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Hi. How do genetics determine how long hair will grow? I want hair as long as possible, and I am prepared for it, but how exactly does genetics determine how long it will grow? And once it has reached its maximum growth point, how do you know it has reached the limit to where it will grow no more? My mother's hair at one point was all the way down her back, and still growing when she had it cut, but my fathers at its longest was just to his shoulders. I am just curious as to how my genes determine how long my hair will grow, thats all.
Thanks,
Nova.(actually, my first name is John, but thats too common)
nm
No, I don't think anyone knows a way to determine terminal length, without actually growing the hair out to see. One clue would be your hair shed rate. All other things being equal, a high shed rate would mean a shorter terminal length. But, shedding might only take place from certain parts of the head, giving a short terminal length for some areas (usually the front-top of the head, i.e. where male pattern baldness often comes), while other areas might grow very long hair and thus shed very little.
Anyway, count the hairs you shed each day to get an idea. About 100 hairs a day is normal.
Do you just keep track all day and try to collect everysingle hair that falls out? I mean, any tips'd be appreciated. Also, how much biotin a day is too much? And is biotin found in any foods?
Take a segment of your hair and twist it. If it tapers gradually to a fine point, you're at nor near terminal length. If it ends somewhat abruptly rather than being cone-shaped all the way down, imagining where the end of the cone would be will give you a very rough estimate of how much length you can still add.
Could you be a little more clear? I don't understand what you are talking about. :P
Thanks,
Nova(John)
Okay, John, so you're a visual dude. You need to see a picture. This is what terminal length hair looks like, hair roots at the top:
There are young short hairs and old long hairs in the mane.
If you cut the hair so it's much shorter (at a horizontal line up high on the diagram, discarding the lower part), almost all the strands will be the length of the longest ones. If you take a fistfull of hair and twist it over and over in the same direction until it is compressed, it will be a rope about the same diameter all the way to the end, i.e. with little tapering, because almost all the hairs that start in it will finish in it. It will end in a blunt chop.
If you cut the hair half way down, there will be a taper because half the hairs don't make it to the cut. The taper will still end somewhat bluntly rather than at a point because a lot of hairs end there.
If you don't cut the hair at all, there will be a taper to a point. That is, of course, the situation we call "terminal length".
What I am saying is this: If your hair has grown out a decent amount, you can see where the taper is headed, and that gives you an estimate of what your terminal length will be.
The reason you have to compress your hair (twist it) to see the effect is that hair tends to fill out the area it is in, and you don't really notice a thinning in a mane until near its end. Compressing the strands will reveal its true profile though.
You can get the same answer by braiding your hair or attaching pony ties all along its length, but that's a lot more work. Also, if you take in too much of your mane in so doing, you'll be drawing strands far from the base of the test area and they will distort the result.
This situation is, of course, why all braids get narrower as they go down.
I did that and there is virtually no tapering, that means that my hair won't grow anymore?
No, if you see no noticeable tapering, laws of geometry say it ends in a blunt end. That means you will get lots more growth. All hair does taper if compressed, and at terminal length it narrows to a point. I'll restate it:
If it tapers smoothly to a point, you're probably near terminal length. If it ends more bluntly, imagine it going out to a point (like an ice cream cone does - imagine a very long skinny one) and that is where your terminal length will be.
I have never had a problem explaining this in person. If you don't get it now, I give up. Look me up next time you're in San Francisco and I'll show you.
Hey, I think I got it- my hair doesn't taper at all, so I can still grow hair. Its about to my shoulders, so its going to grow more. I got it now. Thanks alot!!!
Nova
(John)
Great! Glad you have more length to look forward to!
Bill
Okay, John, so you're a visual dude. You need to see a picture. This is what terminal length hair looks like, hair roots at the top:
There are young short hairs and old long hairs in the mane.
If you cut the hair so it's much shorter (at a horizontal line up high on the diagram, discarding the lower part), almost all the strands will be the length of the longest ones.
Do you mean at the length of the shortest ones?
This obviously means that the hair was cut.
You mean terminal lengths. Each hair strand will stop at its own hair length, so that there are different terminal lenghts!