      Finasteride is also used for baldness and this one actually blocks DHT, but on the other hand DHT has a lot of mood improving effects, so finasteride can make you depressed.

    • @ikbintom
      @ikbintom Год назад +57

      @@jonaspavelek1333 great addition to and rectification of the original comment, not offensive at all 👍

    • @empatheticrambo4890
      @empatheticrambo4890 Год назад +3

      I was just thinking baldness and hair texture were two natural follow ups!

    • @ambrose1724
      @ambrose1724 Год назад +16

      ​@@jonaspavelek1333 Finasteride when ingested is meant primarily for prostate problems. And taking it regularly ( like you would have to for your hair) is a bad idea with lots of horror stories going around.
      Solutions of it can be applied to the scalp though - this makes the side effects milder/ nonexistent.

    • @poindextertunes
      @poindextertunes Год назад +1

      thank you Derek from MPMD 🙏

  • @KasSommers
    @KasSommers Год назад +377

    I'm a post-menopausal woman and I think my eyebrows are falling. They are very thin, almost invisible, but hairs on the chin and one stray that appears every few months in the middle of my right cheek are always a surprise. Bodies, huh?

    • @med8615
      @med8615 Год назад

      are you hypothyroid?

    • @ikbintom
      @ikbintom Год назад +16

      Probably they turn back into miniscule vellus hairs, rather than actually falling out ;)

    • @poindextertunes
      @poindextertunes Год назад +3

      @S.G. Former Peter Gallagher fan huh? 😂

    • @MithMathy
      @MithMathy Год назад +21

      ​@@ikbintom I think by "falling" the op was joking that her eyebrows are "migrating" down her face ;)

    • @KasSommers
      @KasSommers Год назад +5

      @@MithMathy exactly.

  • @The1stDukeDroklar
    @The1stDukeDroklar Год назад +110

    Once I had a red hair (have dark hair) that looked so much like copper I thought I had a small piece of copper wire from my construction job stuck in my face. Plucked it and it never returned. Always wondered wtf...

    • @MurdocsMinion
      @MurdocsMinion Год назад +33

      As a ginger, I can confirm, all of my thick hairs look exactly like copper wire when viewed in isolation. Individual red hairs are also thicker on average than other hair colours, so it's an even easier mistake to make lol.
      As an aside, I have a single black hair. I pull it sometimes, but it always eventually grows back.

    • @sdrtcacgnrjrc
      @sdrtcacgnrjrc Год назад +10

      I used have some copper red hairs in my beard, the colour has faded away completely though as I get older

    • @J_Pawsadas-PTSDEnjoyer
      @J_Pawsadas-PTSDEnjoyer Год назад +14

      i've got a mix of brown, black, and red hair and whenever i find a couple loose red ones i group 'em together to marvel at their copperness

    • @JuleahStrickland
      @JuleahStrickland Год назад +6

      ​@Carpet Beetle my former husband was this way as well. Brown hair but would grow a red beard. It was so weird but neat. I gave him a nickname of Capt Redbeard 😂

  • @Beegee1952
    @Beegee1952 Год назад +226

    After menopause I lost all of my underarm hairs and most of my leg hairs, other areas thinned out. One of the few advantages of aging! 😃

    • @Justaperson354
      @Justaperson354 Год назад +24

      It was the opposite for my mom she got even hairier lol

    • @Beegee1952
      @Beegee1952 Год назад +20

      @@Justaperson354 Wow, seems you never know what will happen. Except for my head, I guess I got lucky. Being a clone of my mom I have to thank her since we obviously have no control! 🤣

    • @Primalxbeast
      @Primalxbeast Год назад +20

      @Beegee I'm 52, and reading about perimenopause seems to give you absolutely no clue what to expect because everybody seems to have such different effects.
      Basically, what I've learned is that a bunch of random unpredictable stuff is going to happen that can be completely the opposite of what happens to some other people.

    • @Beegee1952
      @Beegee1952 Год назад +13

      @@Primalxbeast It seems to be different for everyone. For me a low dose of estrogen has kept me sane. The not sleeping, sweating and being angry all the time was unbearable for me and my family. I had a very easy time with menstruation, no cramps ever and no PMS but, menopause is awful! I’m 70 now and still take estrogen because I don’t sleep AT ALL if I don’t. Good luck!

    • @Primalxbeast
      @Primalxbeast Год назад +3

      @Beegee I have a clotting disorder, so hormones won't be an option, and I live in Florida without AC, so I'm hoping that I don't get bad hot flashes. It can be too hot here, even in the middle of Winter.

  • @1TakoyakiStore
    @1TakoyakiStore Год назад +113

    I remember when I was a kid I would occasionally get a super thick hair growing on my chest. What made it stand, out other than its thickness, was that the tip was lighter than the rest. It would always fall out and grow back years later. The mystery continued until one time it grew longer than before. Eventually it did fall out again but this time there was enough of it to actually examine in more detail. Turns out that it was actually 3 hairs grown together and had started unraveling from the bottom up. It hasn't grown back since in that spot.

    • @DawnDavidson
      @DawnDavidson Год назад +3

      Wow!

    • @soyothedanny
      @soyothedanny Год назад +28

      Pili multigemini. It's normal. Some people just have weird genes. So many of my hair follicles have two or three hairs out of one hole.
      Or I had two hairs joined at some spots and separated on other parts too

    • @batintheattic7293
      @batintheattic7293 Год назад +1

      @@soyothedanny Pili multigemini. Ooh, you clever thing!! I have never heard of that. Lovely term, though.

    • @1TakoyakiStore
      @1TakoyakiStore Год назад +1

      @@soyothedanny Yep that's it. I didn't know what it was called but I knew it had a medical name.

  • @izuela7677
    @izuela7677 Год назад +123

    Random thick hairs are often clearly deformed for me. Leaving wounds as they erupt. Sometimes even ingrown. Or super tight coiled even though the rest of my hair is straight. One hair follicle, trying desperately to do everything.

    • @DawnDavidson
      @DawnDavidson Год назад +17

      I feel you so much! These random thick chin hairs started showing up as I went through menopause. They annoy the heck outta me.

    • @TheKrispyfort
      @TheKrispyfort Год назад +38

      Everything, Everyhair, All at once

    • @TheKrispyfort
      @TheKrispyfort Год назад +10

      I'm starting to develop downy hair filled cysts.
      I need Dr Pimple Popper MD

    • @Merip1214
      @Merip1214 Год назад +1

      Yep. All over my legs. It's a mess

  • @kathleenkeene5864
    @kathleenkeene5864 Год назад +70

    I appreciate that you kept this professional, and didn't shame us for having body and facial hair, and in fact put a positive spin on it. I also VERY MUCH appreciate that you pointed out that having darker hair isn't necessarily a sign of out of whack hormones! Us women who have naturally hairy bodies, and embrace it, have been historically pigeonholed into assuming to have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) and incorrectly diagnosed, and unnecessarily given hormones or other drugs. Thank you!

    • @hamsterama
      @hamsterama Год назад +9

      So true! I'm a hairy woman, to the point that I have to shave my chin and front of my neck daily, or else I'll grow a "beard." I also have dark hairs covering my legs. And no, there's nothing wrong with me. All women have testosterone, it's just that some have more of it than others. Certain ethnic groups tend to be hairier than others as well. And yes, I agree, it's annoying that women who are hairy are thought to have a "hormone imbalance" or PCOS. The problem is easily fixed with a razor and shaving cream, no need to alter one's body with hormones and drugs.

  • @crapizio
    @crapizio Год назад +27

    Thank you for crediting your video and image sources in the description with links! More people need to do that.

  • @aprilchiginsky7560
    @aprilchiginsky7560 Год назад +126

    I've always wondered this as I've been getting older and family and friends are turning grey, I've noticed I don't get grey but I get random thick black course hairs around my hairline. My husband gets a single black hair on his nose, looks just like a eyelash that sprouts out of nowhere so I'm glad I can tell him why!! Thanks for the random facts!!

    • @Hi_Im_Akward
      @Hi_Im_Akward Год назад +8

      My mom has streaks of black and grey hair. Her original hair color was a light redish blonde and when she was in highschool she gots streaks of black. Then when she started getting older everything else turned grey.

    • @TheKrispyfort
      @TheKrispyfort Год назад +3

      46 here, and the only grey/white hair I've gotten has been in an eyebrow and a chunky chin hair.
      Bodies = definitely weird

    • @xXxDeadAnaxXx
      @xXxDeadAnaxXx Год назад +1

      You can let your dude know that my dude also has a single black hair that grows from the tip of his nose. So odd.

    • @kuutti6777
      @kuutti6777 Год назад

      I have blonde, fine hair, but at the front of my hairline I have dozens(or more) of black, thick strands. I always had them but the older I get the more I seem to grow them.

  • @elizabethmcglothlin5406
    @elizabethmcglothlin5406 Год назад +148

    Thanks for this. As a redhead with very little (visible) body hair, I wondered why that started to change in my 40s. I also had a 'lost' head-type hair on my shoulder that would get quite long without me noticing it, though it seems to have ceased operation. Still, suddenly having a few dark chest hairs around my areolas was a bit of a shock!

    • @tresbonoeuf
      @tresbonoeuf Год назад +7

      @@johnny5941 Grow up, Johnny.

    • @BloodAsp
      @BloodAsp Год назад +6

      @@johnny5941 it's not like you know this person, we are all human.

    • @ikbintom
      @ikbintom Год назад +15

      My father is 60 and still has very little visible body hair. He isn't balding at all either. Interesting that the amount of hair you have in your life can be so different from person to person.

    • @elizabethmcglothlin5406
      @elizabethmcglothlin5406 Год назад +10

      @@ikbintom Exactly! My poor brother had a mustache that was only visible in strong sunlight, even more so than a blonde, poor guy!

    • @FuckedUpGenius
      @FuckedUpGenius Год назад +24

      I once had a hair that was head like, right on my cheek. Very thin compared to the random dark hairs I have on my chin. It grew to about 10cm (4") long before I noticed it. That one never came back, tho.
      Hormones are very relevant to body hair growth, and since women go through a lot of changes around 40, it makes sense for body hair to change.
      I had one patch of "beard" develop during my pregnancy. I left it alone, hoping it would get back to normal after my hormones were stable. Now, 10 years later, I still pluck out those pesky hairs. Stupid hormones.

  • @jameshill2450
    @jameshill2450 Год назад +35

    I get one single thick white hair that occasionally grows out of the fatty part of my earlobe. Started in my 30s. I can't prove it, but I *swear* that one day it's not there at all and a few days later it's like an inch long.

    • @larspolydeus3867
      @larspolydeus3867 Год назад +4

      I get hairs just like that on my chest/shoulders occasionally and have wondered what the heck is going on there!

    • @veryberry39
      @veryberry39 Год назад +1

      My boyfriend is self-conscious about me touching his ears for that reason!

    • @roxyhart5692
      @roxyhart5692 Год назад +3

      My father gets that on the very tip of his nose! He's old and it's so funny because he doesn't notice it until it's really long, he'll be watching TV and suddenly it comes into his vision haha

    • @kristenmoonrise
      @kristenmoonrise Год назад

      @@roxyhart5692 😂

  • @raf.raf.
    @raf.raf. Год назад +43

    I have the opposite question. What's up with those single weird long white hairs that appear out of nowhere on random parts of the body?

  • @chrissandoval7675
    @chrissandoval7675 Год назад +6

    ...and then there's that weird two inch white eyebrow hair that somehow goes unnoticed until it does.

  • @ProffesionalZombie12
    @ProffesionalZombie12 Год назад +18

    I have PCOS, but my wayward whiskers didn't start appearing in random places until I was an adult. I swear I go through tweezers like no one's business.

    • @princesschelsea1558
      @princesschelsea1558 Год назад +1

      I also have PCOS! When I was in high school, I had longer than normal peach fuzz on my lip and chin, but they didn’t turn dark or spread wider until after college 😅 now I have to shave my face every other day

    • @kashiichan
      @kashiichan Год назад

      What do you mean by "I go through tweezers"?

    • @92RKID
      @92RKID Год назад

      ​@@kashiichan You use the tweezers till they aren't usable right? That's what I understood it to mean.

  • @brettstover1850
    @brettstover1850 Год назад +10

    I just found a 8 inch long black hair growing from the back side of my shoulder just last week. I plucked it so I could get a better look 😂

  • @NicholasHay1982
    @NicholasHay1982 Год назад +13

    Sometimes that one extra dark, extra thick hair is a pili multigemini, a cluster of hairs growing from the same folicle, with all the hairs matted together. They're especially common on the face and neck of people who grow beards.

    • @Justinlmd
      @Justinlmd Год назад +2

      Yep! I get these a few times per year. They are strangely satisfying to pluck.

    • @NicholasHay1982
      @NicholasHay1982 Год назад +3

      @@Justinlmd "go home beard hair, you're drunk"

  • @louisa6539
    @louisa6539 Год назад +5

    Thanks. I thought I had a single pube on the back of my knee. A little biochemistry lesson and I feel less weird.😂

  • @LisaBeergutHolst
    @LisaBeergutHolst Год назад +4

    "The light and thin peach fuzz found in places like your arms and back..." Speak for yourself there, Stefan.

  • @penguinbellyflop548
    @penguinbellyflop548 Год назад

    THANK YOU! This is the video I didn't know I needed

  • @BlueWaves975
    @BlueWaves975 Год назад +11

    Interesting! I've wondered a lot about it in the past several years (post menopause) because though I am blond with very straight hair, I now occasionally find a long, curly, coarse, nearly black hair in my brush or sprouting from my scalp. Thanks for the explanation!

  • @OAlem
    @OAlem Год назад +14

    I call them rogue hairs. For a few years, like age 44-49, I suddenly had 3 hairs coming out of my right shoulder that were long enough to braid. I strangely don't have them anymore, but now I have random earlobe and eyebrow hairs going from vellus into terminal, and before I even notice it, they're an inch long.
    I bought one of those multi-shavers.

  • @paadoxal
    @paadoxal Год назад +7

    i just realized the thicker hair on my hand started growing after i went on hormone medication and i didn't connect it until now! interesting

  • @SnootchieBootchies27
    @SnootchieBootchies27 Год назад +47

    Okay, now can you please explain the vellus hairs that decide to randomly grow at about 2000 times as fast as any other hair on your body? Usually in a really odd spot like off to one side in your lower back or right on your earlobe?

    • @jacko666
      @jacko666 Год назад +3

      YES

    • @brandongaines1731
      @brandongaines1731 Год назад +7

      I thought that that was what this video was about....

    • @WireMosasaur
      @WireMosasaur Год назад +6

      I feel like they don't grow _faster_ , they just... never stop growing, and usually break instead of fall out. I have a permanent one on the back of my hand and I often think it's a stray bit of clothing fuzz or maybe a soft cat hair and then I try to flick it away and it's like oh that's attached to me, nvm lol

  • @Karadrius
    @Karadrius Год назад +35

    I sliced into my hand as a child because, ya know, unsupervised pocked knife. 10 years, hair has finally started growing along the scar and 8 years after that, a single dark, black hair is the only color on that patch of skin

    • @paadoxal
      @paadoxal Год назад +6

      whoa interesting, i've had a burn scar for a few years now and i had the same happen

    • @princesseville6889
      @princesseville6889 Год назад +1

      He is a survivor lol! Protect him at all costs xD

  • @warehouselead
    @warehouselead Год назад +1

    I have always wondered this but never cared to Google it ha ha! Thank you!

  • @beautyandintrigue
    @beautyandintrigue Год назад +1

    Your descriptors have made my random hairs feel very pretty. Thank you, lol.

  • @boy638
    @boy638 Год назад +4

    Who remembers that one comment asking why there's hair growing in the @nus where Scishow eventually responded? Good times!

    • @MurdocsMinion
      @MurdocsMinion Год назад +2

      I do remember, but you don't have to censor anus my dude. It's a medical term

  • @fuferito
    @fuferito Год назад +15

    And, then there's that hair some of us get after the age of 40.
    Yes, sea lion whiskers where all your life you've only had eyebrows, and tiny pubes coming out of your ears.

  • @billkallas1762
    @billkallas1762 Год назад +6

    Now that I'm as old as dirt, I develop a few hairs in my eyebrows that will grow crazy long if I don't trim them every three weeks, or so. I'm afraid of developing "Brezhnev eyebrows".

  • @Straithe
    @Straithe Год назад

    Thank you for the video.

  • @kittypurr11
    @kittypurr11 Год назад +30

    My son was born with jet-black curly hair... one night when he was about 6 months old, I was holding him and realized he had TWO LONG WHITE STRAIGHT HAIRS growing in there. I waited until he fell asleep then I plucked them. 😂 So extremely weird! He was a baby, so definitely not going grey yet. I don't think they ever grew back... lol.

    • @ikbintom
      @ikbintom Год назад +3

      I'd think they did grow back, the follicle should still be there right?

    • @jahrn692
      @jahrn692 Год назад +8

      Ah, I definitely would’ve kept it. I think it’s pretty cool.

    • @witchypoo7353
      @witchypoo7353 Год назад +10

      You can have grey hairs at any age. This isn’t necessarily a sign of going grey however

    • @princesseville6889
      @princesseville6889 Год назад +8

      We have the opposite here - my daughter is almost white blonde, but grows 3 lonely black hairs on her head. Ive plucked one, but it returned and now she wants to keep them lol.

    • @theyxaj
      @theyxaj Год назад +7

      @@princesseville6889 Omg, this unlocked a memory of me finding black hairs in my younger brother's blonde hair, and he wanted them GONE! He always told me to take them out 🤣

  • @OddWomanOut_Pi81
    @OddWomanOut_Pi81 Год назад +1

    Yeeeessss! This is practical info. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

  • @Ashou1
    @Ashou1 Год назад

    THANK YOU!!!!!

  • @jimbrookhyser
    @jimbrookhyser Год назад

    I haven't watched the video yet... BUT I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS VIDEO FOR YEARS!!!

    • @jimbrookhyser
      @jimbrookhyser Год назад

      Ok. I watched it, and it still doesn't answer the question burning my eyes out. I will have to wait. Bucket list item.

  • @JillShaw
    @JillShaw Год назад

    I want the outtakes from this one😂 Thanks for giving us interesting and useful information along with some laughs💙💜✌😂😭😂

  • @procrastinator547
    @procrastinator547 Год назад +8

    Thought this was going to be about those thick wire-like hairs that sometimes come in that are like a fusion of a few hair follicles.

    • @Justinlmd
      @Justinlmd Год назад +5

      Same! I get those in a few spots in my beard a couple times per year. I tweeze them out and then they break into 4-5 regular sized terminal hairs

  • @briansquibb999
    @briansquibb999 Год назад

    Amazing. Truly amazing. Thank you.

  • @Nyphur
    @Nyphur Год назад +7

    Another major cause of randomly appearing hairs that shouldn't be there is hair splinters, where a hair from somewhere else gets embedded in the skin elsewhere. It's more common than you think because of the elastic properties of hair, when a hair that's pulled snaps under tension the end of it can recoil so quickly it penetrates the skin.

  • @azdaze227
    @azdaze227 Год назад +6

    It wasn't a thick, black hair, it was super thin and blonde even though I have brown hair, but 2 days ago i found a random hair growing out of the middle of my forehead! Halfway between my eyebrows and hairline, just one single, long hair. And then this video comes out

  • @Killbayne
    @Killbayne Год назад +3

    FINALLY THEY MADE A VIDEO ON THIS. I can't stop staring at those 3 random thick black hairs on my face and belly.

  • @iheartcartoons1786
    @iheartcartoons1786 Год назад

    Thank you for posting this! Searching the internet for this very specific question brought up results that had nothing to do random follicles going from vellum to terminal or just hair care products. lol

  • @QueenofSilence101
    @QueenofSilence101 Год назад +3

    Ugh. I have a handful of these dark hairs scattered along my chin/jawline. It's so annoying having to pluck them every time they grow in.

    • @Vaasuuu1050
      @Vaasuuu1050 2 месяца назад

      Does plucking increase dark hair amount?? Pls reply

  • @netgnostic1627
    @netgnostic1627 Год назад +5

    Cool. Now tell us all about skin tags. Why do some people start getting a bunch of them, usually in just one area?

    • @skeptigal4626
      @skeptigal4626 Год назад +1

      Skin tags can be a sign that you have high blood sugar.

  • @ozhazemtube
    @ozhazemtube Год назад

    Great info thank you!!!

  • @perlamedrano3637
    @perlamedrano3637 Год назад

    YES OMG IVE BEEN WONDERING THIS THE LONGEST TIME

  • @logenvestfold4143
    @logenvestfold4143 Год назад +6

    This was a topic I was looking up a couple of months ago. I have a random terminal hair on my right upper arm. It's curly like my facial hair.

  • @Pasakoye
    @Pasakoye Год назад

    This is actually a very informative video.

  • @MrsBrit1
    @MrsBrit1 Год назад +25

    I'm blonde with very fine hair, but have always had a few thick, black hairs on my head. Like 10-20x the thickness of my normal hairs. What causes those weirdos?

    • @paadoxal
      @paadoxal Год назад +7

      yeah same, i get random colors and textures of hair on my head sometimes, i tried looking into it and it might be because a hair follicle produces two hairs that connect into one? the reason for that might be what is explained in the video

    • @vampbat
      @vampbat Год назад +7

      Apparently maybe Androgens.

    • @MrsBrit1
      @MrsBrit1 Год назад +1

      But I started finding them in childhood, like when I was 5.

  • @coreymoore2719
    @coreymoore2719 Год назад

    If ever there was something I was wondering that I never thought anybody would answer, this is it

  • @Scereyaha
    @Scereyaha Год назад +3

    Okay now what causes some of the tiny white hairs to just grow infinitely long or grow 10 out of the same follicle [all still white]?

  • @sethnaugle984
    @sethnaugle984 Год назад +5

    You should do a video about scar tissues promoting hair growth. I have a scar on my left jaw line and I don't really grow facial hair quickly but the scar grows thick dark hairs and quickly. I pluck my tiny side beard.

    • @utej.k.bemsel4777
      @utej.k.bemsel4777 Год назад +1

      As a kid i fell on my chin, and since i'm an adult woman there are growing some very thick black hairs!

    • @sethnaugle984
      @sethnaugle984 Год назад

      @@utej.k.bemsel4777 now that's just unfair lol what a bad spot. It's crazy how those things get damaged and active. I'm not trying to grow facial hair and my facial hair grows so slowly that I barely ever shave. I have to pluck my side beard every month. I've only shaved my face four times in my life. I'm 30 and I barely have beard hairs on my chin. I think it's the native American in me struggling to grow facial hair but I don't mind.

  • @SinHurr
    @SinHurr Год назад +1

    I get the tricolor. Some of my errant hairs are shock white, some are old man grey, and some are strawberry blonde, depending on location.

  • @TheMuffinator3
    @TheMuffinator3 Год назад +20

    I’ve been on testosterone for over five years so I had an idea of how random single hairs high up on my cheek get thick all of a sudden 😏 but just like my older brother, it’s taking a long time for facial hair to fill out despite typical levels of T. Seems like they don’t have anywhere near as many receptors as the hairs on my upper lip and chin!

  • @raymondgilbert7887
    @raymondgilbert7887 Год назад

    Thank you for the science!

  • @TheProfessordank
    @TheProfessordank Год назад

    He said "this course explores the core" that's 🔥

  • @dougfairbanks8055
    @dougfairbanks8055 Год назад +2

    Excellent episode....informative & yet I gotta compliment whoever wrote the dialogue!!! I always thought it was only Mr. Hank that threw in the funny bits just when you thought you weren't listening......but we ALWAYS listen!!! Thank you Stefan!!

  • @gaberylosborne8018
    @gaberylosborne8018 Год назад +4

    I've had these hairs! But, the most interesting one popped out of my chin hair, which is 2.5 inches long at most. One day, I found a single, foot long hair that was cozied up in there. Really wonder how it got so long, and how long it took to reach that length!

  • @fishingfan1500
    @fishingfan1500 Год назад +1

    After going through extensive chemotherapy and radiation therapy, a lot of my hair migrated down to my chest and stomach. I also have quite a few 'random' thick dark hairs on my shoulders and back which I really don't like. Thank goodness for hair removal cream and razors.

  • @foxylovelace2679
    @foxylovelace2679 Год назад

    Another question I didn't know needed answered.

  • @justincraig398
    @justincraig398 Год назад +4

    I just had one like yesterday, in my eyebrow. I just pulled it out easily with my fingers. They usually aren’t too deep or stuck in , they usually come out with minimal effort , which is weird.

  • @FrostCraftedMC
    @FrostCraftedMC Год назад

    its very funny (and starting to border on creepy) to me that scishow has released a video answering a silly random question i just asked myself a day or 2 ago

  • @DrunkenMalkavian
    @DrunkenMalkavian Год назад +8

    I've got terminal hair growing on the tip of my nose. I'd do the laser removal thing but I kind of don't want to take away the satisfaction of plucking those.

  • @Annaie1234
    @Annaie1234 Год назад +6

    I have a random hair on my chin that shows up every couple of months that's super thick but is white. I wonder what's happening there 🤔
    I also had what I thought was a pimple one time, popped it and this long black hair fell out, but it had a friend that was deeply rooted and curled around in there as well, had to dig that sucker out with my tweezers. Might be weird but I found it so fun

  • @freshmacarons
    @freshmacarons Год назад

    Hairloss video please! Thank you for the awesome content

  • @Billaxle
    @Billaxle Год назад +1

    I once had a nose hair go randomly terminal in a corkscrew shape. I didn't notice it until it started trying to burrow it's way into the skin on the opposite side of my nose! 😰

  • @maryrosekent8223
    @maryrosekent8223 Год назад

    I love your goldfish shirt!

  • @stevezagieboylo9172
    @stevezagieboylo9172 Год назад +6

    What about my freakishly long gray eyebrow hairs? I'll have no trouble from my eyebrows for a while, then, suddenly, I'll have a 3 cm gray hair dangling in front of my eye. The crazy long ones are always gray, where most of my eyebrows are dark, so there has to be some connection there.

  • @2nd-place
    @2nd-place Год назад +6

    But what about the SUPER thick ones that have started appearing in my beard as I get older? They’re like 3-4x thicker than other beard hairs and they’re so stout I can feel them in my beard when they start to grow and they can get irritated because they get clogged up sometimes until I pull them. I only have a few but I hate them!

  • @Kartoffelkamm
    @Kartoffelkamm Год назад

    I wanted to watch this video the day it came out, but got distracted.
    At least now I know why I have this one black hair growing on the side of my left wrist.

  • @sjp8024
    @sjp8024 Год назад +2

    I wonder if the androgens have something to do with random gray beard/moustache hair turning back to brown between the root and halfway point (3-4mm). I thought once they turn gray they were supposed to stay gray. I'm rocking the salt-n-pepper and joke that some of the hairs are just stubbornly clinging to life.

    • @becauseimafan
      @becauseimafan Год назад +2

      This happens to me too, but to the hair on my head! I have dark hair with a lot of grey, but some of them will end up being like grey one inch, brown one inch, then grey from the root! Or brown from the root, but still with that clearly defined white segment. It's weird!

  • @WexMajor82
    @WexMajor82 Год назад +1

    I had a hair (like the ones you grow on the head), on my knee.
    Puberty was wild.

  • @AdrianT755
    @AdrianT755 Год назад

    Armpit hairs and other hairs around bodily parts that move also help a LOT with friction!

  • @tiffanymints215
    @tiffanymints215 Год назад +4

    I have a question specifically about men's body hair.
    Why is it, that the body hair that men have that would normally be considered vellus hair on a woman is typically longer, thicker, and darker on a man and they usually seem to have much more of it. Is it still considered vellus hair? Or is it terminal hair?
    I'm very curious about this, because someone I dated not long ago had so much of this longer, thicker, darker body hair that he could have easily been mistaken for a sasquatch.

  • @Dan-B
    @Dan-B Год назад +2

    I didn’t know this was a thing other people even had.
    I had white blonde hair as a kid, and a reoccurring single jet black hair 😛

  • @uss_04
    @uss_04 Год назад +1

    I feel like we know so much about this because of the hair loss industry trying to figure out how to convert remaining vellus hairs into terminal hairs.

  • @thelifeofhenley2598
    @thelifeofhenley2598 Год назад +3

    Can you do a video about where the weird, long, thin clear hairs that randomly pop up come from? Lol

  • @ashkebora7262
    @ashkebora7262 Год назад +7

    I swear I've had a few hairs get CRAZY thick, like whiskers. Literally nearly 0.5mm in diameter. I thought that's what the video would be about, though I guess 'that' condition is some form of Hyperkeratosis of the hair follicle and not so much a hair going terminal!

    • @valeriereed7654
      @valeriereed7654 Год назад +6

      I thought that’s what the video would be about too. 😢 I have some weird newer hairs that are pitch black and so thick they’re like WIRE. It about makes me pass out to tweeze ‘em 😅

    • @Justinlmd
      @Justinlmd Год назад +3

      I get those, but once I tweeze them out I notice that it’s like 5 individual terminal hairs combined into one. They appear in 3-4 places in my beard but only show up a couple of times per year

    • @ashkebora7262
      @ashkebora7262 Год назад +4

      @@Justinlmd I get the combo hairs as well, though the super-thick one is definitely different. It is scary thick, like literally leaves a hole in my skin when I invariably pull it! It even has a MASSIVE bulb at the end.
      It only comes in super thick very rarely, which is why I think what ever happens to that hair is some form of hyperkeratosis and not simply an extra thicc hair.

  • @Great_Olaf5
    @Great_Olaf5 Год назад +7

    So how does this apply to already terminal hairs? Every so often I run into a beard or mustache hair that is noticeably darker, stiffer, and thicker than usual.

    • @highonquack6622
      @highonquack6622 Год назад +2

      Could it be multiple hairs stuck together? Sometimes I'll get multiple hairs sprouting from the same follicle.

  • @Tick421
    @Tick421 Год назад +2

    I love the things scientist chose to spend their time on❤

  • @cadynextdoorr
    @cadynextdoorr Год назад +1

    this reminds me of the hair on my head, most of my hair is a normal thickness but there are a few abnormally thick, sometimes brass-colored (my hair is dark brown) hairs sprinkled in the mix. it’s like my body terminaled an already terminal hair 😭

  • @nobody.of.importance
    @nobody.of.importance Год назад +36

    So interesting little thing about this, I am a trans woman, and before I got on hormones I was *very* hairy looking. Within a few months of androgen blockers, the only terminal hair I have is in the usual places, having disappeared from my arms, chest, and back. Interestingly, I was expected (based on family history) to go bald by my mid twenties but my anti-androgens allowed me to keep all my head hair

    • @tibbygaycat
      @tibbygaycat Год назад +10

      Oh this is totally goals. I'm going onto HRT in the next few weeks hopefully and I'm gonna be very happy if I can dodge my family's baldness lol.

  • @parkershaw3753
    @parkershaw3753 Год назад

    Hey, Stefan, I like your shirt

  • @JCej
    @JCej Год назад

    I guess this explains why I get a random dark hair sprouting up on my chin and, now, my upper lip.

  • @TheMunchkinita2509
    @TheMunchkinita2509 Год назад +3

    Butt hair is there bc they help protect the glands in that area that secrete to lube the area that prevent chaffing that could be caused from your cheeks rubbing together. There's a Dr on RUclips that has a short about this, I just watched it like an hour ago.

    • @94carbonteg
      @94carbonteg Год назад

      Wait we have natural butt lube?

    • @telegramsam
      @telegramsam Год назад

      I've seen a few people posit that both armpit & pubic hair stuck around basically to reduce friction from arm/leg movement. Which is weird if you think about it. But young kids' skin is less sweaty/greasy and probably less prone to chafing so that might explain why it doesn't appear until puberty

    • @Wolfie54545
      @Wolfie54545 Год назад

      SciShow also did a video on butt hair.

    • @TheMunchkinita2509
      @TheMunchkinita2509 Год назад +1

      @@94carbonteg there are glands down there that secrete on the outside of the anal region, the skin there is really sensitive so it makes sense.

  • @rzpogi
    @rzpogi Год назад

    This is one of the episodes that should be sponsored by Manscapes or Keeps.

  • @Akumeitakai
    @Akumeitakai Год назад +4

    Alright, fine, but, what are those hairs you get in your beard region that are as thick a a needle and both hard rigid? I was told those are called 'Grandpa whiskers' and I hate the feel of them so much I just pull them. What causes those? I get maybe three a month ...

  • @roxyhart5692
    @roxyhart5692 Год назад

    Interesting. I get this one random, coarse hair on my chin and it seems to grow super fast hahah

  • @TheJohtunnBandit
    @TheJohtunnBandit Год назад +2

    I always assumed the armpit/groin/etc hair was there in part to allow a bit of air circulation, as in my experience anaerobic bacteria are much stinkier (and likely to cause rash etc) than the average aerobic bacteria

    • @jmackmcneill
      @jmackmcneill Год назад

      Remember, how our body works now is different because we evolved these features naked, but trap these areas in clothes now. If you went shirtless, there would be fewer/none anerobes because of the greater air exposure.

  • @CaveWomanCuriosity
    @CaveWomanCuriosity Год назад

    I call mine Sebastian. He pops out of my neck freckle every now and then. Good times we’ve had!

  • @nytheris2848
    @nytheris2848 Год назад +1

    For the past year or so I've had a small red area on my cheek that's the result of some minor injury, and for whatever reason the one or two hairs that grow there are darker than anything else around it. So whenever that hair starts showing itself I've been trying to get rid of it but because it's darker, I notice it when it's shorter, meaning it's harder to get rid of, and whatever I do to get rid of it, it irrates my skin and stops that area from healing.

  • @BB-TheCandleFairy
    @BB-TheCandleFairy Год назад +2

    Is this the same with random long hairs? I see the dark hairs and all, but what about the vellus hairs that randomly grow much longer than the rest?
    There’s a random single hair on my collar bone that grows like two inches when I don’t notice it, then I pluck it and it does it again at some other random time.

  • @berniethekiwidragon4382
    @berniethekiwidragon4382 Год назад

    I have a mark on the back of my right hand. It is over a pore, and the hair that grows out of it is significant longer and thicker than the others on my hands.

  • @kodomotachi1
    @kodomotachi1 Год назад

    Terminal hair also prevents chaffing, which gets exacerbated with excess moisture, thus its presence in crevices.

  • @undertasty
    @undertasty Год назад +6

    Thank you! I've had this ONE beard hair in my chin since I was a teenager although I'm a cis woman, and ONE really dark thick hair just below my belly button, and I've always wondered why they are there. So thank you SciShow for answering me.

  • @anangoons
    @anangoons Год назад +15

    As someone who's about 6 months on testosterone (which comes with lots of body hair changes) this super fascinating!

    • @tibbygaycat
      @tibbygaycat Год назад +4

      U can take some of mine lol! X3 also congratulations!!

    • @anangoons
      @anangoons Год назад +1

      @@tibbygaycat oh if only it were that easy 😅