Why Some of Your Body Hair Can Grow Absurdly Long

Health
3 years ago

This has happened to many of us. When scratching our necks or touching our arms, all of a sudden we find ridiculously long and thin white hairs, that seem to have grown overnight. If this has happened to you too, and you thought you were the only person on planet Earth with that mutant hair growing right out of your skin, just know that you’re not alone.

Here at Bright Side, we noticed these long thin intruders on our bodies too, and we decided to finally find out where they come from.

Even though so many of us have had this experience, there’s no specific term for these random long thin hairs that we find on our bodies. However, there are theories that explain this phenomenon. Dermatologists suggest that abnormally-long single hairs are caused by hormonal and genetic factors that make particular hairs grow longer than others.

Random mutations allow some “chosen” hair follicles to stay longer in the so-called anagen phase in which the hair is actively growing. As a result, this lone follicle has more time to grow a longer hair. Hormonal fluctuations that happen in different places, like the chin or the T-zone, can also trigger these hair abnormalities. If these hairs bother you, dermatologists suggest plucking them with tweezers like you normally would, to get rid of these unwanted hairs.

Some of us who suddenly find these abnormally long hairs on our bodies have this feeling that these hairs grew overnight. However, this may just be our perception. These hairs are very thin and close to the color of our skin and they’re hardly noticeable in comparison with our “normal” hair. That’s why it can sometimes take us a long time to find these hairs — they just keep growing unnoticed.

Have you ever noticed ridiculously long hairs on your body? What were your thoughts when you found them?

Preview photo credit crayj36 / Reddit

Comments

Get notifications

I have one in my left arm.. grown upto 9cm long. I spotted 19 yo ... sometimes I found it gone... then while later find it with tickling from breeze. ? Some say it is lucky hair. ?

-
-
Reply

I found mine in several place once at a time. Left cheek. Right eyebrow. Left thigh. Left arm. Right ear. Left back.

maybe I am too hormonal

-
-
Reply

Oh man that's good to know, I have one of these really long ones on my chest

-
-
Reply

I've heard of others in my friends group complain about this but I don't have them myself

-
-
Reply

I grow a long hair on my arm and im only 14 and I've always plucked it out but
t grows more and i had it since last year I noticed and there is two of them.

-
-
Reply

I once spotted one beside my left eyebrow and now I have one that constantly grows back on my belly. 😂

-
-
Reply

this happened twice on my spine and once on my left arm last 2 years. but hormones makes sense due to other issues having since birth that made me think my hormones were off. Thanks for sharing.

-
-
Reply
9 months ago
No comment? Pass the wine, please.

they for sure also have to grow abnormally fast because i used to find them on my face/cheeks/cheekbones. seems unlikely that I would have missed them for too many days.

-
-
Reply

I have one on my shoulder. Its a great first date conversation starter🤷🏽‍♀️ the longest it has grown Has been 4 inches

-
-
Reply

i had a 2 1/2 inch long hair on the side of my knee (pulled it out because trichotillomania

-
-
Reply

Yoooo! Thank you so much Bright Side! I already have a lot of weird genetic things like having an oil gland that produces natural build up in my neck and being double jointed, then being lactose, but I've had these hairs growing for years and just found one on my leg so I finally decided to research it. I was right, just another weird genetic problem.

-
-
Reply

Related Reads