My rare OPs are typically somewhat odd. But here is another one.
Lying in bed, idlly stroking my 10cm/3inch beard, it occured to me that the sides and the chin all grow twisted in the same direction. From my perspective, clockwise. The sides are more horizontal as expected, but the chin is a clockwise vortex.
My hair is pretty straight. It is very short right now, so I cant find a correlation, but when it is grown long it does not seem to follow the same rule.
So why does hair curl? Why does my beard curl more than my hair? I have an extremely soft beard, similar to my hair.
I guess, on the subject, why do pubes curl but armpit hair does not?
The conventional story is that straight hair has a circular cross-section, while curly hair has more of an elliptical shape. In other words, it is the shape/properties of the hair follicles that determine how the hair grows out.
Ok, but what would decide that a particular area tends to follicular shaping in the same direction?
I imagine random would lead to dreadlocks (which as a soft, straight haired guy I had to induce in my head hair in my early 20s) but my beard is all very similar.
Looking at the dog lying on my bed, his facial hair appears to be be fairly smooth and backward facing , though he has something of a ruff. I assume that is (despite breeding, and he is a complete mongrel) in order to keep water off his face. My beard is already “off my face”. I don’t see any advantage to it being curly.
(I do see that there is a testosterone indicator that hopefully would attract women, back when we humans were unable to buy flowers or do dates at restaurants… )
There are hair straightening systems for beards. They come basically in two types; heated brushes and hair drying brushes. There are also heated flat irons, too, but be careful because you can burn your face if you are clumsy.