• Question: why do we have hair

    Asked by zaynmalik to Ellen, Elliot, Hazel, Rupesh, Thomas on 14 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Elliot Jokl

      Elliot Jokl answered on 14 Jun 2016:

      Hello and thanks for the question.

      We used to need hair to keep warm! Our ancestors were much more exposed to the environment than we are today, so having hair all over helped to keep them warm, just like animals have fur to keep from getting cold.

      As we evolved, we had less need of hair and so lost most of it. Some of our hair is quite important, such as our eyebrows and eyelashes, because it helps keep our eyes clear. However, we are not really sure why we still have so much hair on our head, and why it grows so much. Some people have suggested that it made people more attractive to each other to have lots of hair on our heads, which is a bit weird when you think about it! But that seems to be the current best guess. And I think it kind of makes sense given the amount of time and money people spend on making their hair look nice.

    • Photo: Thomas Biggans

      Thomas Biggans answered on 16 Jun 2016:

      As Elliot said it’s to keep us warm in the same way animal’s fur keeps them warm.

      I used to think we still had head hair because you lose the majority of your body heat from your head but it turns out that wasn’t true. It was believed to be true for some time based on one set of experiments but then scientists carried out experiments in a different way that asked the same question which showed it wasn’t true.

      This made me very aware that a fact is just a theory that hasn’t been disproved.

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