We have a love-hate relation with hair. Some body hair we like to grow long and then we pamper and protect it. Other body hair we hate and do everything we can to get rid of it or, at least, make it inconspicuous. What is going on with our ongoing war on hair?
Young teen males develop a peach fuzz mustache long before they can grow a beard, that courser facial hair they will spend the rest of their lives in a daily ritual of removal. Teen males have been known to borrow mom’s mascara to darken their emerging upper lip hair. At the same time, their mom is using whatever over-the-counter product she can find that will lighten (or, hopefully, remove) her emerging upper lip hair. We are just never satisfied with our body hair.
I have hair growing in places I never anticipated, the end of my nose, in my nose and in my ears, to name a few. At the same time, underarm hair and chest hair seem to be dying off of its own accord. I don’t know why. Good riddance. Most western women would be happy to be relieved of their underarm hair once and for all. Some women have resorted to expensive and sometimes painful procedures to remove hair from various parts of their body forever.
What is the purpose of hair? Jennifer Viegas writing for Discover News tells us that our human “hair has the ability to enhance the detection of parasites and can even prevent pests from biting.” Well, there you are. All those areas we have been shaving over the years are invitations to parasites and pests, and not the human kind.
She further tells us that we have two types of hair: vellus and terminal. “The former is the aforementioned peach fuzz, while the latter refers to heard hair as well as to pubic hair that develops in the armpits and around the genitals.” Now I know why women want to shave their underarms. Who -- besides men, apparently -- wants pubic hair growing under their arms? Of course, that begs the question of why women enjoy resting their head on their man’s shoulder as they snuggle in the safety of his armpit. They may assume they are safe there from pests and parasites, other than the human kind.
Like I said, we have this love-hate relation with hair. We like flowing blonde hair on some people, mostly women, but are repulsed by the hairy arms of some men. We absolutely do not like other people’s hair in our food. Hence, food service workers have to wear hair nets and men with beards have to wear a “beard bib.” (I made that up. I have no idea what those beard shields are called.) Some women I know should have to wear one also, but we never see them so dressed when preparing or serving food. (A little gender bias there, if you ask me.)
Why do we have hair on our fingers, particularly the knuckles? Are they there to warn us of the approach of pests and parasites? Perhaps, but three hairs on the end of my nose? What are they for? They didn’t use to be there, so am I to understand that my nose is in more danger from attack by parasites and pest as I grow older? Or, and here’s a thought, maybe that is what the elders meant when they said someone “had a nose for danger.” Nose hairs let you sniff out danger (pests or pestilence) better than those people without them.
Age-related experience is supposed to make me a more valuable member of society, a respected elder so to speak. It may be that I have more value to my friends and family because of my three nose hairs. Maybe I’ll let them grow.
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