Hairiness

If you asked anyone what their prime cosmetic concern is, they are likely to include their hair as the answer. We are hairy creatures much the same as apes, even though our hair isn't as obvious. We have the same number of hair follicles. Our hair grows and what you see, is no longer alive, but it does contain some telling evidence of our recent past. In your hair, much can be read about your chemical biological make up. Even though what you see is simple dead growth hanging from your skull, it is, in most societies, an indication of beauty. Or not. We can do a lot with that growth of protein. We can style it using scissors, razors, colours, dyes, sprays, oils or cleaners. Our hair can be a source of attraction, rejection, disease, infestation and frustration. It's likely the first thing you look at in the morning and give attention to during the day more so than any other part of your bodies. It, like in  forms of animal lower on the scale than ours, sheds. It drops out and another hair grows from the same follicle. If you don't believe me, take a look in your vacuum bag next time you empty it. Not all that  stuff in the bag is from the dog and cat. A lot of it is you. Your hair. There is great attention given to hair and what happens to it defines us. Are we fashionable, cool, freaky or scorned for this pile of hairy dead material we revere so much and that is highly visible. Lots of so-called beautiful ladies and gents of the film world, without their hair styling and even additions to it, Dolly Parton not withstanding, would be rather plain and unnoticeable if there had not been a considerable amount of time, talent and energy put into their hair. Over the centuries, hair denoted rank and position. Men had wigs with decks of curls hanging down, ladies of the courts of France made their hair accessories out of flowers, jewels and even live creatures apart from the infamous tiny unwelcome ones of those less than scrupulous times. Today, wigs are worn by those in high courts in England, a tradition that is unlikely to be left behind. Hair is also, on the positive negative side, a helper in crime solving identification, diseases and poisonings. In the street fashion world, it is braided, knotted, shorn into elaborate shapes and amongst those who care, stuck into the scalp in little plugs, hoped to grow like a mini crop on the pate. It is dyed, bleached, conditioned, hot ironed, straightened, curled and plucked. Hair is very hardy and even after death, while it doesn't grow as falsely thought, it remains intact for a longer time than most of the rest of you thanks to the lowly fly. A lot of time, trouble and money is spent on your hair as you know. These days hair additions are glued on eyelashes and bits of fake hair are clipped in for length and thickness. Bald ladies and men, pay for their wigs to be washed, dried and styled regularly by stylists as one would go regularly to the dry cleaner. Hair, according to fashion, must be straight one day but ringleted the next. It goes up or down, all off and even sideways, according to what the movie or the music stars are up to. There are places where natural hair must be removed in the most painful ways for the sake of what fashion dictates but still it grows in relentlessly, unless its follicles are fried out forever by laser beams. The true purpose of hair is to protect your head and all the wonders on it and in it and to keep us warm. Who would think it?