Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: chris on 04/04/2017 09:12:47

Title: Why do we become hairier as we age?
Post by: chris on 04/04/2017 09:12:47

Stefan, who listens to us from Sweden, wrote today with this:

Hi!
Thank you for excellent podcasts (https://www.thenakedscientists.com)!

So I'm getting older and for example my eye sight is deteriorating which I find understandable. But why do other parts of the body speed up? Why do my ears get hair growing like it never done before?

Take care!
Stefan

What do you think?

Title: Re: Why do we become hairier as we age?
Post by: chris on 05/04/2017 19:07:40

We've talked about this on a number of occasions in the past:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/why-does-hair-grow-out-control-older-people

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/why-do-we-get-more-nose-hair-we-get-older

The bottom line is that, in general, exposure to testosterone increases hairiness; as we age the total lifetime exposure to testosterone increases, so hairy skin has a tendency to become hairier. The exception is the head, where some hair follicles are selectively vulnerable to testosterone signals, which causes them to die off and leads to male pattern baldness.

Title: Re: Why do we become hairier as we age?
Post by: mrsmith2211 on 06/04/2017 00:57:32

My theory is we don't get harrier as we age, but the hairs jump off your head and land on your nose and ears and back. ;)