Hair isn’t just a way to show who you are — it serves many important functions, like protection, sensory input, thermoregulation, and communication. For example, the hair of your head protects you from sun damage, and the hair of your eyebrows prevents sweat or other particles from dripping into your eyes. And the hair on the back of your head and neck keeps you from catching colds or other illnesses. The hair of the nose and ears and around the eyes defends those sensitive areas from dust, germs, and allergens, as well.
Each hair grows from a tiny tube in your skin, called a follicle (fo-lih-cle). Your hair follicles sit in the dermis layer of the skin and get nourishment from an artery that runs through them. When new cells grow and harden, they push the older cells up through the follicle and through the skin’s surface as a shaft of hair. The actual structure of hair is quite complex, with three layers: the cuticle, cortex, and medulla.
The cuticle is the outermost layer, made up of overlapping scale-like cells that give your hair its shine and smoothness. It is also responsible for preventing the keratin fibers in the cortex from becoming damaged or breaking down. The medulla, or innermost layer, contains melanocytes (mel-an-kohtz), which are specialized cells that produce the melanin pigment that gives hair its color. The cortex is the middle layer, containing tightly packed keratin fibers that provide hair’s strength and texture. The medulla and the cortex are covered by the cuticle, which acts as a protective shell to keep water and chemicals from damaging the inner layers.
When your hair is healthy, the coiled proteins of the cortex form long filaments that can be straightened, bent, or twisted into any number of styles. When you see your own hair with kinks in it, you’re seeing the cortex flexing to resist stressors. This is why it’s so resilient — its tensile strength is actually comparable to that of steel.
You can use descriptions of your characters’ body hair to add depth to your character’s appearance and to help immerse your readers in your story. Whether your characters have short, thick, or voluminous hair, you’ll need to know how to describe it properly in order for your reader’s imagination to take hold and bring them deeper into the world of your story. Here are a few tips and techniques for writing vivid descriptions of your characters’ hair.