A while ago I heard that the hair at the back of your head grows faster than the hair on the top.  The hair on top doesn't hang as far of course, because it's higher than the bottom, but I'd never heard that it grows at different rates.  I suppose everybody is different, but is that true?  

Hair follicles do not have brains. They don't know where they're located on your head, and will produce the same amount of growth depending on what your genes dictate to them. The usual rate is about ½ inch per month.

If you trim the ends straight across, it will all be level. The bottom will not outgrow the top, nor vice versa - it's all growing at the same rate. Different follicles may have different "terminal lengths," but the difference is usually so slight that it's undetectable, plus most people cut or trim their hair before it reaches its terminal length anyway.

There are several theories on hair growth rates.  Some say that the back grows faster, but other say it is only the appearance of faster growth due to breakage at the front from day to day "abuse".

There is also a theory that shorter hair will try to catch up to longer hair, such as when growing out bangs.  In support of this theory, I have a friend that at one point had shaved one side of her head and let the other side grow.  Eventually she let the shaved side grow.  There was about a 12" difference in length.  Her hair is about knee length now (the long side) and the shorter side is only about 3" shorter.  

Personally, I think growth rate depends on many factors - general health, hair condition, age, etc.

Interesting.
BB, was there a reason your friend shaved one side of her head?
Meg

A fashion statement??  She just wanted to be different, and that did the trick for her.  ;D

Wow. Cool. Whatever floats her boat.  :D
Meg

That's very interesting about your friend's experiment, BB.

Though I'm of the belief that each folical (or root?) grows at the same rate but not necessarily on the same cycle as each other, my own observations with my layers "catching up" with each other tends me to believe otherwise.  It's a big conflict the the scientific part of my brain, and maybe it doesn't matter because my head will explode with the cognitive overload.  

To help you with the scientific causes for "catching up", the theory is that the follicle can sense the pull or weight of the hair.  When shorter or lighter hair is detected, it signals a faster growth rate, which will allow it to catch up to the heavier, longer hair.

In the words of Sherlock Holmes: "It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment."  :P

That's too funny about your friend, BB. Why doesn't she just trim the ends to match now that her hair is so long?

Cool new avatar, bcwyatt!  :)

My favorite Scherlock Holmes quote is: "When you have eliminated the impossible options, whatever remains, no matter how strange, must be true".

wrote on Feb 14^th, 2006 at 9:35pm:

That's too funny about your friend, BB. Why doesn't she just trim the ends to match now that her hair is so long?

She is the sort of person that marches to her own drum.  Purposefully doing anything to appear more normal would not fit in her personna.  Her uneven hair is a part of who she is.  I would never even suggest she trim her hair!  :o

Galadriel: Actually, the exact quotes are:
"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth." -A Sign Of Four

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" -A Sign Of Four

"It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet

"When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier

"We must fall back upon the old axiom that when all other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." -The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans

Of course I don't mean to be anal...the Canon is a subject dear to my heart.  ;D  ;)

BB: Sounds like you keep some pretty interesting company.  

wrote on Feb 15^th, 2006 at 4:55pm:

Galadriel: BB: Sounds like you keep some pretty interesting company.

;D  I hang around here, don't I?  8)

Oddly enough, as I was at the salon today to get my eyebrows waxed I overheard a beautician telling her client that the hair at the occiput grows fastest.  That would make you correct, bcwyatt26, if it is indeed true.

Quote:

I hang around here, don't I?

Good point!  ;D hehehe