Author: Fran O'Reilly
Published at: Sep 13, 2016
Have you ever wondered why the hair that grows on your face looks so incredibly different to the hair that grows upon your head? Well, I certainly have, and I'm sure I'm not alone here either. This rather strange phenomenon is a perfectly natural one, and today through the power of science I shall attempt to further explain the reasons as to why our glorious beards differ so greatly in comparison to the hair on our head.
Humans have different types of hair that grow during different stages in their life, and they can come in an array of different colors, shades and textures. Deep within each hair follicle tiny pockets in your skin that grow each strand of your hair individually there are two separate types of pigment that give your hair both colour and texture identities.
These two types of pigment are known as eumelanin and pheomelanin (Yeah, I cannot pronounce them easily either!) Every human have a little bit of pheomelanin in our hair genetics (this being one pigment that contributes to the cause in balance between dark and red hair growth.) It's just that in people with darker hair it's often masked making it less visible on the human eye. If your darker hair has a few red strands shining through or auburn tones, that's the 'red gene' showing its way through!
When it comes to texture the hairs on your beard and genitals as well as other body hair areas can be very similar, often curly, wiry and tougher to touch compared to the hair that grows on your head. There is reason for this. As opposed to the hair on your head the strands coming out of your face to form your beard belongs to a type of hair called androgenic hair, which only sprouts during and after puberty caused by changes in the levels of a certain type of hormone named androgens.
Androgenic hair also slightly differs from head hair with how it chooses to grow. Much like head hair it goes through different phases in which the hair grows at different rates. These happen at slightly different times, which decides how long your hair will grow.
And that pretty much sums things up when it comes to our beards. If you happen to have a crazy to tame beard simply embrace it as it is perfectly natural after all.
That wraps up another beard blog for today ladies and gentlemen. Let your thoughts be heard in the comments section provided below!
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