# Does the human head grow new hair follicles/strands?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 20, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359 "2019-07-20T18:53:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359/1 "2019-07-20T18:53:10Z")

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Lately while showering, I’ve noticed that typically 10-30 strands of hair are coming out in each shower. Who knows why, maybe vitamin deficiency or something but it has me thinking, because given that the human head has about 100,000 strands of hair on it, this means I’m on pace to be bald within a couple decades or so.

Does the human head actually grow and generate new follicles and strands, or are you gifted with the 100,000 hair at childhood and then it’s just slow loss from then on?

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359/2 "2019-07-20T19:57:27Z")

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[New follicles, no; new strands, yes,](https://www.aad.org/public/kids/hair/how-hair-grows) at least until/unless some form of baldness kicks in. But the loss of a few dozen individual hairs daily is part of the normal follicle cycle for both men and women of all ages, and is not in itself an indicator of baldness.

> [@](#):
>
> You are born with all of the follicles you will ever have — about 5 million.
> 
> You have about 100,000 follicles on your scalp, which is the skin on your head.
> 
> Hair grows very fast and male hair grows faster than female hair. The only part of your body that grows faster is bone marrow, the soft stuff inside your bones. The hair on your head grows about 6 inches a year. So, even though it’s one of the fastest-growing things on your body, it takes a while to grow it really long.
> 
> You lose about 50 to 100 hairs a day. That’s because the follicles don’t all grow hair at the same time. Each scalp follicle grows hair for a few years and then takes a break. When a follicle is on a break, the hair in the follicle falls out. Because the follicles take breaks at different times and the other hairs keep growing, you probably don’t notice when you lose hairs.
> 
> Some follicles stop growing hair as you get older. This happens more in some people than in others. That’s why some people get thinner hair when they get older, or go bald.

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359/3 "2019-07-20T21:39:01Z")

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My head grows nothing anymore… ☹

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [July 20, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359/4 "2019-07-20T22:01:06Z")

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> [@Ike\_Witt](#):
>
> My head grows nothing anymore… ☹

So ick witt?

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**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2019, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-human-head-grow-new-hair-follicles-strands/837359/5 "2019-07-21T06:07:49Z")

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> [@Kimstu](#):
>
> [New follicles, no; new strands, yes,](https://www.aad.org/public/kids/hair/how-hair-grows) at least until/unless some form of baldness kicks in. But the loss of a few dozen individual hairs daily is part of the normal follicle cycle for both men and women of all ages, and is not in itself an indicator of baldness.

Ah, yay!