Senior Project Research

I have been doing some research on what exactly hair is and what a person can do to take care of it. I found some of this information on a book titled  Beauty: The New Basics by Rona Berg. I believe that an important part of being a hairstylist and doing the job correctly is understanding what exactly hair is. While trying to find research I came to the conclusion that if a cosmetologist doesn't know the basics of hair, then how do they expect to do the job right. The research that I did had some really interesting facts that I did not know before. Some of the ones that I found more interesting are:

• Hair is made up of keratin, the same thing that makes up nails and teeth.
• Everyone is born with all the hair follicles we will ever have.
• The average number of hairs on a person's head are 140,000 for blonds, 100,000 for brunettes, and 90,000 for red heads.
• A person loses 75- 100 hairs per day (This one sounds a little frightening)
• A hair shaft has three layers which are the cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla.
• The only living part of the hair is the root.
• Each hair strand is made up of 97% protein and 3% moisture.
• Shampooing with champagne brings out blond highlights, conditioning with beer adds shine, and rinsing with seltzer gets rid of product build up. (This one was the most surprising fact of all, I was shocked when I first read it)

I also learned a new word, sebum. Sebum is the natural oil that forms on our scalp and hair. I had always thought that hair was just dead skin cells, but this research really helped me understand the basics of the thing that's growing on our heads. Who knew hair could actually be this complicated?