[HPFGU-Movie] Re: Sirius/Oldman's tatoos & hair

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

Iggy:
> There's also the fact that, if you shave the hair in an area 
> repeatedly, it
> will grow back thicker and faster.  (Which, for example, is why the 
> hair on
> a woman's legs who doesn't shave her legs is finer and softer than 
> that of a
> woman that does.)  The hair will grow back stronger, faster, and 
> thicker so
> as to better protect that area from irritation and cold.
>

Actually, that's an old wives' tale.  Rate and texture of hair growth 
is dependent only upon things like nutrition, genes, and certain 
hormones. (This makes sense when you think about it, because why should 
shaving off dead hair cells effect the living hair follicles underneath 
the skin?)

The illusion that shaving makes hair grow back thicker/faster is caused 
by the fact that A) most women start shaving before puberty is finished 
completely, and puberty *does* cause hair to grow darker/thicker (note, 
although, that you never get *new* hair follicles - the ones you 
already have simply start growing darker/longer/thicker hair), so when 
they compare their hair now to their pre-shaving/puberty hair, it seems 
darker and thicker ... and B) the hair on a leg that has never been 
shaved *is* finer/softer, because it has been "weathered" properly 
(notice how the hair around your sockline is very fine, from rubbing 
against your sock), whereas shaved hair is generally shorter, but 
thicker and with a sharp, blunt end.

Basically, no one's hair grows at the *exact* same rate as anyone 
else's, but for normal, healthy human beings, the rate is pretty close 
to uniform for everyone.  Most appreciable differences in the rate of 
hair "growth" between two people is actually a function of their genes 
(someone with genes for strong, thick strands vs. someone with thin, 
fine strands) and the length their hair already is, because it's 
actually due to how much hair *breaks* off in the course of a day.  For 
example, someone with thin, long hair is going to break off tons of 
strands every time they comb their hair, whereas someone with hair 
that's only a centimeter long probably isn't going to break any off at 
all.

Laura (who never knew she knew this much about hair.)