Hair is not only a feature of many people’s appearance but also a symbol of personality and culture. Using descriptions of the way your characters’ hair moves and how it is styled will help to immerse readers in their world. Body hair descriptions should be used sparingly and in the right place, but they can add a great deal of depth to your story.
Hair grows from follicles, which are located in the dermis layer of skin and connected to a blood supply that supplies nutrients to growing cells. The shape of the follicle determines whether your hair will be straight or curly. Hair color comes from melanin (mEL-eh-nin) pigments that are released by specialized cells in the hair follicles. The amount of melanin in the cells is determined by how much sun exposure they get. The more melanin, the darker the hair. As we age, our hair follicles produce less melanin. This is why many people have gray or white hair as they grow older.
The strands of hair that protrude above the skin’s surface are called the hair shaft and are composed of multi-layered keratinized (dead) flat cells that form rope-like filaments. The outermost layer of the hair shaft is the cuticle and is covered by a single molecular layer of lipids. The medulla, located in the middle of the hair shaft, is made up of proteins with high sulfur content that form covalent disulfide bonds to other proteins that contribute to elasticity and strength.
A strand of hair is made up of many protein and lipid molecules. These proteins and lipids are joined together by the disulfide bonds to form hard keratin filaments. The keratin filaments are then wrapped around a core of cellulose fibers. These fibers provide the bulk of the hair’s volume and strength.
Each strand of hair is attached to a sebaceous gland that produces lipid-rich “sebum” to naturally lubricate the hair and protect it from environmental elements. As hair grows, the follicle goes through an anagen growth phase and then enters the telogen resting phase. This lasts for a variable amount of time depending on where the hair is located, from a few weeks for eyelashes to a year for scalp hair. As the follicle goes through its resting phase, it releases new cells to replace the old ones that were shed during the anagen phase. The follicle then begins to reactivate again for the next cycle of growth.