Almost every part of your body grows hair. The human body has around 5 million hair follicles total, with roughly 100,000 on the scalp alone and about 25,000 scattered across the rest of the body. The only places that never produce hair are the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet, your lips, and parts of your eyelids. Every other square inch of skin, from your forehead to your toes, contains follicles capable of producing some type of hair.
Where Hair Actually Grows
Hair follicles sit in the top two layers of your skin. For thicker hair like what grows on your scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes, follicles reach deeper, sometimes extending into the third layer of skin (the fatty tissue beneath the surface). For the fine, barely visible hair on your arms, torso, and face, follicles are shallower.
Hair also grows in less obvious places. The inside of your nose is lined with coarse hairs that trap dust and debris before it reaches your airways. Your ear canals contain fine hairs that serve a similar protective function. Even areas that appear hairless, like your forehead or the tops of your fingers, are covered in tiny hairs too fine and pale to see without close inspection.
The Two Types of Hair on Your Body
Your body produces two distinct types of hair, and the difference explains why some areas look hairy while others seem bare.
Vellus hair is the short, wispy, nearly invisible fuzz covering most of your body. It lacks pigment, so it’s usually translucent or very pale. You’ll find vellus hair on your face, neck, arms, legs, torso, and nearly everywhere else. It plays a role in temperature regulation and skin sensitivity.
Terminal hair is the thicker, darker, more visible type. It grows on your scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes from birth. During puberty, terminal hair also appears in the armpits, pubic region, and (for many people) the chest, back, arms, legs, and face. Terminal hairs grow faster than vellus hairs, averaging about 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) per month, and are rooted deeper in the skin.
The Places That Never Grow Hair
A few specific areas of the body are completely hairless. Dermatologists call this “glabrous skin,” and it’s found on the palms of your hands, the soles of your feet, your lips, and the inner surfaces of your fingers and toes. This skin lacks the structures needed to produce hair, including the oil glands that typically accompany follicles. These surfaces evolved for grip and sensory precision rather than insulation, which is why they feel and function so differently from the rest of your skin.
How Hormones Decide Where Hair Grows
The shift from fine vellus hair to thick terminal hair is driven by hormones called androgens, particularly during puberty. Androgens signal certain follicles to start producing darker, coarser hair in the underarms, pubic area, and face. This is why children’s bodies appear relatively hairless compared to adults, even though the follicles were there all along.
The pattern varies between individuals and is influenced by genetics and hormone levels. People with higher androgen levels tend to develop more terminal hair on the chest, back, and limbs. Conditions that raise androgen levels, like polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), can cause excess hair growth in areas like the face and abdomen. Conversely, androgens can also trigger hair loss on the scalp, which is the mechanism behind male and female pattern baldness.
Why Hair Grows to Different Lengths
Hair doesn’t keep growing forever. Each follicle cycles through four phases: a growth phase, a transition phase, a resting phase, and a shedding phase. The length hair reaches before falling out depends almost entirely on how long its growth phase lasts.
Scalp hair has the longest growth phase of any hair on the body, lasting 2 to 8 years. That’s why head hair can grow to shoulder length or beyond. Eyebrow hairs, by contrast, have a growth phase of only 4 to 8 weeks before they stop and eventually shed. Eyelashes grow for 1 to 2 months. Arm and leg hair similarly have short active growth windows, which is why body hair reaches a natural maximum length and stops.
This also explains something people often wonder about: shaving doesn’t make hair grow back thicker or longer. The follicle’s growth phase is pre-set, so the hair will reach the same length regardless of whether you cut it.
Specialized Hair and Its Purpose
Some hair serves functions beyond insulation. Eyelashes protect the eyes from dust and sweat, growing to a natural length of 7 to 12 millimeters. They grow slowly (about 0.12 mm per day) and most of them are in the resting phase at any given time, which is why losing a few eyelashes doesn’t leave noticeable gaps. Eyebrows grow roughly twice as fast, at about 0.30 mm per day, and reach 5 to 11 mm in length. They channel sweat and rain away from the eyes.
Nose hairs serve as a first-line filter for airborne particles. Removing them entirely can increase your exposure to dust and allergens, so trimming rather than plucking is generally the safer approach.
How Hair Growth Changes With Age
The body’s hair map shifts over a lifetime. Before puberty, most body hair is vellus. Puberty triggers the conversion to terminal hair in specific zones. Then, as you age, the process can reverse: follicles on the scalp gradually shrink and begin producing thinner, shorter hairs that resemble vellus hair again. This process, called miniaturization, is what creates the appearance of thinning hair, a receding hairline, or a widening part.
Interestingly, aging can also cause new terminal hair to appear in unwanted areas. Ear and nose hair tends to become thicker and more noticeable with age, and hormonal shifts after menopause can lead to coarser facial hair. The total number of follicles you have is fixed at birth and declines slightly over decades, but the type of hair each follicle produces keeps changing throughout your life.