Skincare Treated

Hairy-Scary Facts about Hair!

Did you know that you lose between 100 and 200 hairs a day? And that the bodies are called follicles? And no matter how much cosmetic importance people assign to hair, its basic purpose is to regulate body temperature. These are some facts about hair that are important in understanding abnormalities, their causes and treatment.

Hair is formed of a hard substance called keratin, which is also what our nails and teeth are made of. It grows in a follicle that is embedded in the deepest layer of the skin called the dermis.

Hair-producing cells lie at the base of the follicle in the hair matrix. It is here that epithelial cells rapidly multiply along with the dark pigment cells called melanin and form the shaft that is visible above the skin.

Among the facts about hair, here’s an interesting one: In the average person, hair grows at the rate of about 400 microns (millionth of a metre) a day. In terms of your body clock, that’s considered pretty fast…

Hirsutism is Excess Facial Hair

Unwanted body hair or abnormal hair growth called hirsutism is the bane of women the world over. It is also a lucrative business for the beauty products industry as well as the medical fraternity.

Most parts of the human body are covered in hair but excessive hair growth in certain areas can be classified as hirsutism. So just how do you identify the problem?

What Causes Hirsutism?

Excessive hair growth usually targets the chin, upper lip, chest, shoulders, neck, arms and thighs, abdomen, buttocks and pubic areas. This is caused by the presence of excessive amounts of the male hormone testosterone in the body.

Heightened levels of testosterone are secreted by either the adrenal glands or the ovaries and could be hereditary or even induced by drugs used to treat other diseases.

Menopausal woman usually walk a hormonal tightrope and experience a reduction in the female hormone, oestrogen. Heightened levels of testosterone sometimes lead to hirsutism at this stage.

Doesn’t sound pretty? Well, it isn’t. Talk to any adolescent female and the topic of conversation will usually revolve around unwanted hair. Puberty is characterised by several body changes – biological, physiological and hormonal.

These usually settle down after a couple of years but if excessive hair growth appears well after puberty, you are most likely afflicted with hirsutism.

Excessive testosterone, in turn, causes the appearance of terminal hair – thick, dark and long hair in the eyebrows, eyelashes and scalp – to appear in androgen-dependent sites…