Ever since I turned 40, each year I notice more of my eyebrow hairs growing longer and asymmetrically. Besides bushier eyebrows, every so often, I also get a fairly long new ear hair straggler. My beard also grows much faster each year. Most likely, taking low-dose oral Minoxidil for scalp hair loss also makes my facial hair a bit denser and lengthier. However, I think this situation is mostly genetic since my body hair has increased consistently since my early 20s.
On a related note, several decades ago I noticed in real life that men with excessive body hair tended to go bald faster and more extensively. Especially those who had substantial amounts of back hair (which I saw at gyms and pools). I would not be surprised if at least 80 percent of people with a ton of back hair are also balding excessively.
I Grew a Two-Inch Eyebrow Hair
Last week, while working at my computer, I suddenly noticed one of my eyebrow hairs jutting out proudly. I pulled it out, and right away I knew that it was the longest hair that my eyebrows had ever produced. I measured it after straightening it out, and it came in at just about 2 inches in length.
This might not sound like much, but the average young man’s eyebrow hair grows just 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) long before shedding. And many men have very sparse eyebrows that do not get bushier with age.
While the anagen (growth) phase of the hair follicle life cycle of my remaining scalp hairs keeps getting shorter, the anagen phase of my eyebrow hairs keeps increasing. Normally, the anagen phase of scalp hair (in a non-balding person) is 2-6 years, while that of eyebrow hair is just 1-2 months. And when I am 60, I assume that my ear hairs will also miraculously extend their anagen phase to new records each year.
Although this post is focused on men, it should be noted that many women lose a large portion of their eyebrow hairs by the time they hit retirement age. Some even try to use eyelash lengthening drug Bimatoprost (Latisse) on their eyebrows.
Guinness World Records for Body Hair Length
While writing this post, I got curious about the record for the world’s longest eyebrow hair. Lo and behold, I found that the Guinness Book likes measuring various types of body hair world records. Some highlight are presented below.
In 2016, an 81-year old Chinese man Zheng Shusen broke the world record for longest eyebrow hair. His came in at 19.1 cm (7.5 inches).
In 2007, Guinness awarded the world record for longest ear hair to Anthony Victor of India. The groundbreaking ear hair measured 18.1 cm (7.1 inches).
In 2022, Guinness awarded the world record for longest beard hair in a living male to Sarwan Singh of Canada. In fact he has held this record since 2008. His lengthiest beard hair was measured at 2.54 meters (8 feet 3 inches).
Last and the only one of these examples that I find enviable: the world record for longest scalp hair in a living person according to Guinness went to Smita Srivastava from India in 2023. Her luscious locks hit 2.36 meters (7 feet 9 inches) in length.
It is interesting that the beard hair record man has longer hair than the scalp hair record woman. No wonder that beard hair is considered to be the best hair when it comes to body hair to head hair transplants. The only other suitable body hair that can be transplanted to the head is chest hair according to most hair transplant surgeons. Do note that both beard and chest hair have different texture and curliness in comparison to scalp hair.
Body Hair Type and Anagen Duration
Different types of body hair have different anagen growth phase duration periods. Healthy scalp hair in most young men has an anagen phase that lasts from 2-6 years. The onset of male pattern hair loss obviously makes this phase go haywire. A lot of hair loss treatments are geared towards prolonging the anagen phase.
Most types of body hair have a significantly shorter duration anagen phase. The below table uses data from the following paper as well as from Dr. Arvind Poswal’s Body Hair Transplant Textbook and Atlas.
Eyebrow hair has a growth phase of just 1-2 months. So it can never hit 2 inches in length unless the growth phase changes like mine once you hit middle age. Chest hair (not in the table) has a similar anagen phase duration to scalp hair.
| Body Hair Type | Anagen Duration | Anagen Percentage | Telogen Duration |
| Scalp | 2-6 years | 85 | 3-4 months |
| Eyebrow | 4-8 weeks | 10 | 12 weeks |
| Beard | 1 year | 60 | 10 weeks |
| Moustache | 16 weeks | 55 | 6 weeks |
| Trunk | 16 weeks | 30 | 12 weeks |
| Axillae | 16 weeks | 30 | 12 weeks |
| Pubic | 16 weeks | 30 | 12 weeks |
| Legs | 16 weeks | 20 | 24 weeks |
admin, sorry to post links to two different developments that aren’t relevant to this topic, but I thought they might be of general interest:
https://european-biotechnology.com/latest-news/mallia-aesthetics-is-about-to-launch-mal-838/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40749928/
its interesting but also a little sad the decades of cosmetics have started I guess.
Every year I get balder while plucking out ever more vigorous eyebrow, ear and nose hair. Even my beard hair is aggressively getting thicker.
Good job evolution.
The anecdote is strong – the genes that select for balding also select for body hair. It’s no coincidence that anti-andro users report less body hair.
As an aside, there is so much anecdote and “wive’s tales” about balding, one wishes for real studies to substantiate some of them. For example, the old “20% lose their hair in their twenties…50% in there fifties” is repeated often, but I’ve never found a study that substantiates it. Or the “once balding is noticeable you’ve already lost 50% of your hair” claim. It’s shocking that there isn’t more robust science on this pathology, given how many men it impacts (and are likewise impacted by it). Are the economics of this disorder really so poor that there’s no incentive to study it? Or is it because it’s not medically considered a “disorder” at all?
It’s funny you say this, because, thinking about it, how many of the existing or promising AGA treatments were discovered as the result of targeted research? CB-03-01 maybe? But even that is an extension of finasteride. I can’t figure it out as the market is apparently worth billions. Maybe the biology of the disease is so complex the investment needed to discover a decent treatment means the reward isn’t worth it?
A 7.5 inch eyebrow hair and a 7 inch ear hair could be transplanted to the head for sure.
Not much good news these days. I can’t get excited about a product until it hits phase 3.
Really interesting post. Never thought about how anagen phase of ear and eyebrow hair increases in your lifetime, but that of scalp hair decreases.
Am I crazy or this year has been terribly disappointing in the hair loss world so far?
I have always checked in on news as a way to cope with hair loss and keep the hopes up, but I’ve found it increasingly difficult to stay positive lately.
I’m Seriously wondering if all companies aren’t withholding trial funding until phase 2 of PP405. Or maybe there’s no funding until then?
There seems to be multiple companies that had positive phase 1 or 2 in 2024 that have not said anything this year.
Admin wanna collect a list of companies that had positive phase 1 or 2 in 2024 but have not said anything? TDM, HMI, DLQ1 maybe more?
Wonder how much interest rates being higher have slowed down phase funding.
Kintor has funds for 50 phases if needed. Lucky Chinese.
Yunce Bio and OrganTech are the cures Shia. Then PP405.
eh, I appreciate the optimism.
I guess I’m in a doomer phase right now , but the last Tsuji’s interview was far from comforting to me.
A 400k + euros procedure that still seems to be far away from trials doesn’t help me sleep at nights.
Also this might be another me-thing, but when a company – like Organ for example – is simultaneously working on three different approaches to regrow hair, I get the feeling that they are not sure if either one of those is gonna work. I’m clueless and uneducated about the scientific approaches to curing a “disease” but I think it’s safe to assume that if they were 100% sure that one approach is gonna work, they’d just all in on it
I think you are right. I would love to see any of these companies cure it. But my guess is that it is just too complex for now. Tsuji might be the biggest joke of all time and the other companies are trying, but might fail too.
I think first they will be able to do something like xenotransplants and cloning other organs. After that, they will cure hair loss. They transplanted other organs before inventing hair transplants as well.
That is why I really think I wont be alive anymore when a cure arrives. I am 33 years old.
PS: I still hope that I am wrong and check the news. But it just does not look very good.
What do you mean? Its very exciting times. Our two best options were accidentally discovered in the 80s and 90s. We have plenty of options 4 to 5 years away that will be more then likely disappear after their phase 2 trails. Trust the process.
This happened to me when I was taking oral minoxidil.