Myths and Facts about Your Hair

Weird & Wonderful Hair Facts

•Average number of hair on the head - 1,00,000

•Maximum length of hair - 70 to 90 cm

•Annual growth - 12 cm

•Monthly growth - half an inch

•Lifespan of hair - 2 to 7 years

•Load-carrying capacity - 100 grams (= one chocolate bar)

•Female hair grows more slowly than male hair

•Hair is the fastest growing tissue in the body

•It is normal to lose 100 hair strands per day from the scalp

•Hair grows faster in warm weather

So watch out and learn to differentiate between a scientifically proven fact and an age old myth.

Here are some most commonly practiced myths related to hair care.

Cutting your hair makes it grow faster
You must have heard this from your hairdresser several times. No points for guessing why he is doing so. But the fact is no matter how often you cut or trim your hair, it makes absolutely no difference in speeding their growth.

If you talk in the scientific light, hair grows almost half an inch a month. So, even if you do not cut them at all, they are bound to grow that much.

Rather than the length of the hair, keeping them healthy by eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water, and washing and brushing them correctly should be given more importance.

Pluck one gray hair and two grow back
If this would have been true, half the world would be pulling his hair out to get a heavier mane.

Graying of an individual strand has nothing to do with its neighboring hair. When you pull out a gray hair, it does not secret anything that will make the surrounding hair turn white.

It’s just the lack of pigment melanin which makes the hair lose its natural color.

Brushing for long is good for hair
To the contrary, brushing vigorously for a long time is extremely bad for your hair and leads to split ends and hair breakage.

Brushing does help distribute the natural hair oils but more that 8 to 10 strokes of the hair brush a day can damage your hair.

Excessive brushing can tear the hair, pull it out, and damage the cuticle layer causing split ends, especially in people with dry and color-treated hair.

Over brushing the hair only leads to the stimulation of the sebaceous glands, making the hair look greasy, oily and dull.

Hair shouldn’t be washed every day
Just like any other body part, hair can be washed on a daily basis.

People, who have oily hair or work in an environment where they come in contact with a lot of dust and grim, can wash their hair with a mild shampoo every day.

On the other hand, someone with dry hair should wash it after every two days and apply a nourishing hair mask an hour before shampooing it.

Shaving baby’s head frequently makes the hair grow thicker
If this would have been the case, almost everyone on this planet would have gone bald in anticipation of thick, heavy, lustrous hair.

For the record, shaving a baby's scalp, or anybody else’s for that matter, will not alter the texture of hair at all.

So please save your child from that alien look and let him have his natural hair. His hair will gradually become thicker and coarser as the time passes.

Conditioner helps repair split ends
A conditioner cannot “repair” damaged hair but can prevent the damage from occurring in the first place itself.

No conditioner or any such potion can reverse the process of split ends. It can simply smooth down the cuticle and make hair look in a better condition.

Only trimming the ends of the hair will help in getting rid of split ends. If split ends are allowed to remain, they will continue to split higher, causing hair to break off and thus shortening the hair.

So, next time your hairdresser or a friend tries to sell such baseless ideas, give them a deaf ear.