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by AnswerAsh on June 19th, 2005

AnswerAsh

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Because of evolution, will humans one day be completely hairless?

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  • by Scoundral on August 2nd, 2005

    Scoundral

    Most likely not. Humans, at this point, have already gotten rid of just about all the hair we ever will, and the reason we still retain some is that it serves a purpose.

    Eyebrows serve as a guard for your eyes, collecting dust before it has a chance to fall into your eye.

    Hair on your head serves as insulation, seeing as there is little between your skull and the outside air... and it's needless to say, an important area to keep the blood flowing.

    Facial hair is primarily for attracting mates. Even if a woman today does not find a beard attractive, it was at one time considered manly, brute, and sexy. Cultures have varied when it comes to facial hair... the Egyptians and Arabs grew long, narrow beards from their chin. the Romans adopted the practice of clean shaving (the word "Barbarian" comes from Rome, with 'barbar' meaning beard... Barbarian meaning bearded one). The Germanic and Nordic people grew their beards as long as possible. The one constant is that every culture seems to have made facial hair into a fashion of some sorts... and that is perhaps the best reason it has stuck around. However, if humans ever do lose any more hair, it will likely be the first to go.

    Underarm and pubic hair is a lubrication between your arms and legs rubbing against your body when you move, preventing chaffing. This is why humans (who walk upright) have underarm hair whereas most dogs do not. At one time, this hair was considered a sign of fertility... if a woman was hairy, she was of the ripe age to produce young. However, in America, it's more often than not considered unattractive for a woman (and men, too, sometimes) to have underarm hair, thus they often shave it. Trimmed and/or shaved pubic hair is also usually considered the ideal by Americans.

    But just because we find it unattractive doesn't mean it's going to dissapear from our genes anytime soon... it serves too much of a purpose and humans are about as naked as an ape is ever going to be.

    Comments

    • Barbarian comes from the greek root barbaros meaning foreigner...It is onomatopoietical in that the "cultured" greeks thought that the language of the foreigers sounded like BAR BAR or BLAH BLAH. Nothing to do with hair.

      ptrask

      by ptrask on November 3rd, 2006

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