Did you know that everyone has around 100K hairs on our heads? Even bald people? How can that be? Read on…

16:31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor; [if] it is attained by a righteous life.

I thought our previous topics were interesting, and then I read about hair. Its programming is amazing! From, “A Pocket Guide to the Human Body,” pages 73-75.

The human head has an estimated 100,000 hairs, though the number varies from individual to individual. While hair appears to be largely confined to our head and a few other scattered locations, it is actually rather uniformly distributed over all our skin (with the exception of our palms and soles, which are truly hairless). On the entire surface of the human body, there are about 5 million hairs; but many of them are difficult to see.

While some areas of our skin appear to lack hair (e.g., on the forehead and nose), they actually have tiny, colorless hairs called vellus hairs. We have about as many hairs per square inch on our nose and forehead as we do on the top of our head–we just don’t notice them. The long and often pigmented hairs (e.g., those of our scalp or beard) are called terminal hairs. Several other types of hair, such as eyelashes, form during the course of our life.

So, how can a bald person have as much hair as anyone else?

Amazingly, we are born with all the hair follicles we are ever going to have, and these follicles normally continue to produce hairs throughout our lives. Beginning at puberty, some follicles that had been producing terminal hairs begin to replace them with almost invisible vellus hairs. So you don’t lose hairs as you age; your hair just gets smaller [and nearly invisible].

Tomorrow, we will learn how hair grows (some for a short period and others indefinitely).

Abba, You really do think of everything! Animals need hair; we need hair–and the way it works is nothing short of a miracle. As we look at hair as our topic, Lord, help us to see You and Your handiwork. Amen.