The wonders of hair - 6 Minute English

Neil: Welcome to 6 Minute English, where today we

introduce a hair-raising topic and six

items of vocabulary.

Tim: I'm Tim. So what's hair-raising about

today's topic, Neil? Hair-raising means scary

but also exciting!

Neil: We're talking about hair, which may

be exciting for some, but definitely won't

be scary.

Tim: Hair-raising is a real thing, though,

isn't it? Our hairs do rise!

Neil: Yes, Tim, they do. We get goose bumps when we're

cold, scared, or excited.

Tim: But other mammals do it better than us. Cats fluff

up when they see other cats they

don't like.

Neil: That's true. We can't fluff up because

we don't have enough body hair.

Tim: I suppose we used to be as hairy as gorillas if you

go back a million years or so.

Neil: Do you know why we lost so much hair, Tim?

Tim: Isn't it because it allowed us to sweat more easily?

This meant we didn't get so hot

and tired, we could run faster and for longer and catch

more animals to eat!

Neil: That sounds like a good theory. But

do you have a theory on how many hair follicles

the human body has today?

Tim: What's a hair follicle?

Neil: A hair follicle is the organ that produces

a hair underneath the skin. Now answer the

question, Tim. How many hair follicles does

the human body have today? Is it...

a) 500,000,

b) 5 million or

c) 50 million?

Tim: 50 million sounds about right.

Neil: Did you know that men have more

than women, Tim?

Tim: No, I didn't - but it makes sense since

men are usually hairier than women.

Neil: On their faces, but not necessarily

on their heads!

Tim: Are you referring to the fact that men

of a certain age can be follically challenged?

Neil: If you're follically challenged it means

you're losing your hair! Having little or

no hair is called baldness. And if you've

reached a certain age it means you aren't

young any more!

Tim: Why is our hair so important to us, Neil?

When we aren't worrying about going bald,

we're busy shaving, waxing, plucking, and

trimming the stuff. When I say 'we' of course

I'm referring to people in general. Not myself.

Neil: Well, a good head of hair indicates

health and youth. And hair on your face - facial

hair - shows when boys have reached manhood.

Tim: On the other hand, going grey or losing

your hair shows you're getting older.

Neil: Hair today, gone tomorrow?

Tim: Bad joke, Neil!

Neil: Sorry! It's true that hair on your head

shows signs of aging, but this isn't true

of all human hair. Let's listen to Ralf Paus,

a leading hair loss researcher, talking about

this.

Ralf Paus, hair loss researcher: The eyebrows

get stronger usually in aging men, the hairs

in your nose and in your ears get stronger

- and what a miracle of nature that an organ

- when the entire body is aging - actually

grows stronger. So we may even be able to

learn from hair follicles how not to age.

Tim: Hmm. I'm not sure I would swap a good

head of hair for thick eyebrows and nose hair.

How about you, Neil?

Neil: I agree! But let's hear more from Ralf

Paus about why some hair gets stronger as

you get older.

Ralf Paus, hair loss researcher: The hair

follicle apparently knows some tricks that

the other organs don't know. So it's continuously

regenerating itself. It goes through a so-called

hair cycle and part of that we know pretty

well - and that is, these stem cells that

it uses to regenerate cells.

Tim: So a hair follicle can regenerate cells

- or grow new cells to replace old or damaged

ones. But if that's only true for eyebrows,

nose and ear hair, I am not that impressed!

I want hairs on my head to be able to regenerate!

Neil: The important thing here is that these

cells in the hair follicle may help scientists

discover a way to stop other organs of the

body aging. OK, I'm now going to reveal how

many hair follicles on average we have on

our bodies. The answer is... 5 million.

Tim: Oh. So not 50 million then.

Neil: Don't worry, Tim! It was a tricky question!

Now let's go over the words we learned today.

Tim: 'Hair-raising' means scary often in an

exciting way. For example, 'That ride on the

rollercoaster was a hair-raising experience!'

Neil: Next is 'hair follicle' - the organ

that produces a hair underneath the skin.

Tim: 'Scientists believe that stress can affect

hair follicles.'

Neil: A number of things can affect hair follicles

actually - age, disease, diet...

Tim: OK, but we haven't got all day, Neil.

So let's move on to the next item. 'Baldness',

which means having little or no hair on your head.

Neil: 'My grandfather is bald and he always

wears a hat to cover his baldness.'

Tim: Nice example. Is your grandpa actually

bald, Neil?

Neil: No - he has a fine head of hair. Now,

if you are a certain age, it means you are

no longer young. For example.

Tim: 'All the people at the party were of

a certain age'.

Neil: How many of them had facial hair, Tim?

That's our next word, and 'facial' means to

do with the face.

Tim: 'None of the people at the party had

facial hair.' There's your answer!

Neil: That's unusual, Tim. Lots of men have

beards these days. OK - our final word for

today is 'regenerate' which means to grow

again. You can talk about regenerating a range

of things, for example.

Neil: 'The council has plans to regenerate

this part of the city.'

Tim: 'Regeneration of parts of the city is

in progress.' 'Regeneration' is the noun.

Neil: Well, it's time to go now. But if today's

show gave you goosebumps please let us know

by visiting our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

pages and telling us about it!

Tim: Bye-bye!

Neil: Goodbye!