Weird hairs on my head?

April 27, 2005 1:49 PM

Gross Body Filter: I am female and have primarily straight brown, fairly fine hair. However, I frequently find these very curly, coarse black hairs growing on my scalp. (Dare I say pubic-like hairs?) What the hell are these hairs? Is this a hormonal problem or some sort of disorder? If so, what is it called?

When I pluck one of these suspect hairs I find a greasy black bulb at the root. I have Googled and Googled to no avail. I want reassurance that I am not the only person in the world who has this problem. I would also like to know what is causing these weird hairs and what, if anything, I can do about it.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (9 answers total)

I can't tell you what they are or why they appear, but I can re-assure you that you're not alone. I used to get hairs just like you described on my scalp them all the time in my teens and twenties. I noticed a dramatic reduction once I hit 30.

I think the grey hairs replaced them.
posted by Monk at 2:03 PM on April 27, 2005

I get these curly coarse hair as well. When I was younger I stayed on the beach to long and got a real bad sunburn that ended up leaving a small, round scar on my shoulder. These out of place hairs grow out of this scar. The hair around this scar is the "normal" hair I have on my arms. I've always attributed the odd hairs to my skin being "damaged" in that spot.

Perhaps your scalp got severely sun burned, but not might have got noticed?
posted by mnology at 2:16 PM on April 27, 2005

I have one patch of these hairs on my scalp too. I think mnology's theory about scarring is right, because I remember having very bad chicken pox on the part of my head that grows the wild hairs now.
posted by katie at 2:22 PM on April 27, 2005

My sister gets them too, and she's definitely had a lot of sun exposure over the years. Just don't pluck them. She started idly doing this and gradually developed trichotillomania.
posted by web-goddess at 2:49 PM on April 27, 2005

I thought this was just normal in people. I don't get them on my scalp, but get similar stray hairs on my back, arms, wherever. Not many, and they're easily pulled out. I know other people who have this too.. just assumed it's common.
posted by wackybrit at 6:47 PM on April 27, 2005

I used to be out in the sun a lot when I was little, started having pretty much what you described in highschool. They went away by the time I was through with HS.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 7:09 PM on April 27, 2005

I get these as well, but not that I've noticed on my scalp, but my scalp-hair is old-growth-forest thick so I'd probably miss them even if I did have them. They show up all kinds of other places, and not just areas impolite to mention in mixed company. Sometimes it seems like they'll appear literally overnight in relatively/normally mostly hairless areas. Mine aren't that easy to pull out, but few of my hairs are, damn my Scottish blood.

I've also been exposed to too much sun and have uncountable freckles and/or moles. (And just moved to AZ, skin cancer capital of the US of A. Yay.)
posted by loquacious at 12:48 AM on April 28, 2005

Kind of the opposite problem for me. I have wavy brown hair, lots of chest hair, and some back hair. Every once in a while I get a freak 6" long superfine silver hair on my back.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:53 AM on April 28, 2005

Don't pluck any hairs mutated by solar radiation until you determine whether they possess any superpowers that can be used to benefit mankind.

(I get a few strays in random spots too. So far no superpowers though.)
posted by Tubes at 12:02 PM on April 28, 2005 [1 favorite]