Jason E. Andersen

On my way to work one morning, I heard on the radio that the average human grows 550 feet of hair in their lifetime. They could have said miles — I can’t actually remember.

Either way, that seems like a lot.

I tried to fact-check this, but really didn’t come up with anything solid. Let’s do some math. The average person’s hair (for purposes of haircuts) grows at a rate of one half inch per month, for a total of six inches per year. If you take that times the average human lifespan of 79 years, you get 39.5 feet of hair being extruded out of the top of your head in an average lifetime.

Forty feet seems more realistic. But what about that 550 feetmiles number? Well, they were probably considering all the hair that the human body produces. I would also assume that they were hypothetically calculating the hairs from each individual follicle, and then adding the total length, end to end. That seems to be the only way it would pencil out.

But I couldn’t find that answer for you. Sorry.

Bonus Fun Fact: The world record for longest hair (according to the Guinness Book of World Records) belongs to Xie Quiping of China. In 2004, her hair was measured at 18 feet, 5 inches long.

Holy hairballs.