Hair - What is it good for?

In the words of Edwin Starr (before he foolishly changed it to something more political): "Hair - what is it good for?"

This is a question which most of us baldies, or indeed hairies, give little thought to. We know it makes us look better in wedding photos and gives loved ones something to run their fingers through - as opposed to just slapping us playfully on the head - but WHY exactly do we have hair?

It's obvious why animals have hair - they'd look stupid without it. But why do humans...oh, wait, hang on, I suppose you could say the same thing about us. Seriously though, just what is the deal with this troublesome thing called hair?

Well, there are a number of possible reasons for having hair but the first thing to remember is that scientists believe primitive humans were a lot hairier than we are now. Perhaps in the past hair served a similar purpose to that served by fur (the name for hair on non-human mammals). In fact, hair is thought to serve a number of functions. Most obviously it's an insulator, keeping us warm - or in some cases actually protecting against excessive heat. Less obviously, hair colour is thought to be a means of either camouflaging a species or signalling to other members of that species. Hair can also act as a defence mechanism, either by protecting the skin or by stopping small foreign bodies from entering the eyes, nose and ears. Finally, and this is probably the least obvious reason, hair can be used to sense the environment around us.

With all those advantages to hand, the question has to be asked, "Why do we have less hair now than primitive humans did in the past?" The fact is, nobody knows for sure, although one theory is that less hairy people were considered more attractive and hence reproduced more... (oh, would that that were true from the ears up these days!)

Now, you may be thinking to yourself, that's all very well but hold on, what about the hair on our heads (if you're lucky) and the hair elsewhere, like the hair under our arms? The answer to that, at least partly, is that in conjunction with phoremones released by the body this kind of hair aids olfactory communication. Yep, like it or not, it helps people to smell you.

Finally, what about pubic hair? What's the deal with that? Again, there are no definitive answers but it's probably a combination of things we talked about above: health, warmth, pheromones, perhaps even signalling to others. Personally, I'm glad it's there, the seventies wouldn't have been the same without it.